Floor Vents

[Woodsplitter67]

My brother has an old farm house. In the 40s. they used to heat the house from the basement. He has a 2.5x3' grate that alowes the heat to rise up from the basement. room where the heater was.. the cold air goes down the basement steps that would be his loop. You would was a larger or a couple of openings to allow enough heat up to the main level.

 

[kennyp2339]

About the only code I know of which would require fusible vents is boiler / furnace / water heater, gas or oil, those appliances need to be in a separate room that has a functioning door to isolate the appliance from a finished living space with a dedicated switch located on the outside of the room to turn the unit off incase of emergency. Theres nothing for solid fuel appliances such as a wood stove / insert with exception of not installing on in a bedroom that I know of.
Again, smoke is the biggest culprit god forbid anyone has a fire in there home, you will learn that the smoke is not like wood smoke, this is a thick super heated acid like soot that sticks to everything, whether you have vents or not in wood framed construction it doesn't help all of 30 secs, those vents are great for fire proof construction like a steel building w/ concrete floors, but with wood construction and an open stair well your essentially creating a big secondary baffle.

 

[TradEddie]

Before you get drastic and cut holes throughout your house, consider trying a different fan strategy. I had absolutely no success with traditional fans, I tried everything, blowing up, blowing down, mounting fans on ceilings, but the drafts, noise and the clutter would have been unacceptable even if the fans had worked. Then I purchased an almost silent tower fan for our bedroom during the Summer, and when Winter came around I tried it downstairs. The difference was dramatic. I placed the fan just outside the room containing the stove, blowing cold air into the stove. I believe that the larger volume/slower speed air movement from the tower fan caused less turbulent disruption of the warm air high up in the kitchen, allowing hotter air to move up and out in response to the circulation set up by the fan. It's not going to do much for upstairs bedrooms, even with bedroom doors open, but it was so much better than anything I had tried with regular fans.

TE

 

[moresnow]

Before you get drastic and cut holes throughout your house, consider trying a different fan strategy. I had absolutely no success with traditional fans, I tried everything, blowing up, blowing down, mounting fans on ceilings, but the drafts, noise and the clutter would have been unacceptable even if the fans had worked. Then I purchased an almost silent tower fan for our bedroom during the Summer, and when Winter came around I tried it downstairs. The difference was dramatic. I placed the fan just outside the room containing the stove, blowing cold air into the stove. I believe that the larger volume/slower speed air movement from the tower fan caused less turbulent disruption of the warm air high up in the kitchen, allowing hotter air to move up and out in response to the circulation set up by the fan. It's not going to do much for upstairs bedrooms, even with bedroom doors open, but it was so much better than anything I had tried with regular fans.

TE

Can you provide details of make/model and perhaps a picture of this fan? Thanks

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I say we find out where this guy lives and get our chainsaws and cut a bunch of holes in this guys floor and ceilings.. This will.wor for sure.. Air Moves through Swiss cheese

 

[TradEddie]

Can you provide details of make/model and perhaps a picture of this fan? Thanks

What I have isn't exactly this model, but mine looks almost identical. I certainly didn't pay that much, I must have got it on clearance.

Amazon link

TE

 

[tabner]

I have a very similar question, since I know I'm going to be struggling with the same issue soon. Not sure if proper etiquette is to jump on this thread since it's so similar, or start a new one?
Was wondering if I could get insights based on my floor plan? (diagram attached) I know you're saying to avoid vents in a bedroom, but this is a guest bedroom which rarely has anyone in it in the winter. It's naturally the coldest place in the house for some reason, year-round, even with a baseboard in there, it's always cold. So it seemed to me like the best spot for a cold air return. Right in the corner near two exterior walls. The first floor is very open floor plan, unfortunately it's a U shape. My thought was heat coming up the stairs, and cold air return in that back guest room, get a nice flow of air around the floor plan in a loop. Wishful thinking?

I haven't heard it mentioned here, but what are thoughts on an inline duct fan inside one of these registers? To ensure I maximize airflow as much as possible, can I put an 8" dia duct fan, blowing cold air down, in that floor vent? I'll hardwire it to a switch, and just flick it on when i want to really get the air flowing. In my mind this would basically guarantee a circular airflow.

I currently have three hard-wired smoke detectors, one on each floor. And I'm going to add two battery-powered smoke/CO2 detectors, was planning on one in the stairwell, and one in the guest room or maybe even right next to the floor register in the basement ceiling.

 

[tabner]

Sorry, i'm going down the rabbit hole now...can i put a 6" x 14" rectangle to 8" round duct transition boot on the bottom of a 6" x 14" floor register? I'll put an inline 8" dia duct fan in the line, and use 8" x 25' flex duct to run the air horizontally above my drop ceiling toward the stove, drop it down the inside of an unfinished wall and terminate it 6" off the floor, pointing at the stove? I know this is kind of a lot, but all the parts are around $100 at home depot, and i feel like this might give me some pretty great air flow.