How far is too far?

[mlasko]

I like to take the last part of the day sitting in my recliner in front of the stove reviewing the day and saying a few prayers before going to bed. However my prayers are all too often interrupted with my thoughts of how to move heat from my basement stove to the upstairs. Yeah I've read everything that there is to read about moving heat (it cools too quickly, move the cold air down, etc, etc.) I've tried it all in regards to moving the cold air but I'm so curious about attempting to move the warm air. So my question is, how far is too far when attempting an inline fan with insulated ductwork. I am thinking about moving the air from around the stove toward the two back bedrooms. My house is almost 40 feet long with the stove in the middle of the basement against a wall. So we are looking at moving it probably 30 feet when you factor in the elbows and and the distance across the house. Nope I don't have a picture.

Also, folks that have tried the old cut a giant hole in your floor and throw a grate over it? How's that working out? What kind of success have you had with it.

Help me get this "devilish" thought out of my head.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Have you considered a cold air return from the back bedrooms to the stove area?

 

[rudysmallfry]

I tried the big whole in two different places and neither brought squat up for heat. Both have since been sealed up. I have raised ranch with the typical double size staircase. The wood stove is in the basement. I'm pissed. I let the guy talk me out of putting it where I wanted it, or else it would be almost in line with the stair case. Instead, there's a wall in the way of the heat. I punched a hole through the wall, and it does let a large amount of the heat reach the stair case, but it just doesn't travel upstairs in the way I'd like it to, so I understand your frustation. I just came across these register fans. Apparently they help the heat pass through the vent with up to 60% better performance. I'm toying with unsealing one of those holes in the floor and trying it out. Do you have a blower on your stove?

 

[dwaynecornhauler]

I heat my house with a corn stove during the winter. My stove is located in the basement of my ranch, I to was challenged by getting the heat from the basement to whole house. My final solution was to plumb my cold air return on my furnace to the stove output and run furnace fan. What a success, the house is 70 and it is mid 20's outside. Drawback my stove has become a biomass furnace not a center piece in a room, that's why we are getting a Hearthstone Monday.

 

[PapaDave]

Woodsmoke,
The PO of this small ranch house put in an inline duct fan and insulated duct in the attic. There's a register in the stove room going to the kitchen and split to the bathroom, via this duct. Dimmer switch controls the fan, and we get a decent amount of heat into those areas when running. I can also turn on the blower on the stove, and get a pretty good amount of heat to most of the back of the house.
The duct runs about 25 feet, and if I had been the one doing it, I would have used smaller duct. The main line is 10", then splits to two 8" after the inline fan. Maybe the thought was the larger one would keep the velocity down and keep heat. Faster might cool things off too much. I don't think so.
When this one dies, I'll probably go with a smaller duct setup, and skip the run to the bathroom. Instead, the split will go another 15" into our rear most room which has no heat at all. Stays about 60 in there most of the time though. That's our new bedroom, nicer to sleep in the cool.