Cut in some floor registers today.

[SKIN052]

Been having to run the stove rather high to warm up the whole house and it's been eating at my wood pile and nerves a little. So I decided to cut in some floor registers. To make a long story short, I put in 2, 4 x 10 floor registers, one on each end of the house. I knew I made the right call when I felt the burst of warm air rush up from the first hole I cut. All day I have had the stove running on a low steady burn and the fan on low and the house is much more evenly heated.

Happy to know that I have a little heat in reserve for those real cold days.

 

[Install fire 1]

Sounds like your life will be a little warmer with less wood consumption.


Good call

 

[pen]

I know you already purchased your registers, but I would consider buying ones to fit over top of a fusible link fire damper like these: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ecatalog/N-/No-0/Ntt-dynamic+fire+damper

The problem is if you have a fire you just made a few chimneys inside your house. Many people argue these are unnecessary citing that there is no damper on their stairwells, however, it's something to consider depending on your locations.

pen

 

[jtb51b]

Skin, did you leave your basement door open before cutting the registers? If not, how much difference does this make VS opening the door? I would assume you have some sort of cold air return (probably the staircase) that lets the cold air back down.. I would like to hear more as I was thinking of doing this myself tomorrow as a matter of fact. I had planned on a single 12x6 directly above the stove (into the kitchen) and possibly one in the living room if it works well. The other end of the house is the bedroom and I want it to stay as cool as it does now if possible (65-68 is fine with me!).. Whats your thoughts? Right now my un-insulated basement stays 80*+ and the upstairs stays 70ish until early morning or <32* OAT, then I drop fast to around 65.. It takes <25* temps for several hours before I drop much more upstairs, at that temp the basement will drop to 75* or so..

Jason

 

[DiscoInferno]

I got my floor registers, ceiling grills, and fire dampers here: http://www.atlantasupply.com/
As my vent is right above the stove, it makes a huge difference in distributing the heat.

The biggest trick is figuring out how to apply the damper install instructions to a residential context. They are supposed to "float" in a duct in the opening held in place by angles sandwiched around the firewall, however in a typical ceiling the firewall only consists of 1/2" of drywall. I wound up hanging it from above.

 

[oldspark]

Hey skin, when it gets real cold those summits struggle a little dont they, mine plays with heating the house till it get below 0 and windy.

 

[jtb51b]

Hey skin, when it gets real cold those summits struggle a little dont they, mine plays with heating the house till it get below 0 and windy.

I looked at a Summit before I got the BK, if they had a thermostat I would have been all over it.. I really like the thermostat on the BK, I had one on an old wonderwood (my first stove) and it was great. Now, if I was heating from upstairs I would have to stick with a VERY small stove.. My Buck 21 would have roasted us out from upstairs, but alas I would not have a heated basement to work in.. Oh well, I paid the price and am happy.. Summits still look like one of your nicer stoves, especially if your heating a lot of insulated space.

Jason

 

[SKIN052]

I know you already purchased your registers, but I would consider buying ones to fit over top of a fusible link fire damper like these: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ecatalog/N-/No-0/Ntt-dynamic+fire+damper

The problem is if you have a fire you just made a few chimneys inside your house. Many people argue these are unnecessary citing that there is no damper on their stairwells, however, it's something to consider depending on your locations.

pen

I knew someone would make this point, and it is indeed a valid one. The code here states that what I have done is fine if my basement ceiling is unfinished, as mine is. If I finish the basement ceiling then I need a fire break of some sort. My plan is to install ducting offset with 2 x 90 deg bends. I cannot have it straight up and down in a finished area. I don't quite understand the reasoning on finished vs unfinished but it is what it is.

 

[SKIN052]

Skin, did you leave your basement door open before cutting the registers? If not, how much difference does this make VS opening the door? I would assume you have some sort of cold air return (probably the staircase) that lets the cold air back down.. I would like to hear more as I was thinking of doing this myself tomorrow as a matter of fact. I had planned on a single 12x6 directly above the stove (into the kitchen) and possibly one in the living room if it works well. The other end of the house is the bedroom and I want it to stay as cool as it does now if possible (65-68 is fine with me!).. Whats your thoughts? Right now my un-insulated basement stays 80*+ and the upstairs stays 70ish until early morning or <32* OAT, then I drop fast to around 65.. It takes <25* temps for several hours before I drop much more upstairs, at that temp the basement will drop to 75* or so..

Jason

I always had the door open prior to cutting the registers. Downstairs was typically 28c with the upstairs barely reaching 20c, 21 if I pushed the stove. I think the issue was the air return, I really did not have one. I have a newer home that is rather tight and the registers have really helped. Upstairs last night was just below 25c and this morning at 7 it was still 22.5, I am happy. It also made the bedrooms a little warmer as well, kids were waking up cold and I could not have that.

I would NOT suggest putting one directly over the stove. Everything I have read warns against this for fire issues as well as the ease of someone dropping something on top of the stove, maybe unnoticed. Off set it a little. Again, I put one at one end of the house (kitchen) and another at the other end (hallway near bedrooms). Before the registers you could feel a temp difference when you walked into the bedroom hallway, not anymore. Now if you want a cool bedroom, just keep the bedroom door shut.

Good luck and let me know how you make out. Note, hardwood floor is a bit** to cut with a jigsaw!LOl.

 

[SKIN052]

Hey skin, when it gets real cold those summits struggle a little dont they, mine plays with heating the house till it get below 0 and windy.

I was thinking so as well with the recent cool snap (-4c) but I knew something was not right as the basement was like a hot box and the rest of the upstairs was just o.k., problem solved with the registers. However I am going to agree with you and a few others that are skeptical of the newer EPA stoves. As you all know, I love the Summit but the amount of heat in the fire box and radiating through the glass does not equal the same amount of heat in the room. I darn near melts my face when I open the door yet the stove is far from cooking us out of the house. I can really see why some really have a hard time getting accustomed to the newer style of burning. Seems to be a bit of wasted heat.

 

[DiscoInferno]

FWIW, the guy that inspected my addition (including the stove) suggested (completely on his own) that I install the register. Since I had already planned to do so, I asked him about code matters, fire dampers, etc. He said there was no code requirement and that he wouldn't bother with a fire damper since he didn't consider 1/2" drywall to be a fire barrier anyway.

Safety-wise I'm not terribly concerned about my setup. It's at one end of the house, it's not between any room and the stairs, and I have smoke and CO detectors both in the stove room and in the room above. I'm going to know fairly quickly if something is burning down there that ought not. Really the other stove, whose heat primarily travels up our central stairwell, is the bigger danger. Dropping things isn't much of an issue as I have a return-style grill on the ceiling, nothing of any size will make it through.