Auxiliary convection air or heat zone kit?

[MDfireplaceGuy]

Hi all! I'm planning the installation of my Quadra-Fire 7100 fireplace.

Option A
Initially, I thought I might install a heat zone kit to move some heat from the first to the second floor of my house - in particular to our bedroom on the opposite side of the house from the fireplace. This would require a run of about 30' through un-insulated attic space, which doesn't seem to be the best idea.

Option B
The fireplace also allows for installation of an auxiliary convection air system, which can be run to another location in the home and used as a cold air return within the home and distributed into the room where the fireplace is located. My thinking is that this would create a vacuum that would pull warmer air from the first floor toward the general direction of our bedroom upstairs.

Any suggestions as to which option might work best, and any pros or cons to either option would be appreciated! It's not my plan to evenly heat the entire house with this fireplace, but I get the impression that it will perform significantly better in that regard than the builder-grade, open, wood-burning firplace we've used for the past 19 years.

 

[begreen]

Your concerns with heat loss are warranted. Moving cold air toward the warm is often easier with the heat loss less noticeable. Still the duct should be well insulated in either case.

 

[MDfireplaceGuy]

Your concerns with heat loss are warranted. Moving cold air toward the warm is often easier with the heat loss less noticeable. Still the duct should be well insulated in either case.

I think I am leaning towards auxiliary convection by running a vent pipe to the upstairs. Hopefully the vacuum created will pull a good deal of warm air up there. I'll be sure to insulate as best as I can.

My only other concern is that the fireplace might overwhelm the room it's in. Is it effective to install a heat zone kit to be used as a "heat dump" in such a case? I could easily run one to the garage, which could also have the added benefit of warming that area somewhat when I need to work out there a few times each winter.