cant get heat to back rooms

[ATVriderINmass]

hey guys, anyone know the best way to get heat to the colder rooms in the house...someone told me to put little doorway fans at the top of the doors. someone else told me to cut a hole up near the top of the wall near the ceiling and the heat will travel through by itself..not sure what is the best way..

 

[lotust]

Cut a hole and install a nice fan in the hole. It will still pass threw with the fan off.

 

[RedRanger]

Doorway fans are only $25, maybe try that first. It is the least expensive option. And in my experience, they do work, but they ain`t perfect!!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

there is another way,no cutting , no vents , no screwed in doorway fans;

first a bit of background, the unit is in one room and the rooms that are sepearated from it do not get as much heat due to walls being in the way and only doorways to allow heated air in, problem is , these rooms already have cooler air in them ,and since cooler air is heavier than warmer air , the warm air finds it difficult to "root out" the colder air.

its trying ,but its not efficient bacause of the weight difference and only (usually) one way in. a natural convection current wants to build but there is not enough force to make it happen (unless you help it, right)

place a small desktop fan on the floor just inside the doorway in the cooler room , aim it at the stove why at the stove you ask, simple, the air is coolest near the floor, that air we want moving towards the stove to be heated, also, that air is heavier, so moving that air is more easily done.

now , here's the way this trick works, as the cooler air is drawn out of the room down low, the heated air then is pulled into the cooler room right over the top of the cool air that is leaving. hence warming the room.

as i said this occurs naturally as well, this is how to test it; take a match , or lighter or candle, stand in the doorway , light your flame and hold it up high in the door, the flame will lean into the cooler room , being pushed by the heated air graduallly going in there, now lower the flame near the floor , the flame bends toward the warmer room as the cool air is gradually leaving the room. all the fan does is assist the current in doing what physics makes it do anyway.

now, only run the fan on its lowest setting ,and keep it aimed low , not up in the air to disturb the heated flow leaving the stove. give it an hour or so and you will see the temperature in the cooler room rising at a decent rate , be advised now , that this wont happen instantly , but it will happen much faster than if no assistance is used.

i use this trick when we get home from out of town or somthing when the pellet stove has been shut down and the house is cool, it helps a lot , the house warms back up more rapidly by far than if i do not do this.


hope this helps ya

 

[Jfk4th]

Damn, Pyro you must be a genius, this sounds great. I will try this tomorrow and let you know. I have 2 small corner door fans I bought from HD and the seems to work pretty well too. Thanks again smart guy!

 

[begreen]

Wait a minute, I thought with that 30NC he'd be heating the whole neighborhood.

 

[dtabor]

Stoveguy,

I do just that and you can definitely feel the difference.

Taking the question one step further with your process......I have a couple extra of the little black upper doorway fans. If I aim one of those INTO the cool room in the doorway where the cool air is being blown OUT along the floor, will that speed up the warmer air getting into the cold room?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We simply use a Vornado fan set beside the stove. Works as the far rooms are always warm and we've done this for years. We used to use just a simple pedestal fan but the Vornado does a much better job.

 

[ATVriderINmass]

I was just looking at those thruwall tranfer fans at HD...all the reviews are great..maybe i'll try that and if it doesnt work good i'll bring it back...not sure if i should put it up on the highest point of the wall or stove level where i can feel the heat from the stove..

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Stoveguy,

I do just that and you can definitely feel the difference.

Taking the question one step further with your process......I have a couple extra of the little black upper doorway fans. If I aim one of those INTO the cool room in the doorway where the cool air is being blown OUT along the floor, will that speed up the warmer air getting into the cold room?

actually , yes, and they could be used by themselves for "long term effect , after the floor fans have been shut off and stowed away , the idea is to build the current , sustaining doesnt take as much horsepower. might just be the ticket for extended runs during long cold periods where sustained burning is used without having the floor fans still there to trip over.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Wait a minute, I thought with that 30NC he'd be heating the whole neighborhood.

depends on how many trees are in the way, sometimes you have to push the heat from house to house, cut holes in fences , ya know, also the stove must not be located more than half way to the cul de sac, unless prevailing wind is from the cul de sac towards the main road, then you can gain convection depending on how much wall surface you have on the leeward side of the house containing the 30.

its science man, stand back and give it a chance

 

[savageactor7]

We have an old country 2 story house. 20 years ago we put in a ceiling fan to move the heat throughout the house and are very satisfied with doing so. those big blades pushing the hot air down and out work well...I think you should try that before cutting any holes in your walls.

 

[ATVriderINmass]

we have 3 ceiling fans running and it still wont bring the air into that room.....I think i might put a 16"x16" grill up on the highest part of the wall in the room with the stove.. I just checked its 92 degrees up there..and that wall connects to the room im trying to heat..maybe the air will travel along the ceiling into that vent....

 

[stoveguy2esw]

we have 3 ceiling fans running and it still wont bring the air into that room.....I think i might put a 16"x16" grill up on the highest part of the wall in the room with the stove.. I just checked its 92 degrees up there..and that wall connects to the room im trying to heat..maybe the air will travel along the ceiling into that vent....

try the floor fan trick first before cutting grates in, seriously, ceiling fans can both help or hurt , improper location can cause a ceiling fan to actually hinder the natural convection flow, this dams up the air you want to move on. switch off the ceiling fans and set a fan on the floor in the doorway blowing at the stove , it will work ,ive done it for ages and its worked for me without fail.

 

[begreen]

Wait a minute, I thought with that 30NC he'd be heating the whole neighborhood.

depends on how many trees are in the way, sometimes you have to push the heat from house to house, cut holes in fences , ya know, also the stove must not be located more than half way to the cul de sac, unless prevailing wind is from the cul de sac towards the main road, then you can gain convection depending on how much wall surface you have on the leeward side of the house containing the 30.

its science man, stand back and give it a chance

:lol: :lol: Like a proud father, warm praise indeed.

 

[ATVriderINmass]

we tried that just a little while ago ...for 2 hours ...didnt work..the temp went up like 2 degrees...we need to get it up about 10 more degrees..i think the chainsaw is coming out tomorrow..

 

[Diabel]

we have 3 ceiling fans running and it still wont bring the air into that room.....I think i might put a 16"x16" grill up on the highest part of the wall in the room with the stove.. I just checked its 92 degrees up there..and that wall connects to the room im trying to heat..maybe the air will travel along the ceiling into that vent....

I believe an automatic smoke damper must be installed in such grill. At the same time I am not sure if that would solve the problem... as warm air tries to go up cold air will try to do down.

 

[Cazimere]

we have 3 ceiling fans running and it still wont bring the air into that room.....I think i might put a 16"x16" grill up on the highest part of the wall in the room with the stove.. I just checked its 92 degrees up there..and that wall connects to the room im trying to heat..maybe the air will travel along the ceiling into that vent....

You could install a through the wall duct Fan with dimmer switch.
Stick a 90º swivel elbow on to direct air to suit your situation. Works great for me : )

 

[ATVriderINmass]

hey caz that seems like a good idea that just might work...how did you wire it in? what size pipe did you get? and does the fan cool the air or is it still really warm when it goes through the fan? I just tried the door way fans and doesnt seem to work that good....the room i want to heat is the next room over from the stove room...so i think i have to cut a hole in the wall and put a vent or a fan...

 

[drizler]

I got one of those upper doorway fans once , the half moon job. Pretty expensive and quite loud for the air it didn't move. Even blowing in opposition to the small fan on the floor of the hallway it didn't work any better than the floor fan itself pointing towards the stove room. The secret is finding a floor box fan that is very quiet and has smooth edges for when you can and will routinely trip over it. Gotta try one of those room to room duct fans one of these days. I find that in spite of the floor fan doing its thing its still about 5-8 degrees colder in those far rooms. If you want to see how a fan moves your air around just use an incense stick and watch the smoke move.

 

[Cazimere]

hey caz that seems like a good idea that just might work...how did you wire it in? what size pipe did you get? and does the fan cool the air or is it still really warm when it goes through the fan? I just tried the door way fans and doesnt seem to work that good....the room i want to heat is the next room over from the stove room...so i think i have to cut a hole in the wall and put a vent or a fan...

FJL,
It is an 8" duct fan and pipe. Comes with a wiring diagram. Air comes through the fan nice and warm.
I run mine on medium speed to warm 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. It is also fairly quiet : )

 

[WarmGuy]

What if you were willing to sacrifice efficiency and heat in the living room in order to heat up the bedroom more? You could put a box fan in the bedroom window evacuating the air, and open a window a bit in the living room.

I know, it's heresy, but it might be an interesting experiment. When the LR is 78 degrees and the bedroom is 62 degrees, it might be a worthwhile trade off.

BTW, a cheap way to use your existing fan as a door fan:

 

[Cazimere]

Then you would be sucking cold air into the living room which would in turn reduce the temperature
of the air being moved to the bedroom. Like you said (sacrificing efficiency and heat)
I'd be inclined to rethink that idea, but let us know how that works out for you tonight : )

 

[dsil]

Maybe you should take the guard off the front of that fan, that way you will be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE whoever it does hit when it falls will be injured a bit more. 8-/