Q&A Capturing Heat from my woodstove to my Central Hot Air Furna

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.

QandA

New Member
Staff member
Nov 27, 2012
0
Question:

Here's the deal: I want to capture the heat from the stove's flue and run it through a Heat-Exchange box ( a plenum?). If I hook it into line with the Central heating system (HVAC) then I can (or should) simply turn on the Fan and circulate the heat throughout the house.



Answer:

In many cases this does not make sense. There are wood burning furnaces available that can do the job much better than a home made rig.The main reason is the limited amount of heat exchange are on a regular woodstove. This will provide only a small amount of heated air, much less than the fan on your HVAC system is used to handling. The result will be air that is not warm. Another problem is that, if the stove smokes, this air will also be drawn into the system. Best to use each type of stove for the use i was designed for.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.