Circulating wood heat with Furnace?

[WASPKFD]

Last night I get talking to a guy about wood heat and he asked if Im circuiting the heat with the furnace?? I tried this last night ( leaving the furnace fan on) and have noticed that Im no longer getting the 95 temps in the living room, seems quite cooler but the lower rooms in the basement are warming up... He also said give it 2 days to notice the diff???
whats your thoughts.. thanx

 

[webbie]

Hmm....in most cases, I am suspect. Not to say that it could not work in some situations......

Lots of reasons for my opinion....first, taking a small amount of BTU's and circulating it with a very large fan - and through relatively large heat ducts, doesn't sound logical to me.

2 days to notice? I don't buy that either.

If it works - it words. Keep in mind the high electrical cost of running the furnace blower....moving heat downward is always a tough thing.

 

[pen]

I'm with web. Also, remember ductwork will absorb / lose some heat. This is especially noticeable when the air being circulated isn't nearly as warm as the furnace would be dumping in.

Doing this will cool the room that's too hot, but the loss of heat in that room may not be adding much to the others. You may just be using those BTU's to warm the ductwork.

Have you tried pointing a small fan towards the room that is too hot and blowing cooler air from a hallway or adjacent rooms in?

Many have found that can help even out temps.

 

[rwhite]

I've tried it with no success. You got to figure that your taking the heat directly from a gas furnace and by the time it reaches the outlet and the fast moving air has cooled it, it is only 90 degrees or so. Trying to circulate air your starting with 90 degree temps. You'd be luck to get have it be 50 degrees by the time it goes through the duct work. Take the ambient temperature of a room in your house. Now put the thermometer in the outlet grate with the furnace fan circulating. I can almost guarantee it will be less. Whatever the temp is coming out of the outlet will be close to what the room stabilizes at.

 

[rwhite]

Couldn't remember what the temp drop was when I tried it before so I just went and gave it a 1/2 hour trial again. Temp in the stove room was 75, hallway where thermostat is was 70 and the bedroom was 67. Turned on the furnace fan. Air temp coming out was 62. Ran for 1/2 hour. Air coming out of duct was still 62. Stove room was 73, hallway was 69 and the bedroom was 66. So I suppose after 2 days I could get it to stabilze at around 62.

 

[WASPKFD]

Thanx for the response... well after running the furnace fan for about 5 days.. outdoor temp has been any where from 9 - 25.. basement started out at 50 and after time it has warmed up to 56... my furnace is inline with the WOODBURNER about 40 feet away.. this type of furnace has the intake built on it and its strong, pushes a lot of air..
also there are no other inlets for the furnance,,, sooooooooo is 6 degrees worth it????????/ hmmmmmmmmmmm I don't think so.. it really robs the rest of the house of the scorching heat lol......

I work construction so when I get in from -teen temps and -30 winchills I love a good scorching fire ALL HAIL THE BUCK STOVE!

 

[MDFisherman]

You are much better off trying to force cool air into the stove room and the hot air will find its way back as stated above. I use the fan trick in my house as the bedroom is on the opposite side of the house as the stove. I usually end up shutting the bedroom door because its so hot!

 

[WASPKFD]

Thanx MD .. I have no problem getting the back rooms up to temp,, its the basement I was trying to warm up... Like I said temp came up 6 but not worth it ... mabe I should move the thermostat down stairs lol......

 

[rwhite]

Thanx MD .. I have no problem getting the back rooms up to temp,, its the basement I was trying to warm up... Like I said temp came up 6 but not worth it ... mabe I should move the thermostat down stairs lol......

I thought about that to. If the thermostat was down stairs the furnace would run more often and the upstairs would be cookin. Pretty much zoned heat or another stove was the only viable solution I came up with. My work around works ok though. What kind of windows do you have in the basement? It's the only place in my house where I have old single pane drafty windows. Those get covered with foam board in the winter. When I get up on the morning I run the furnace for one cycle and it warms the basement up. Other than that it stabilzes at around 65.

 

[Ehouse]

When I switched from oil forced air to a propane boiler, I took out the blower and put in a small garage heater/fan coil. I checked with the manufacturer and confirmed that the 1/24 hp fan is rated for constant duty and vari-speed control. The thermostat's on the boiler so I can run the fan constant duty for circulation. The furnace blower's made for blast 'n quit operation. Going to low hp constant duty eliminates most of the problems mentioned above. Once the air flow is started, there is no penalty for pushing the air up or down (as explained to me by an engineer with regards to moving water). You'll lose some heat to the basement, but in your situation that's desirable.

If you're going to continue using your furnace, you might think about an inline fan in your ducting, or a small one next to the blower in the plenum ( consult your furnace guy/gal first). Works like a dream for me.

 

[gzecc]

My return for my air exchanger is <8' from my insert. When I initially turn on the fan it blows cold air (air from inside the ducts in the uninsulated space). After about a 1/2 hour the rooms including the basement stabilize a little bit reducing cold spots in the bedrooms.
My wife also likes to run the fan to reduce dust particles.