Air Travel through a Cape House - looking for ideas

[RIJEEP]

Hello. I am heating a 1100ft^2 house w/ a Country stove insert in an existing masonry fireplace.

We just moved upstairs this summer, now I must heat it. The insert does a fine job w/ the 1st floor heat. Utilizing ceiling and floor fans my thermostat stays off until my stove gets cool. Now Im looking to heat both spaces upstairs if the door is closed b/t them.

1) Currently I have 1 path for air travel to upstairs that is the staircase on the West side of the house. Thinking about register locations to circ air up/down from there.

Interestingly... the South kneewall storage area gets WARM b/c the masonry chimney warms up when I run the stove for a while. The whole cavity where the chimney is gets toasty (not fire hazard toasty) but I might try to tap into it for heat... There is a cavity behind the kitchen wall because the fireplace is 7' across then it tapers to 3.5' before it goes through 2nd story framing, this creates a warm air pocket.

2) Would it be worth installing registers b/t studs above doorways (photo) to help horizontal airflow on 1st floor?

Any input / experiences is welcomed

 

[atomichawg]

If you put a grate in the ceiling in the living room that would move air into the upstairs bedroom. For the nursery, maybe get one of those oil filled radiators. We have a Delonghi space heater that was around 30 bucks at lowes and it works nicely.

 

[DAKSY]

You wanna install registers/ducts near your outside (colder area) walls where the cooler air can drop to the area below.
This can allow the heated air from below to travel up the stairs easier, & the overall effect can be better air convection...
It may also be possible to install one register at the base of the knee wall with another at the top - with
a small blower or Superquiet fan to extract the heat from the crawl space....

 

[Wet1]

I'd probably install a grate/register in the living room in the upper left (SE?) corner leading into the southern craw space. I'd seal an elbow over that grate, and duct the other end of the elbow into the BR wall. This way the grate is not looking directly into your BR. Place a fan inline in the duct, reversible if possible. I'd also tie the fan to a thermostat located in the BR. Normally you want to blow the cold air back to towards the stove and let the heat be pulled up, but you might want to experiment with the direction the fan is blowing.

I would not hack up above the doors on the first floor, putting little vents there would not justify the effort and destruction.

 

[RIJEEP]

I really like the idea of the elbow. Whats your opinion on insulated duct going from living room ceiling, closer to stove, through south storage into nursery say 5' distance?