Another Air Circulation Post - Mt. Vernon - temp difference?

[LJ4174]

Hey, Hey...

This is my 2nd season burning my Mt. Vernon. This year however, it doesn't seem to be doing as good of a job as it did last year.

2 things I changed were, the pellets because I couldn't get the same ones I got last year. This year I'm burning Lignetics. The other thing I debated with my neighbor about was the temp difference setting in the thermostat. I used to have it at 1 degree, he's been running his at 2 degrees. I put mine at 2, but can't see that making a real big difference, I guess the thought here was the stove won't turn on as much drawing power and using the igniter as much, again it still seems to come on pretty much...

Last year my house was warm, the whole first floor and the upstairs was warm with only a few degrees difference, but not bad. This year it's about 10 degrees difference.

The stove is cleaned regularly as it should, so there's not a cleaning issues. My home is 2400 sqr ft and very open, and again didn't have this issue last year...

Thinking of installing something like this in my stairwell to push the hot air down the hallway into the rooms, I think I'm loosing a lot of heat there that is just sitting there, the stairwell is basically right next to my stove.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/1TDR9?Pid=search

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2HYH1?Pid=search

I know the other issue is moving the cold air, what's a good way to do this or how do you do it? It's weird the upstairs in my house is colder then the downstairs... Heat is supposed to rise right?

 

[vgrund]

I have my Mt Vernon AE on a 3 degree differential. The theory being, when it does shut off I do not want it to start again for a while. This is a function of your perception of comfort and the characteristics of the space you are heating. I'm heating a very large space.

 

[LJ4174]

I have my Mt Vernon AE on a 3 degree differential. The theory being, when it does shut off I do not want it to start again for a while. This is a function of your perception of comfort and the characteristics of the space you are heating. I'm heating a very large space.

Yeah me too... My whole house... Even though when mine is on the 2 degrees though, it still seems to start up again rather soon...

 

[sweetsncheese]

When I asked on this forum about using the programmable thermostat there was an overwhelming response not to let the house temperature vary more than a couple degrees. The justification being that the stove works too hard to recover those lost degrees. I believe one number quoted was 1°F/hour for recovery. Using that same number in your normal operation you're looking at 3 hours to recover from a 3°F temp differential. Seems rather inefficient to me. Keep in mind that it takes the stove a bit to get started so you could be looking at more like 4°F drop before the stove starts throwing heat. Not only have you lost a lot of the stove's hard work, a 4°F drop in temperature (say 70°F to 66°F) will likely feel cool. Keep in mind this assumes your thermostat is somewhere other than the room with the stove and is regulating based on house temperature not that of the room containing the stove.

I would suggest doing a similar experiment. Time how long it takes to raise the temperature of your home a degree or perhaps two. Time how long your home retains each degree when the stove has shut off. This should give you an idea of how your cycles work and you can make a better determination of how you'd like to modify these cycles to suit your preference.

I use a 1.5°F differential on my stove and my thermostat is not in the room with the stove. I also have two fans blowing heated air from above the two doorways at opposite ends of my stove room that cycle on a separate thermostat located in the stove room.

Good luck!

 

[sweetsncheese]

LJ4174,

Here are the pics you requested by email. Sorry about the quality.

The first is the intake side of the Tjernlund AirShare fan. The second is the output. Due to the layout of my house I couldn't have the output at floor level which would have been preferred. Here is a link http://www.tjernlund.com/Tjernlund_Aireshare_Stuffer_8500801.pdf

The last picture is the LUX WIN100 Heat/Cool thermostat that my fans are plugged into (to the right of the wreath). You'll notice it's positioned high so that it senses the air temperature that will be pushed from the stove room. It's set 2°F above the stove thermostat so that it doesn't come on unless there's a temp differential worth sharing with the rest of the house. Again, a link http://www.luxproducts.com/thermostats/win100.htm

Unfortunately the pics were snapped during quiet time. The stove cycled off and the fans were also off. I hope this helps with what you were asking about.

 

[LJ4174]

LJ4174,

Here are the pics you requested by email. Sorry about the quality.

The first is the intake side of the Tjernlund AirShare fan. The second is the output. Due to the layout of my house I couldn't have the output at floor level which would have been preferred. Here is a link http://www.tjernlund.com/Tjernlund_Aireshare_Stuffer_8500801.pdf

The last picture is the LUX WIN100 Heat/Cool thermostat that my fans are plugged into (to the right of the wreath). You'll notice it's positioned high so that it senses the air temperature that will be pushed from the stove room. It's set 2°F above the stove thermostat so that it doesn't come on unless there's a temp differential worth sharing with the rest of the house. Again, a link http://www.luxproducts.com/thermostats/win100.htm

Unfortunately the pics were snapped during quiet time. The stove cycled off and the fans were also off. I hope this helps with what you were asking about.

That's AWESOME, good stuff... Thanks for all that info, that's exactly what I was looking for... That is some pretty slick stuff right there... How many of these do you have running? Do they work well? Where'd you get them from?

Again, thanks a bunch...

 

[sweetsncheese]

That's AWESOME, good stuff... Thanks for all that info, that's exactly what I was looking for... That is some pretty slick stuff right there... How many of these do you have running? Do they work well? Where'd you get them from?

Ooh .. don't remember where the fans came from. Just google the name and you'll find them for various prices. They're pricey but look clean when installed. You can hear them but they're rated as one of the quietest options out there so I can't offer a better choice. I purchased the direct wire type. The wires run inside the wall and down into the basement to a junction box. Out of the box I brought appliance cord and a two prong plug up through the ash door (same path the pellet stove power runs from). It then comes out from under the stove, along the wood trim beside the brick up to the fan thermostat. You might be able to see the cord running behind the Coal Hod and up the wall to the thermostat in my poor pics. The thermostat plugs into the wall outlet just above the mantle as seen in the pics.

The fan thermostat came from Amazon. Again there's experimenting that happens with it as well. Set it low enough so that it turns on when there's heat to be pushed but high enough so that it shuts off for a bit to offer piece and quiet (I'm a forced hot water guy so noisy heat still distracts me). Mine is set 2°F above the stove thermostat. The fans typically come on about a 1/2 hour after the stove starts up and remain running about 1/2 hour after the stove shuts down.

Good luck!

 

[sweetsncheese]

I posted the above pictures almost a year ago. This heating season I'd like to increase assisted venting to include something above the stove for the upstairs. Would anyone like to offer pics of their through-floor venting methods so I can get a better idea of my options. If photos aren't available, vivid descriptions could also help spark my creativity.