Anyone good with heating systems?

[Joey Jones]

I have a Miller furnace forced hot air system in my mobil home. I think there is only one heating duct that heats the whole house. I do have 1 room that my wood stove doesnt heat very warmly and in that room there are domestic water pipes that feed the furnace and do come up thru the floor. I was thinking of moving the furnace thermostat into that room and closing off all the rooms that don't need heat as the wood stove provides the neccessary heat too. My hardware store guy said I could take sections of batt insulation and wrap them in plastic bags to stop the heat flow to those un-neccessary areas. I just need a second opinion as to whether plastic wrapped batts will do the job or is it a fire hazzard?

I should say that I intend to put a doorway 100CFM corner fan into this room. So far the temps have been only 5-6 degrees cooler that the room with the wood stove. But I am worried about -20 degrees below zero type weather....Can anyone advise me ?

 

[Redox]

Where you are putting the insulation, around the pipes or in the ductwork? If you are trying to close up the ductwork or air vents with insulation, I'm going to say "no" as closing that many vents is going to create a problem for the furnace. The insulation won't burn, but it might start to smell a little. The furnace will probably overheat and start cycling on the high limit. This isn't efficient and doesn't do the furnace any good.

If you are insulating the pipes, put some heat tape on them first. Insulation only really slows down the heat loss, so the pipes will eventually freeze if you don't run water through them occasionally. I am assuming the hot air duct goes through the crawl space and may be radiating enough heat to keep things from freezing. If your stove is keeping the house warm, your furnace may not run enough to heat the space up and you may have other freezing problems. I'd start looking for a sale on heat tape; it may cost you a few bucks now, but is cheap insurance against a busted pipe.

Chris

 

[Couderay80]

Not really sure what your asking about as far as getting really cold but I would not keep any room with out heat that contains water piping especially in a trailer. Use your woodstove as a primary heat source and keep your miller as a back up when you don't have a fire going in your heat stove. Replacing piping when it bursts is no fun especially in the winter time. Adding insulation to the duct is a good idea, if possible, but I would shy away from covering any vents with insulation.

 

[Joey Jones]

My intention was to put insulation in the ductwork after wrapping it with plastic...The reason I would like to do this is because when my wood stove is on I have only a need to heat the bath room and the study, where 1 pipe comes up throught the floor. These rooms do stay fairly warm from the stove so far, but have not been tested in new England cold. I thought I might put the thermosthat in the coldest room...and figure if the outside air temp got below 10 degrees F the thermostat would come on and blow hot air to these 2 rooms before the the pipes under the trailer become too cold. and that when these rooms are heated the thermostat would shut down the furnace when the temps reach the thermostat setting.

I have been under the trailer 3 or 4 times and refuse to go into that "heart of darkness" again as clearance is only 12" from the ground to the the bottom of the trailer. There is a skirt around the trailer made up of 2" rigid insulation and covered with vertical vinyl siding on the outside. I didn't have a problem during last winters coldest days, as I think the skirting is a very good wind block. Can't I just plug half the dutwork pipes in the house and leave the other half unblocked , but covered by a thermostat in the coldest room? AsI mentioned earlier I have a Miller hot air ducted furnance with o duct insulation under the trailer.. It's just too nasty under there with skunks, snakes rats raccons and as i said once under the trailer there is not even enough height to turn one's body over....Very clustrophobic down there and I do not suffer from clustrophobia.

 

[Tony H]

instead of stuffing insulation in the ducts what about just covering the ducts with that plastic 3M type window covering or even taping a piece of cardboard to the inside of the vent cover.

 

[Joey Jones]

I thought that it might take less fuel if I cut off the ductwork system closer to the source. The only ducts I need are 10" from the furnace, and then the heat has to travel 30' through uninsulated duct work to 2 rooms that are adequately heated by the wood stove and have no water pipes in them.

 

[Redox]

I can't recommend crippling the existing heating system to pull this off. What if you are not home due to some unforseen emergency? I also can't recommend trying to squeeze double the airflow through half the ductwork, if you know what I mean. It sounds like you are going to have to have some duct losses to keep the pipes from freezing as 2" of insulation in the skirt isn't much when you are talking sub zero weather. Try moving the thermostat as this is easy to do and close the registers closest to the wood stove. You could cut a piece of sheet metal to drop into the register to close it off better, but don't do anything that you can't undo quickly. Live with it for a season and see how it does. It's supposed to get pretty cold this winter, if you believe the Farmer's Almanac!

Chris

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Mobile home ductwork leaves a lot to be desired size-wise. Adjust floor registers in the affected area for reduced airflow, if registers are non-adjustable, go buy some...most box stores carry them, or get them from an HVAC distributor. Most of those t-stats are located in the hall near the furnace, and can screw up due to the return air, which travels down the hall to get there. Moving it to the living room area may help.