Zone Heat and Whole-House Ducting on ZC Fireplaces

[beekeeper]

I asked part of this question in a different thread, which provided some great answers on some things, but I thought I'd post this part here under a clearer title.

I'm curious to hear from any of you that are either using the zone heat options in the Quadrafire 7100 or have tied any of the other big, ZC fireplaces into your HVAC ducting system. Are you happy with the results- any suggestions??

I'm building a new house - 2 stories, about 2800 square feet, and the fireplace will be in a den area in the basement.

Thanks!

Beek

 

[jrousell]

I have my Opel ducted into our main plenum/ductwork... spreads the heat around pretty well

Not sure if you have specific questions I could answer...

 

[beekeeper]

Sure, here are some more specific questions:

I guess one thing I'm curious about is does the Opel's fan serve to move the air through the ductwork, or does the central HVAC fan somehow take over that duty?

Do you have to change some sort of setting on the main HVAC thermostat to switch the system over the fireplace or is that rather automatic?

Did you have to locate the Opel fireplace close to the HVAC system components (like the blower, for example)?

Who hooked it into the HVAC system -did the Opel installers do it, or your HVAC guys, or did you do it youself?

Some of these may be kind of dumb questions - I'm just trying to get a better understanding of how this all works.

Thanks!!
Beek

 

[jrousell]

where to start.....
There are many different configurations depending on what stove you decide on.. so make sure to look at the manuals for each stove before purchasing...

Some need to be close to ductwork, and others do not. some run off thermostats and others do not.. personally I don't think any of these non forced draft stoves should be run on a thermostat - and I prefer to run hot fires myself rather than try to choke down and make a fire last for many many hours.. but that is just me..

some can only duct upwards and outwards and not down. some can duct downward with the use of a normally closed damper... some use air form outside to then push into your ductwork( I personally think this is bad news and you shoudl relaly understand how this works and make an informed decision. I am an enhineer and I would no more tell a homeowner to make a forced positive pressure in their house than I would a forced negative pressure... neither makes sense...( again- some might disagree)

my configuration: round duct off the top off the stove runs downward into our basement where there is an axial variable-speed fan that takes the air and then ducts it across the room into our main furnace plenum... The variable speed control is next to the fireplace. They are independent so I can run the furnace, fireplace, or both if I want to... Normally I set the thermostat for the house furnace at some lower level- and it would kick on when and if it needed to when I let the fire go out etc...