Heat movement with Registers

[billyg96r]

Hi Everyone,

I'm relatively new to wood burning and installed a wood stove insert about a year ago. I have a standard raised ranch, where the stove is in the lower level, in the fireplace. The stove works well but the heat is somewhat hard to cycle through the house, even with a blower and heat 'finding its way' around corners and up the raised ranch stairs etc. What I'd like to know is if anyone has cut floor registers in their floor, to help circulate the air. If I were to cut the floor and insert the registers, the heat should go directly into the main living area of the house, since that is directly above where the stove is located. Is it just a case of cutting the vents, buying the 14 inch register and letting heat rise and circulate through the house? The floors are finished and in good condition, so I'd want to do it right and wondering how many to add, and if it's effective etc.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[madison]

Consider checking building codes in your area, there may be a fire code that makes this unsafe. I would believe that you will get negative responses regarding using your home's air handler to circulate air, especially if the ducting is outside the insulated envelope of your home (ie attic)

 

[Sprinter]

I would believe that you will get negative responses regarding using your home's air handler to circulate air, especially if the ducting is outside the insulated envelope of your home (ie attic)

Yes, unfortunately, it is a real challenge to circulate heated air around the house. And there are fire codes that prohibit some kinds of things that seem to make intuitive sense. You can actually lose more heat trying to use an uninsulated duct work. The best thing I've found is to put a small fan on the floor of peripheral rooms or hallways with the air blowing outward. The idea being that the cooler air will blow out with warmer air flowing in to replace it.

Here is another idea that could work well depending on your layout: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JGSMUK/?tag=hearthamazon-20

There are a few different variations of this kind of thing you can look for.

 

[peakbagger]

Registers work if placed properly, the problem is they can work real well moving fire around the house. There are devices called fire dampers that are spring loaded with a fusible link on them, if the temperature gets too high they slam shut. Any HVAC supply house will have them and they make things code legal (and a lot safer). They are used on a lot of commercial ductwork like hotels.

 

[kennyp2339]

I also have a raised ranch with a stove in the basement, I cut in registers, they really didn't move the heat like I thought, in the end I may have a 2-5% gain.
The biggest thing I did to improve getting heat from the basement to the upstairs was to cut a large cold air return 16"x24" opposite my stairs, but in the stairwell, I've also through being on here a number of years learned that you cant really move heat, but you can move cold denser air.
I also installed ceiling fans in my dinning room, and bedrooms, in the winter I keep the dinning room fan on low, it helps keep an even temp throughout the house w/ the bedrooms being slightly colder. *This is my house, not to scale but close - Its to early to get out the ruler..lol

 

[billyg96r]

I also have a raised ranch with a stove in the basement, I cut in registers, they really didn't move the heat like I thought, in the end I may have a 2-5% gain.
The biggest thing I did to improve getting heat from the basement to the upstairs was to cut a large cold air return 16"x24" opposite my stairs, but in the stairwell, I've also through being on here a number of years learned that you cant really move heat, but you can move cold denser air.
I also installed ceiling fans in my dinning room, and bedrooms, in the winter I keep the dinning room fan on low, it helps keep an even temp throughout the house w/ the bedrooms being slightly colder. *This is my house, not to scale but close - Its to early to get out the ruler..lol
View attachment 183486

Hi Everyone,

I'm relatively new to wood burning and installed a wood stove insert about a year ago. I have a standard raised ranch, where the stove is in the lower level, in the fireplace. The stove works well but the heat is somewhat hard to cycle through the house, even with a blower and heat 'finding its way' around corners and up the raised ranch stairs etc. What I'd like to know is if anyone has cut floor registers in their floor, to help circulate the air. If I were to cut the floor and insert the registers, the heat should go directly into the main living area of the house, since that is directly above where the stove is located. Is it just a case of cutting the vents, buying the 14 inch register and letting heat rise and circulate through the house? The floors are finished and in good condition, so I'd want to do it right and wondering how many to add, and if it's effective etc.

Thanks for your reply!

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm a bit unclear though on the use of dampers or using registers in general. I don't have any ductwork, so I was thinking that the registers would allow for the heat that rises naturally from the stove to reach the upper floor directly, in other words just letting the heat rise on it's own. Does this make sense or the best use of the registers as opposed to fans pulling the warm air from the room and sending it out the other side? I haven't checked with the building codes but did hear from someone that it's possible the registers could cause a backdraft or some other problem.

Thanks again!

 

[Hogwildz]

Look for Wall/ceiling registers with fusible link:
http://www.supplyhouse.com/Hart-Cooley-10862-10-x-4-White-Sidewall-Ceiling-Register-Fusible-Link

 

[mellow]

Inline duct fan to heat upstairs?

 

[kennyp2339]

From experience your not going to get the results of moving heat, it is much easier to move cold denser air, if your moving the denser air towards your stove, the less denser hot air will replace it and you can set up a thermal loop.
Think of it this way, when its in the teens / low 20's my house stays in the low 70's, bedroom #1 & 2 are 65-68 which is perfect sleeping weather for me.
When I get home from work I like to sit next to the stove and warm by bones with the radiation / convection but once I hit that high note and warmed up I like to watch tv upstairs and enjoy the 72 - 74deg without sweating.
I gentle thermal loop paired with a good stove and long burn times accomplishes this. A mixture of a ceiling fan, and cold air return is all that I needed, trying to force hot air is a different ball game entirely if the cold air cant get to the stove.
Just my 2 cents, and I know everyone had different setups and layouts in there homes.

 

[billyg96r]

I also have a raised ranch with a stove in the basement, I cut in registers, they really didn't move the heat like I thought, in the end I may have a 2-5% gain.
The biggest thing I did to improve getting heat from the basement to the upstairs was to cut a large cold air return 16"x24" opposite my stairs, but in the stairwell, I've also through being on here a number of years learned that you cant really move heat, but you can move cold denser air.
I also installed ceiling fans in my dinning room, and bedrooms, in the winter I keep the dinning room fan on low, it helps keep an even temp throughout the house w/ the bedrooms being slightly colder. *This is my house, not to scale but close - Its to early to get out the ruler..lol
View attachment 183486

Hi Kennyp,
I see your layout of your home and it is pretty similar to mine, although slightly opposite. Your stove looks to be below your kitchen/DR, while mine is below my living room. So you have a total of 4 registers, correct? Looks like two directly above the stove and another 2 in the living room? I was thinking of cutting 2 (or maybe 1) above my stove and 1 or two in my dining room. Do you know if a cieling fan would work in the raised ranch stairwell? In any case, can you provide link or picture to the cold air return you used ? I never thought of that and was originally thinking the heat from the wood stove insert would 'find it';s way' directly above it to spread some heat and raise it to the upper floor but now after reading this not so much certain. I was also considering the fans too, as currently I only have them in the bedrooms and kitchen. I was thinking the fan in the ranch stairwell might help bring air from around the corner in the lower level and disperse it upstairs. I just would rather not cut the registers as the floor is in good shape if the returning air won't help that much.

Thank you!

 

[NewENGLANDER30]

I also have a raised ranch with the stove in the lower floor. The tricky part is that the stairs are the opposite side of the room as the stove and I found that using the stairwell for both the warm air supply and cold air return path wasn't working so well. I cut in a single 12x12 register closer to the stove and used an inline booster fan. This seemed to work pretty decent and this year I will increase the size of the booster fan to see if it helps even more.

The good part of having a house in progress is its easy to try this, I may also try taking the inline fan out and using the floor register as my cold air return and using the stairwell for the warm air to rise and stick with the best results. Seems everyone has mixed results with registers. Best luck