Best Option for Improving Heat

[shRED50]

Last winter was my first using wood to heat my home (most of it at least) and I love it! As you can see in my previous thread (found here), I have a Englander 13-NC that heats my entire downstairs. However I have a really hard time pushing heat into my living room. You can see my floor plan in the linked thread. For my upstairs I'm installing a couple vents between the kitchen and the upstairs bedroom.

I do have a fireplace in the living room that I've considered converting into a wood stove but I don't want to bake in my downstairs with two stoves going. So would installing a small wood stove into the fireplace be a good idea or are there things I can do to effectively move heat from the kitchen/dining into the living room? I already have a stove top fan that I point into the living room but it doesn't help too much.

 

[begreen]

You're in control of when and how much wood is burned. Overheating shouldn't be an issue, especially if heat can migrate up the stairwell easily.

 

[shRED50]

But if I keep the living room stove burning..."light", would I not have to worry about creosote build up? That also means I'd have to reload wood more often, right?

Also, in my old thread I just realized you mentioned to have a fan blow from the living room into the kitchen. What's the purpose of blowing in that direction is blowing from the kitchen into the living room?

 

[maple1]

Generally when trying to move air & heat around, you want the fan to be moving the coolest air - since it is the most dense, therefore more of it will get moved all else being equal.

Which usually means having the fan down low, on the floor, blowing the coolest air from the coolest room towards the stove. The cold air that is leaving the cool room via the fan will get replaced by higher up warmer air coming into the room.

 

[begreen]

But if I keep the living room stove burning..."light", would I not have to worry about creosote build up? That also means I'd have to reload wood more often, right?

Also, in my old thread I just realized you mentioned to have a fan blow from the living room into the kitchen. What's the purpose of blowing in that direction is blowing from the kitchen into the living room?

This will depend on the stove, it could mean more frequent loads if just heating the LR. The question is how much heat will go upstairs and what is the sq ftg is expected to be heated with the LR stove? Size the LR stove appropriately. Also, many cat stoves can burn cleanly at a low output so that might be an attractive option for that location.

 

[shRED50]

Generally when trying to move air & heat around, you want the fan to be moving the coolest air - since it is the most dense, therefore more of it will get moved all else being equal.

Which usually means having the fan down low, on the floor, blowing the coolest air from the coolest room towards the stove. The cold air that is leaving the cool room via the fan will get replaced by higher up warmer air coming into the room.

And that makes complete sense! Last year I was thinking backwards and trying to push the heated air. But that makes more sense!

Begreen - my living room is about 350 sq ft. I'm sure a lot of the heat would travel upstairs since there is a loft above it and the stairs to the bedroom is in that room too. I was looking at Englanders 13-NCI but was afraid it would be too much. I'm pretty sure it's noncatalytic