Another air circulation question....

[Holzwurm]

I have read up on some older posts on this subject. The consensus seems to be to always move cold air to the stove. What if that is nearly impossible or to costly? Here is my idea: The first floor layout is pictured. The finished walk-out basement below this layout is what I want to heat with the extra heat in the stove room. I thought I could 45 the two corners in the living room (red) and install an 8 inch vent pipe in the corners. A vent opening would be about 1 foot below the ceiling in the stove room where I could then suck the heat to the basement with some in-line fans. The left vent I would discharge into the room below bedroom 2. The colder air would have to come up the stairs through the kitchen back to the stove room...I bought a Lopi Cape Cod and I want to get some input from you guys before I install the stove and start the big living room redo which includes hanging the crown molding etc... Any other ideas? The school room (we homeschool) is below Bedroom 2 and the guest room below Bedroom 1. I really want the school room warm during the day. This floor plan is just under 2000sqft. Thanks for any and all input!

 

[begreen]

Heat will not want to go downward. Also, any return vent must be at least 10 ft away from the stove. You may be better off insulating the school room and putting in a small electric heater. Delongi and others make them with 24 hr timers so that the space will be warm when school starts.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Would that even pass code?


btw, welcome to the forum Holzwurm. Always nice to see another Michigander on the forum.

 

[Holzwurm]

[quote=" btw, welcome to the forum Holzwurm. Always nice to see another Michigander on the forum.[/quote]

Thanks! I didn't know about the 10ft distance for return vents.

 

[Holzwurm]

Heat will not want to go downward.

True, but cold air doesn't want to rise either. So what is the best way to get some heat to the basement without supplemental heating? Putting the stove in the basement would probably be the most efficient use of the stove, but I would hate to burry that beauty down there. I could run my central HVAC fan with the upstairs vents closed off...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And believe it or not, most folks are surprised to find if they put the stove in the basement, they can't get much air to the upstairs!

 

[Nick Mystic]

I have tried moving warm air from a basement stove upstairs via a cold air return near my basement stove using my central air handler with poor success. As many have stated here before it is quite difficult to move stove room air temperatures through duct work. There just isn't enough heat in the air to make it through an insulated duct and come out warm enough to heat other rooms successfully.

 

[begreen]

The best way in this situation is to treat the basement as a separate problem. Consider an electric space heater maybe?