Convection Loop Extraordinaire!

[Chuck the Canuck]

Hello good people of Hearth.com. Today I conquered the convection loop and I'm so happy right now I'm just beside myself.

As I've mentioned before, I have a medium-small stove in the basement (Timberwolf 2200, 1.9 cf) which I'm running 24/7 trying to heat the whole house while staying ahead of the heat pump. I don't mind the heat pump running in its' normal mode, but when it gets cold like this (-16 to -20 deg Celsius) the auxiliary heating element in the unit starts coming on to keep up with the demand and the money starts a-flying out my pocket. So I get home late tonight and run down to get the stove fired up when I hear it: Click. I run up and check the thermostat and there it is: Auxiliary Heat On.... So I'm groanin and cussin cause I know that it's gonna take forever for this little stove to start warming up the upstairs..... (Why didn't I get a bigger stove???)

So I sit down and think, maybe I should try what the guys have been saying about putting a fan at the top of the stairs to try and get a convection loop going. So I set up the fan and sit back down and start thinking, well that might work, but that bloomin door at the bottom of the stairwell is chock full of drywall all above it and down the sides, and it's really blocking any chances I have of getting much real air movement happening.... and that's when it hits me: I need to get rid of all that drywall all around the door so the cold air can come rolling down the stairs properly and the hot air can get floating up the stairs instead of staying stuck down here in the basement.

So that's what I did. And it worked! Almost instantaneously! I mean, literally 2 minutes after I took the pieces of drywall out I was standing mid way down the stairs in between the fan on the landing and the basement, and I could feel warm air blowin upwards past my face and cold air blowin down right into my butt! It's amazing. Now I'm wondering if this little stove is actually going to be able to keep the house as warm as I was always hoping it would....

Final note: as I sit here writing to thank you all for the wealth of knowledge and expertise that you so kindly and willingly share with us newbies, the house is a comfortable 20 deg Celsius, the heat pump is NOT running, and I'm grinning from ear to ear!

Thanks Ya'll.

 

[Nick Mystic]

Sounds like you have a good flow working for you now. I really like the look of that wood flooring you have in your upstairs. What is it? I hope your system pans out for you . Good luck.

 

[begreen]

Nicely done with the sheetrock surgery. I imagine it is a bit more comfortable downstairs too.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

I imagine it is a bit more comfortable downstairs too.

Yeah, things should be levelling out a bit better now. And now that you mention it, I've never actually measured temps up and down. I usually just keep my eye on the thermostat upstairs (scared of the bloomin Auxiliary coming on) but I think that it would be a good idea to get a thermometer downstairs and start checking out what kind of temp differences I'm getting...

I really like the look of that wood flooring you have in your upstairs. What is it?

Thank you. Actually it's a rather inexpensive laminate flooring material, but I really like the looks of it too. I used to cuss about it alot because it was always cold in the winter, but with the stove in the basement I'm finding it very comfortable for the first time ever! As far as the convection loop system goes, I feel really positive about it right now, but the next few days will prove it out one way or the other... and I still want to swap out the Timberwolf for an Englander 30-NC for next winter. I'm sure that will totally kick the bejeebers out the heat pump!

Cheers,

 

[weatherguy]

I thought you bought a new stove called "Convection Loop Extraordinaire"

 

[BrotherBart]

Score!

 

[blazincajun]

Great job! Reducing shear always helps with air movement.