Air circulation

[Deron]

How many folks keep their furnace fan set to "ON" all the time to help circulate heat to remote portions of the house?

I'm in a 1,800 sq Ranch with the wood burner in finished basement. The room where it's at is large and has 5 vents
and two cold air returns, one double in a ceiling drop and another at the floor base.

 

[spirilis]

I do that when it really does get way too freaking *hot* inside. Helps push some of the heat to the downstairs ducts (and loses some of the heat to the spaces around the ductwork). Otherwise I try to conserve the heat by keeping it in the upstairs living space.

 

[Chargerman]

It didn't work well for me. My insert is on the first floor with the two primary cold air returns. It seemed that most of the heat was lost in the ductwork down in the basement before it made it back up to the other rooms.

 

[Deron]

I do that when it really does get way too freaking *hot* inside. Helps push some of the heat to the
downstairs ducts (and loses some of the heat to the spaces around the ductwork). Otherwise I try to conserve the heat by keeping it in the upstairs
living space.

==

LOL - Yeah I'm quickly discovering I have that problem...family room is like a slow cooker (78 or so) and upstairs is chilly (65). The heat is not
making it's way upstairs naturally, probably because the floors and walls are crammed full of insulation. Wife is complaining that it's too hot.

Yesterday I tried aiming a fan towards the door/steps in hopes of directing the excess heat up the steps and into the upstairs living space. It did not
appear to work very well. So today I've got the fan oscillating in front of the stove with the furnace fan set to "ON".

Anyone know of any other tricks?

 

[Slow1]

When I tried this last year I couldn't really notice any benefit. Air from the ducts didn't feel particularly warm so I think all I did was manage to cool some air down/warm up duct work and burn some electricity in the process. My desire at the time was to try and get some warmth into my basement (hopeless task unless I get a duct fan to pump cold air out of there I have learned). I've since accepted that the basement will be cold and the rest of the house warms well enough through natural convection.

 

[FPX Dude]

I had a friend tell me to try and crack a window open on the far end of the house and it'll DRAW to that end because the heat is expanding and will naturally flow to there. He said works for him, but I haven't tried it yet, seems counter-intuitive to open a window and let in cold air to bring the warm air to it. Does anyone else subscribe to this method ?

 

[Slow1]

I had a friend tell me to try and crack a window open on the far end of the house and it'll DRAW to that end because the heat is expanding and will naturally flow to there. He said works for him, but I haven't tried it yet, seems counter-intuitive to open a window and let in cold air to bring the warm air to it. Does anyone else subscribe to this method ?

Good luck with that one.

 

[Deron]

I had a friend tell me to try and crack a window open on the far end of the house and it'll DRAW to that end because the heat is expanding and will naturally flow to there. He said works for him, but I haven't tried it yet, seems counter-intuitive to open a window and let in cold air to bring the warm air to it. Does anyone else subscribe to this method ?

I've heard about doing that to alleviate pressure problems...not sure it would be productive in my particular scenario.

 

[agartner]

My stove is in my finished basement in a "split" level home. I have a small muffin fan just under the basement ceiling "pushing" the warm air up the stairs, and a box fan on the floor by the stairs that "pulls" the cold air down. Keeps things comfortable for the most part.

 

[OpenWater]

I would, but apparently my furnace (a Rheem) will not run with just the blower. Anyone have this issue? I would like to solve this problem and see how the blower would improve circulation...

CB

 

[Wet1]

Most people have poor results with using the furnace fan. You might want to consider adding a well placed cold air return with a duct blower, if it's at all possible.

 

[pgmr]

I would, but apparently my furnace (a Rheem) will not run with just the blower. Anyone have this issue? I would like to solve this problem and see how the blower would improve circulation...

Do you have a switch for Auto/Fan on your thermostat? If you do and it doesn't work, then you've got a thermostat, wiring or furnace problem. If you are handy, you can jumper the R & G terminals at the thermostat. If fan comes on, you've got a bad switch on the stat. If not, check the control board in furnace to see if R & G have wires connected to both. Try jumping R & G at the control board. If fan comes on, you've got a broken wire. If not, control board is likely bad.

 

[heatwise]

we tried using our forced air systems fan to circulate some heat from the main floor to our basement and upstairs, unfortunately it didnt work for us and only felt like air conditioning from the vents. ours is a fan that runs at one speed, high. i wonderer if it ran on a slow speed if it would equalize the temps better?. i did try the open window to draw heat upstairs and it did work but its creating a pattern that sends warmth out the window. what seems to work best for us has been the idea i read posted here that suggested moving cold air towards the stove from the coldest area needing heat using a small fan. id love to force cold air from the basement to the main floor to see if in return warm air migrated back downstairs. always trying to heat better , pete

 

[RIJEEP]

Yesterday I tried aiming a fan towards the door/steps in hopes of directing the excess heat up the steps and into the upstairs living space. It did not
appear to work very well. So today I've got the fan oscillating in front of the stove with the furnace fan set to "ON".

Anyone know of any other tricks?

I have a twin fan that sits at the bottom of my stairs and pushes cold air coming down those stairs toward the stove. The lighter warm air runs up the staircase at the top and warms my second floor. Additionally the cool air cools the stove room.

This is in a non - open floor plan cape house.

 

[bsearcey]

Using the circulating fan worked for me. My return is just outside of my living room where the stove is. With my IR thermometer I was getting readings at the register between 72-75 upstairs when the living room was in the mid 80's. I was running the fan all day until recently. I noticed with the fan off during the day when we have all the doors to the bedrooms open the heat rises pretty good up the stairwell and into all the rooms without any help from the fan. I will turn the fan on at night when we go to bed and close the doors just to keep the bedrooms more comfortable.

 

[OpenWater]

I would, but apparently my furnace (a Rheem) will not run with just the blower. Anyone have this issue? I would like to solve this problem and see how the blower would improve circulation...

Do you have a switch for Auto/Fan on your thermostat? If you do and it doesn't work, then you've got a thermostat, wiring or furnace problem. If you are handy, you can jumper the R & G terminals at the thermostat. If fan comes on, you've got a bad switch on the stat. If not, check the control board in furnace to see if R & G have wires connected to both. Try jumping R & G at the control board. If fan comes on, you've got a broken wire. If not, control board is likely bad.

Yes, I've got that switch and it does not work to turn on the fan. Checking the users manual for the furnace, there is no mention of using just the blower. I'm not too handy when it comes to stuff like this, but I've got an HVAC guy coming out next week for some scheduled maintenance, and I'll ask him for his opnion. Many thanks for the tips...

CB

 

[Hurricane]

It didn't work well for me. My insert is on the first floor with the two primary cold air returns. It seemed that most of the heat was lost in the ductwork down in the basement before it made it back up to the other rooms.

Same for me.