Distributing heat

[mountain.goat33]

ok, so our home is about 970 square feet. We have a main level (where stove is) and then second story (where our bedroom is) plus a small loft. Our first level where the stove is gets nice and toasty but our bedroom is freezing! We have a spiral staircase and our bedroom is pretty much right by the end of the spiral staircase. When you walk up there stairs, you immediately feel the pockets of cold Air. There’s a small fan in the stairwell but I can’t seem to figure out what direction to set it at for it to do anything. Is there another way to distribute heat from the first floor?

 

[begreen]

Is there a doorway blocking airflow? Can you supply a floor plan sketch and maybe some pictures of the stove room and stairwell locations.

 

[NW Pa Burner]

Cold air usually drops pretty quick so it sounds like your airflow is not 'allowed' move naturally. A lot of times it is easier to blow the cold air back the stove than it is to blow the warm air where you want it. Or if you have forced air you can just run the blower?

 

[peakbagger]

I have seen a few homebrew installs over the years where people install baseboard in the room they want to heat and set up thermosyphon loop from another radiator above the woodstove. As long as there are no valves and an expansion tank on the loop there really is no down side. If there is way of stopping the flow then a pressure relief valve is needed to keep the water from boiling.

 

[jwfirebird]

would that work for going down, keeping basement warm?

 

[peakbagger]

It would not unless you installed a circulator pump. Heat rises so you dont need a pump for an upstairs bedroom. I have a friend with a similar more sophisticated concept where he has a wood stove in the basement that feed baseboards in his addition. He has a dump zone so that system never boils. His heat exchanger sits directly on top of the stove, but he has valving and quick disconnects in place so he can remove the exchanger quickly.

 

[begreen]

HW heating via a wood stove needs scrupulous attention to safety factors. It can also affect clean burning in the stove if the heat is scavenged improperly. For this reason it's not frequently discussed here. It is possible to do. One must be aware of the caveats and not take shortcuts on the installation. At risk is a very powerful steam explosion if things are not properly set up. Not many woodstove shops or owners have this knowledge.

 

[mountain.goat33]

Is there a doorway blocking airflow? Can you supply a floor plan sketch and maybe some pictures of the stove room and stairwell locations.

I attached the picture of the stove room. The spiral staircase leads right up to the bedrooms, our main bedroom is right above the stove room

 

[mountain.goat33]

This is where the stairs meet our bedroom

 

[begreen]

Is there a high peaked ceiling over the upstairs area, like in an a-frame? or a loft above? If so I suspect that is where the heat is going. Poor roof insulation would make the problem worse. You could check this out by placing a thermometer up near the peak at the top of the stairway.

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

seems to me to be a pretty small stove to heat anything beyond the immediate room.

 

[begreen]

The house is under 1000 sq ft. With a normal ceiling height and the insert at the foot of the stairs, the upstairs hallway should be quite warm. I'm guessing that the heat is stratifying above the bedroom ceiling in the loft area. If there is poor roof insulation then they could be heating outdoors more than the bedroom.

 

[drumbum]

Might be ugly, but, I would rig a squirrel cage fan or similar to some appropriate sized flex duct to suck from room and blow down the stairs.

Ahem,... of course only temporarily to see what difference could be made.

 

[mountain.goat33]

Is there a high peaked ceiling over the upstairs area, like in an a-frame? or a loft above? If so I suspect that is where the heat is going. Poor roof insulation would make the problem worse. You could check this out by placing a thermometer up near the peak at the top of the stairway.

Wow, I am VERY LATE to reply. Still
Having heat issues for sure. Yes there’s a tall ceiling, also a loft up there as well

 

[mountain.goat33]

Wow, I am VERY LATE to reply. Still
Having heat issues for sure. Yes there’s a tall ceiling, also a loft up there as well

Bedroom to the left and an open loft right above me

 

[Dobish]

ok, so our home is about 970 square feet. We have a main level (where stove is) and then second story (where our bedroom is) plus a small loft. Our first level where the stove is gets nice and toasty but our bedroom is freezing! We have a spiral staircase and our bedroom is pretty much right by the end of the spiral staircase. When you walk up there stairs, you immediately feel the pockets of cold Air. There’s a small fan in the stairwell but I can’t seem to figure out what direction to set it at for it to do anything. Is there another way to distribute heat from the first floor?

can you be more specific with temperatures? is toasty 80 and freezing 40? An oscillating fan on low, on the opposite side of the room from the stove may help circulate the air as well, allowing it to go up the stairs?

 

[pki1980]

I have the same problem in my staircase that there is a zone where the war air just cannot rise any higher and you get almost like a lid that you feel when you go up the stairs. I haven´t tried it myself but if you have almost no heat at the top of that staircase you could try to create a "chimney" effect by adding a radiator on one side of the stairs just to get that side warmer so that the warm air can rise on that side and the cold air should then fall down on the other side in theory at least. I have tried with fans from the stove and also a cealing fan at the top of the stairs but it didn´t really do that much difference so my last resort is to get the chimney effect going in the staircase.