Does anyone use there central AC to circulate the hot air from there stove

[glenc0322]

I am looking to purchase central ac this year and was wondering if anyone uses there ac on fan to circulate the air. and how it works. I have a room in the back of my house that stays cold and its around 3 corners so fans dont move the air and was thinking that the ac would help even out the house. the register would be in the hall off the room where the stove is. what do you think

 

[dafattkidd]

Generally you lose too much heat in the ducts so it's not the best way to move heat. I use small space heaters in the bedrooms to bring temps up when needed or to shut the door so the baby can sleep and still have heat.

 

[glenc0322]

I tried it dont work for me.Air always blows cold. like mentioned above cools the heat to much. But some have said they were successful

Is your duct work insulated.

 

[glenc0322]

not sure if the returns are

Was going to have everything insulated to help with heat loss but wanted to check before i had my hopes up. Need ac done because i am tired of running 4 window units but that is another forum lol

 

[brack86svo]

Before I did my boiler kit, I used mine to circulate the air. It worked but, it is almost like a cool breeze vs hot air coming out of the vents. My brother in law use his central air to circulate the heat and it works for him. His house is a ranch and the air handler and all the duct work is in the attic.

 

[343amc]

My thermostat can be set to cycle the oil furnace blower 10 minutes every hour. It doesn't do much other than help pull some cool air from the bedroom end of the house and get an air current going. I only do that when using the 6041 or wood eater.

 

[CT Pellet]

I do this with great success. I have a wood stove on the main floor and a pellet stove in the basement. Both stoves crank 24/7 and the air handler moves the air around. Every nook of my house is cozy and between the main living space and the basement, we are heating over 4,000 square feet. I also have two ceiling fans in the main area with 24' ceilings, so between them and the central fan, there is a lot of air moving.

 

[Countryboymo]

I leave mine on circulate which I think is either 200cfm and with all the registers it just helps keep the room temps stable.

 

[turbosporsche]

I used to turn mine on just to move some air and filter it. My forced air system had a humidifier on it so it would put moisture in the air which was good. My ducts were not insulated and no matter how hot the rooms were I could never get the output to be over 65. I had all my ducts and returns insulated and what a difference the air comes out at what ever the room temp is. I have 3 zones and set the timer to run for 15 min ever 2 hours seems to work for me .

My ducts ran into the basement and had tons of leaks to I think the combo of fixing that and insulation helped out.

Good luck

 

[hoverfly]

If you can adjust the fan speed and lower the output, this would help with the cool air. Also, you will need to account for loss in the heat duct, even when insulated.

 

[turbosporsche]

Yes but heat loss will be less with insulated sealed duct work

 

[DexterDay]

My entire system is Insulated (only a couple feet of sheet steel) its all Certainteed Ultra duct Gold. About 1" thick insulated Mains and insulated 6" (R-5) Runs to the registers.

I tried it when I only had the Quad.. . Seemed to cool the Hot area (Stove room) but didn't really warm the cold rooms?

 

[turbosporsche]

Best way is to put a temp prob in the return register and in an output to see what your losses are . Obviously it its not gonna make the air feel warm cause it can only come out at the inlet temp. A typ forced air system puts out in the 110-120 range so to a body it feels hot but if u blow anything less than your body temp it will feel cool due to the evaporation of water on the skin. Same principle on windshield effect. The wind can't make the air colder it's the evaporation of moisture

 

[tony58]

I have a heat pump/AC unit,duct work well insulated.I've tried it several times blows super cold like the A/C on.Don't work for me...

 

[turbosporsche]

Are u sure u r just turning on the blower / fan. I believe that when the fan is on its blowing outside air over the coil. Really only works with true forced hot air hvac system . Is it an electric heat pump or gas

 

[brack86svo]

Are u sure u r just turning on the blower / fan. I believe that when the fan is on its blowing outside air over the coil. Really only works with true forced hot air hvac system . Is it an electric heat pump or gas

The air is recirculated in the house. If it was bringing in fresh air, it would create positive pressure in the house.

 

[hoverfly]

The air is recirculated in the house. If it was bringing in fresh air, it would create positive pressure in the house.

Even if it did it would be a small amount.

 

[brack86svo]

Even if it did it would be a small amount.

Perhaps. The problem would be that the fresh air you brought in and conditioned, you would also be pushing back outside through any leaks in the house. Either way, conditioning outside air would be very difficult.

 

[turbosporsche]

There are to many variables that go along with this. One sure way that works for most people are room fans.

 

[ekarlis]

I have had success with running my furance fan. Only run it when the outside temp gets to 20F. My Enviro Maxx-M
is in the basement & 20ft from the stove have taken the end of cold air return, installed a grill. If you have one of those furances with a variable speed fan. then this is a dc motor which costs less to run. yes my ducts are insulated.
If you are going to do this, check your filters monthly. Also make sure that the fan is set on the lowest fan speed.
All furances today are direct drive & usually have 3 speeds. hi, med & low. If anyone needs help with fan speeds,
drop me a line & I will help out.

Good Luck

 

[briansol]

it does work.... but only after 15-20+ min of cold air coming in from the attic. by then, all the heated air is gone. it basically cooled the house down. and unles its left on, every time you run it, it floods the house with cold air first.

i found it counter productive.

 

[hinkle]

I said something to the boss about this and her response was that we should just wait for summer and run the fan when its hot outside and the basement is cool, as our ducts are not insulated. Didn't seem like a bad idea as we won't have to spend money to insulate the ducts or pay for more electricity running the fan when its most expensive.

 

[Countryboymo]

If a system has fan on off or auto and on is the same speed as a/c or heat then it will do little to help unless a person has a duct ran from the stove to the return on the furnace. I have the stove in the basement with a newer hvac system that circulates the air on a cycle with low air flow which moves the heat much better. If I turn the fan on high it feels like I just opened a window because the air moving in the house is cold. You want circulation not raw air flow.

In some situations it works in others it doesn't just like most things in life but it is worth a try.

 

[opus74]

I'm in Southern Illinois, so I am just starting my second ton this year.
But I put the furnace/AC fan ON. The pellet stove is set to blow right at the intake, so it moves heated air about the house just perfect.
Works great. In the winter I cover the intake on the second floor, so all air is input from the intake near the stove. In the summer, I open it up.
I did the air calculations, so I'm not starving anyone for air.

 

[Pellet-King]

I do this with great success. I have a wood stove on the main floor and a pellet stove in the basement. Both stoves crank 24/7 and the air handler moves the air around. Every nook of my house is cozy and between the main living space and the basement, we are heating over 4,000 square feet. I also have two ceiling fans in the main area with 24' ceilings, so between them and the central fan, there is a lot of air moving.

Wow big house, selling pellet's must be big $$$$