Attic Hot Air Ducts with Fan?

[UpStateNY]

I thought I would mention this because I have not seen this discussed before.

A friend of mine is in the HVAC business. He told me he has installed at least 6 hot air duct systems with fan in the attic to move hot air over pellet stove to the other rooms in the house. The fan(s) in the duct work are connected to their own thermostat. This provides even heat throughout the house for only $1500 to $2000.

Since the hot air duct work is added in the attic, the house conventional heating system can be either hot water baseboard or hot air. Obviously this solution only works well for the top floor below the attic.

Has anyone here done this?

 

[Papelletman]

I have a ranch style house with central air ducting in the attic, I tried just using the fan but was not that impressed with the outcome. I then installed a couple of thru wall fans over the doorways, will have to wait until next winter to really test them out.

 

[john193]

In my experience these systems don't work. Largely because the amount of air they can move is less than the amount of heat dissipated from the room. The faster the fans blow, the cooler the air feels, thus negating the purpose.

It is similar to using your air con on fan only mode (compressor off) and just recirculating air. Though some people say this does work. I don't have any experience with it.

 

[Arti]

If you don't already have a Pellet Stove you might consider a Pellet Furnace and it's own duct work, (Cold Air Return and Heat runs). It would cost the same in a lot of cases and be simpler to set up especially in a single story ranch style home.
I finally installed a Pellet Furnace and left the Pellet parlor stove in the living area. Works very well for my setup.

We tried ceiling fans, running the furnace blower etc. it didn't really seem to be even heat in the house especially when it hit 20 below with a wind blowing. now it's steady even heat and when we crank up the parlor stove it's a few degrees warmer in the living area.

Also you could put in a second pellet stove in the $2000 dollar range which would even out the heat and give you a backup, If something goes wrong with one stove you still have heat in the house when you have 2 stoves that burn pellets.
Everyone has a different setup and different expectations for there heating setup so one size fits all will not work for some setups this just seems to be the answer to my heating needs.

 

[Mt Bob]

I think if it is a dedicated,well insulated low flow system it is an excellent plan.

 

[UpStateNY]

The "thru wall fan" and "pellet hot air furnaces" have all been discussed before.

I was asking if anyone had installed the attic hot air duct with fan solution? My HVAC friend said the fan he installed moves a lot of air. I did not ask if the duct work he installed dumps the hot air at the ceiling or down at floor level. I can see where the bathrooms and bedrooms could benefit from such a system.

If anyone has implemented this solution it would be interesting to know how well it works.

 

[railfanron]

I doubt it would work very well. Most of the heat picked up in the airflow will be lost in the unheated attic. I have a 2250 sq Ft ranch with my heat ducts in the attic space. The ductwork is insulated to r40 and I can't distribute my pellet stove heat with it. In order for it to work the air temp would have to be at least 120 degrees input to get a good mix in the house.
Ron

 

[Don2222]

Hello

We have done this moving hot air from a basement pellet stove upstairs. It works extreemly well.
See pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ting-the-heat-up-one-floor.65315/#post-816778

 

[moey]

Spend the extra money and put in a pellet furnace and real ductwork rather then some claptrap solution. You can then save up some more money and have central air some day added.

I dont think you would pick up enough volume of air to really do it effectively if you had many vents or any long runs. Our geothermal system doesnt get much of above 90 degrees but its moving 1600cfm's around the house. You can heat with low temps but you need lots of moving air.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

if this system is sucking hot air out from over the pellet stove, and depositing it in rooms farther away, the make up air will come through the entrance of the room the stove is in. This will make for a breezy uncomfy pellet stove room. unless of course, there is also a return system which takes colder air from the floor of the far away room and deposits it near the stove.