Air vent/fan to heat my bedroom

[NHWOODISGOOD]

ive been using my Lopi Freedom for a few months now and the stove is great. it heats the living room very well - almost too well at times. but because of the layout of the house most of the heat that leaves the living room goes up the stairs making it hard to heat the kitchen and especially my first floor bedroom. I don't necessarily want my bedroom getting too hot, but thought if I could do a better job of getting the heat to the bedroom I wouldn't need to have the living room at over 80*, and would also use less wood. so I was going to try getting a few small doorway fans to put in the doorways going from the living room to the kitchen and the kitchen to the bedroom. in my search for those fans I found other fans that can go right in the wall which I thought might work even better and then a new idea entered my head. maybe I could use a small wall fan and some ducting to go from the living room straight to the bedroom. heres a rough layout of my first floor:



the blue is where I was thinking it could go. im assuming I want to be pushing the hot air from the living room to the bedroom. would I want the hot air outlet in the bedroom to be up high or down low? is a return vent also necessary? or let the cool air return to the living room through the kitchen? anyone have any suggestions?

 

[begreen]

Might work, but the assumption is wrong. It will be easier to push cool air from the bedroom down low, close to the floor, into the living room. Hot air will travel in a loop through the kitchen to the bedroom. This will help even out LR temps and I would expect maybe a 5 deg rise in the BR temp. This won't need a big fan. A 4 or 5" 100 cfm muffin (axial) fan should do the trick.

 

[hiites]

I had the same situation between the basement (where the stove is) and my first floor. I created a duct between the basement and the first floor and added an "in duct" fan that works great. More moderate heating in the basement and increased the temp on the first floor by about 8* on average. I used the existing joist bay as the duct. I measured the size of the bay and cut a 2" piece of styrofoam to fit, then cut a circle in it to install the fan into it. I cut a hole in the ceiling for a 12X6 register, installed the foam/fan. Then I cut a hole for the output register in the 1st floor. I have the input register and the output register about 12' apart so that the heat is pulled into the joist bay and it travels 12' across the room and comes into the first floor floor. I'm not sure if that makes any sense.

Input register in ceiling of basement.


Heat travels in the ceiling from right to left about 12'.


Then comes up into my first floor.



This is the fan I used. It's working good so far and is nice and quiet.

In your situation, I don't think you will have any trouble moving the heat as long as your duct is at the top by the ceiling. Push the heat up the and the cold air will naturally come out of the room at the floor and travel to the source of negative pressure which will be your stove room.

 

[NHWOODISGOOD]

Might work, but the assumption is wrong. It will be easier to push cool air from the bedroom down low, close to the floor, into the living room. Hot air will travel in a loop through the kitchen to the bedroom. This will help even out LR temps and I would expect maybe a 5 deg rise in the BR temp. This won't need a big fan. A 4 or 5" 100 cfm muffin (axial) fan should do the trick.

I have seen the recommendation for pushing the cold air back towards the stove in other situations, usually involving cold bedrooms off of a hallway, but I guess my thought was it might be better in my situation to pull the hot air from up high in the living room and bring it directly to the bedroom where it is needed the most, and then the air would return to the living room through the kitchen. out of curiosity, why is it better to push the cold air to the stove than to pull the hot air where you want it?

 

[begreen]

Cold air is denser. You will move more air by working with nature. Try it with a temporary setup.

 

[GeHmTS]

Then comes up into my first floor.

I see the thermometer is reading 81F. What's the temperature in the basement with an 81F reading on the first floor?

 

[NHWOODISGOOD]

Cold air is denser. You will move more air by working with nature. Try it with a temporary setup.

im not sure temporary is much of an option, I don't see a way of doing it without putting holes in my walls. but I think the supplies I need are under $50 so ill just go for it. the biggest commitment will be making those holes. ill take your suggestion and put the vents down low, pulling the cold air from the BR to the LR. heres my list of supplies so far:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-F...-Metal-Duct-Pipe-BCP6X24/100172086?quantity=1#

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Speedi-P...und-Soffit-Vent-SM-RSV-6/202907302?quantity=2#

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-F...d-Adjustable-Elbow-B90E6/100062966?quantity=1#

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Suncourt-Inductor-6-in-In-Line-Duct-Fan-DB206/100067594?quantity=1#

anyone see anything im missing? or maybe something that might not be what im looking for/something else might work better? I guess ill need some wire to wire the fan. im no electrician, might need some guidance on that. hiites, did you put your fan running off a switch? seems like the best option.

the inlet will be behind this dresser:




pipe and fan under this shelf at the top of my basement stairs:




outlet will be on the white wall somewhere around the phone jack and power outlet:




maybe the easiest wiring option would be to get a corded fan and bring the cord out of the wall with the air vent in the living room and just plug it in the power outlet right there. not as professional as wiring it to a switch but much easier.

what do you guys think?

 

[begreen]

You'll need to keep the dresser with a space from the wall so that it isn't restricting airflow. Not sure about those fans. They are cheap imports. Test before installing.

 

[hiites]

I see the thermometer is reading 81F. What's the temperature in the basement with an 81F reading on the first floor?

It is about 82* at the ceiling in the basement and around 76* at seated level.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

I think it'll work fine. You'll need a length of wire w a plug for the fan, I believe it'll just have two leads on it, no plug.
Just did a similar set up in my gfs home and it moved the hot air nicely to the desired room as well as the two rooms it had to travel back through, cresting a circular flow.
We also had a stair case in the way and most other attempts to move air past it just result ed in more heat going up stairs where we didn't need it.
Good luck, make sure your wiring connections are tight.

 

[GeHmTS]

It is about 82* at the ceiling in the basement and around 76* at seated level.

That's an excellent transfer of heat with about 99% efficiency. I'm thinking about adding registers on the 2nd floor to help promote heat transfer. Thanks for sharing.