Passive heat cold air return / floor register questions

[Swedishchef]

Hey guys

I have a question and can't seem to find any information on the web or from friends.

I am going to install a floor register (vent or cold air return) on the main floor of my bungalow almost directly above the location of my wood stove (the stove is in the basement). I plan on installing 3 of these on the side of the house that has the stove installed. The opposite end from the stove has the staircase for the air to return.

I have my stove installed in my basement family room. It is very well insulated (1.5 inches of spray foam on the wall and R`14 Roxul in the studs) I am simply trying to figure out a way to help heat the part of my house directly above my stove. I figured the registers would let the heat rise and the stairs would help the cool air return down.

Any ideas as to what size the vents/registers should be??? Has anybody else installed such a setup? I contacted my local building inspector and he said it's not a problem, I am allowed to do it this way.

Thanks in advance

ANdrew

 

[vvvv]

old vent above stove/furnace were 2'x3'. new vent requires fusible link. floor gets warm but may not do the trick

 

[Todd]

I have a 12x14" vent over my stove and it gives me some extra heat for my upstairs living room. I also install a small fan inside to help boost the heat but later on took it out cuz it wasn't needed. I would of gone bigger but the vent would stick out and be an eye sore. There is also no guarantee if the vents will be a return or supply. I had a large vent over the floor of another stove in another house and it did the opposite of this house.

 

[soupy1957]

In another thread, I read some comments about "Code" that seemed to imply that you may have some restrictions in that regard. If you have a forced hot air system in your home, (furnace) and a couple of ceiling fans, you'll be ok. You can always warm up any cold spots with space heaters.

The typical floor vents I have, for my forced hot air system (although I realize you apparently are talking about vents that are independent of your heating system), are about 10" long, by 3" wide for the heat "out" ones, and about 6" x 8" in the walls, for the return. I'm not sure if by today's code (my house was built in 1957) the "returns" might be smaller, but.........

-Soupy1957

 

[Swedishchef]

Todd,

I was thinking about adding a nice cast iron one about the same size as yours: 12X14. I guess I will have to give it a try.

Thanks for the info Soupy. I looked into the local code and it's a go. I don't have a 3 storey home, it's a bungalow and according to National code, in detached dwelling units that are 1 floor, I can do it

A

 

[fishingpol]

Andrew,

I live in a bungalow that at one time had a coal-fed gravity furnace in the basement. The living room had a 32" x 32" grate in the floor that let the heat up from the basement. From there every room had a grate in the ceiling that was about 12" x 14" that let heat up to the upper rooms. I can't tell you much about codes, but I know from my house and my parents house had the same size grates for the heating systems of that era. A 12" x 14" or what can fit through your joists should suffice. I believe that doors were left open to promote circulation and push the cold air down the stairs that gave them the gravity effect. Antique house salvagers sell the original heating grates and there are reproductions to be had on the net.

Jon

 

[Swedishchef]

Jon

Thanks for the tips. I figure a 12X14 should suffice above my stove. I will add another one approximately 20 feet away from that one in the living room and leave my door to the basement open a crack. The air should circulate relatively well.

I guess I will have to try it out!!

Andrew

 

[KB007]

We have a std 4X10 in the LR a few feet away from the stove in the basement below and 2 other 4X10s one by the window in the same room and another in the next room. I was using a small register fan over the one nearest the stove to bring heat up from the basement and it worked well.

The way I read the building code was that if you have an enclosed cieling in the basement, then the registers had to be ducted with metal between the basement cieling and the main floor. If you had no cieling or a dropped cieling with the tiles removed, you can simply have a direct opening in the floor between the joists. This was also how it wass explained to me by at least 2 installers.

 

[Swedishchef]

KB,

Are you satisfied with that install? How well does it work?

I was thinking of doing the same, installing 2-3 registers. Initially, I was going to get a 12X14 old school cast iron one for directly above the stove and a smaller size for the other registers... Now I am simply confused and don't know what to do!

Andrew

 

[KB007]

It worked quite well, the fan was one of the ones from HD that sits on top of the register. It was sucking up hot air while the cold air was able to drop down the registers by the windows.

Since we installed the Regency in our LR we'll now have to do the opposite to get some heat down to the basement, but that's a whole nother story...