floor grates

[vasculardoctor]

i am interested in putting several floor vents from my main level where the baker double eagle fireplace insert heats the living room/dining room area up to the three bedrooms - before i start cutting holes in this beautifully restored 200 year old house i could use as much advice as possible - what is optimal size of hole? any particular place in the rooms best? anything to watch out for? thanks

 

[Todd]

Before cutting holes in your ceiling, have you tried blowing the cold air down the stairwell with a fan? You may find that after cutting the holes the heat won't go up them, they may turn into a cold air return. There could also be safety issues with doing this and could be against local codes. There are some fire safety grates out there that will close at a certain temp.

 

[vasculardoctor]

thanks to all for their thoughts - i had been trying to blow the hot air up the stairwell with a fan but not vice versa - as to the house design, would like to share with you to get your opinion but not sure how to do logistically in this forum - not smart enough with computers to make diagrams and attach though i have a tablet p.c. at work that can make drawings - let me know if possible to send them to this post area - as far as local codes, i am a registered libertarian so was not planning to tell the govt

 

[DAKSY]

i am interested in putting several floor vents from my main level where the baker double eagle fireplace insert heats the living room/dining room area up to the three bedrooms - before i start cutting holes in this beautifully restored 200 year old house i could use as much advice as possible - what is optimal size of hole? any particular place in the rooms best? anything to watch out for? thanks

Basically, if you want to move heat heat upwards in a home, you DO have to move the cold air downwards. You may get some natural convection thru an open stariwell, but probably not as much as you'd like.
For the most part, cold air returns should be placed in the floor or near the floor close to the outside walls of your home. These walls tend to be the coldest walls in your home & because of this "coldness," will be the most ideal area to install your convection vents. They will allow heat to rise in the center of the house & drop at the outer walls. This convection should not need any artificial air movement inducers (fans...blowers) in order to work adequately...
Most building supply stores sell the ducting & decorative grate covers for the vents for relatively low prices...Unfortunately, the actual installation may involve some serious labor - depending on what materials your floors/ceilings are constructed from...
HTH

 

[vasculardoctor]

thanks - from what i understand you to say, i should put two vents in each room, one to act as a return near the wall and one closer to center of room? as to the labor, it will be me - just hope the holes i knock in the living room ceiling line up with the areas i want in the bedroom brazilian cherry hardwood floors

 

[GaryS]

What they said. A friend of mine cut a vent into his floor to get heat to rise on the other side of the house. His stove was in the basement and most of the heat was going up the open stairwell. He was surprised to find cold air suddenly rushing down the new hole. Accomplishes the same thing though.

 

[LLigetfa]

He was surprised to find cold air suddenly rushing down the new hole...

That is expected behavior. You need to use natural convection to your advantage. Registered libertarian or not, you cannot defy the laws of physics. If the same laws of physics speed the spread of fire to kill you and your family while you sleep, they should make mention that you are a "registered libertarian" so that we don't need to mourn your demise, just the tragedy of the others that perish.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Just putting in vents allows any fire to spread far more rapidly, which leads to certain codes. Experience of many here says that blowing colder air to a stove is far more effective than blowing the hot air where you want it.

 

[vasculardoctor]

guess i should not have gotten political - have read about vent gismo from atlantic stove company that makes the vent less dangerous and will add those - libertarians are all for safety and not burning up while they sleep, just not regulation

 

[DiscoInferno]

A related anecdote: We're finishing a 2nd-floor addition, which will be too remote for the Ultima to heat well. So I added a new chimney and got the 1100C to put in the first floor below the addition. I plan to put in a couple of floor registers w/ fire dampers immediately above the stove, using the stairs as the cold air return. (If it should flow the other way, that's fine also.) Anyway, when the county inspector came for the framing/electric close-in inspection the chimney (but not the stove or any registers) was installed, so he could see where the stove would go. About a minute after he first left he knocked on the door, and started telling me that if I wanted to get the heat upstairs I should cut some holes in the floor! So I asked him about local codes and fire dampers and such. His replay was basically that he didn't really know that part of the code that well, but he didn't think fire dampers were required, and he (as an inspector) wasn't concerned about it.

I'm going to install fire dampers anyway.

 

[iceman]

A related anecdote: We're finishing a 2nd-floor addition, which will be too remote for the Ultima to heat well. So I added a new chimney and got the 1100C to put in the first floor below the addition. I plan to put in a couple of floor registers w/ fire dampers immediately above the stove, using the stairs as the cold air return. (If it should flow the other way, that's fine also.) Anyway, when the county inspector came for the framing/electric close-in inspection the chimney (but not the stove or any registers) was installed, so he could see where the stove would go. About a minute after he first left he knocked on the door, and started telling me that if I wanted to get the heat upstairs I should cut some holes in the floor! So I asked him about local codes and fire dampers and such. His replay was basically that he didn't really know that part of the code that well, but he didn't think fire dampers were required, and he (as an inspector) wasn't concerned about it.

I'm going to install fire dampers anyway.

lmao!
people who jusy cut holes will get themseleves killed from smoke.. you using the fire dampers have a much better chance... but don't they close due to temp? meaning smoke may still come through?
in my old house i had some 12x12s that i cut in but i did put small batt operated smoke detectors in each one as i figured if the house ever caught fire the smoke would go through those first
some fyi... but i think having a detector in prolly cut some of the cfm though

 

[DiscoInferno]

Yes, the dampers close at some temp, I think 165 is the "stock" but you can get other links.

It goes without saying that smoke detectors go in both rooms, and a CO detector in the stove room as well. Also, the room with the grates is at the end of the house, is not a bedroom, and is not between any bedroom and egress. Frankly I think this setup is far safer than our central staircase, which I know supports a great deal of air/smoke flow up from below and which is the only way out from the bedrooms other than windows and long drops.