Convection Stove without a blower...will we cook ourselves out of the room?

[NothingLikeWood]

I understand that the stove is a space heater but here is my question: Napoleon 1400 basement install (ranch style house). The stove is at the far end of the stairwell in a large (20x12) family room. The stove is great at heating the basement but not necessarily well upstairs. I've got an EcoFan (really just for looks and a bit of air movement) and sometimes a few regular fans strategically placed downstairs (one blowing cold air at the stove at ground level, one blowing warm air out of the room at 5 ft high). Once we get the stove going well I can feel the convection in the stairwell but the room downstairs sometimes gets unbearably hot. Although I know a few holes in the ceiling above the stove will help out with the convection we're not interested in that route as the holes will bring the noise from the family room/tv upstairs into the bedroom area.

Read a few posts saying that a blower makes all the difference in distributing heat for a convection stove. I am worried that a blower will make the room even more unbearable but am wondering if it will help push the warm air out to the stairwell better than the fans. Any thoughts?

 

[realstihl]

I'm not to keen on blowers mounted to stoves. I like large fans on low speed. Works for me anyway.

 

[begreen]

This is common with your type of setup. Before putting a fan on the stove, try this. Turn off all the fans. Then take one and put it at the top of the stairs blowing downstairs. Turn it on low speed. Then take a second fan and place it at the bottom of the stairs, on the floor blowing toward the stove. The idea it to move the cool air, low, towards the stove area. It will be replaced by warm air at the ceiling level which should migrate upstairs better this way.

 

[Geppetto83]

BeGreen is right! If you don’t want to increase the number of air outlets, then the best way to obtain air circulation from one floor to the other is certainly by pushing the cold air down. As BeGreen says, it will be replace by the warmer air that is in the basement.

No need to have blowers from the unit up since heat will rise anyways, you main concern is having a fluid air circulation between the basement and the rest of the house.