Heat trapped in Cathedral Ceiling-Options?

[TheRambler]

So I have cathedral ceilings on the main floor of my house. they slope from about 10ft to 16ft, and continue up to about 18ft on the 2nd level. House is a custom split level. It transitions from 16ft peak to a 18ft peak at a half stair(5 steps) in the middle of the main floor. Using an IR camera and ir thermometer I can see that a lot of heat is being trapped up between 2 sets of beams at the 14-16ft area, and then again at the peak itself around 18ft. The section above the stairs that goes to 18ish ft is where the bedrooms start and a hallway start, so essentially you have 18ft ceilings and a doorway on 2 sides, so getting heat into the bedrooms takes quite a while. But in general, the beams have not that much to do with it, and the high ceilings themselves are trapping a lot of heat.

I do not have ceiling fans anywhere on the cathedral ceiling, nor is it feasible to put them in easily.

I was thinking of getting one of those vortex tornado type fans to help circulate the hot air that is trapped up in the high ceilings. Has anyone used these? Would they be a good option in this situation?

Will post some pics here shortly

 

[TheRambler]

Excuse the mess, haha

 

[bjkjoseph]

Convection stoves are not good with cathedral ceilings..They are great if you have clearance issues..My sisters house has 30 foot cathedral ceilings we chose the jotul for that reason...I see that your getting the progress hybrid that should solve a lot of your problem.

 

[TheRambler]

Convection stoves are not good with cathedral ceilings..They are great if you have clearance issues..My sisters house has 30 foot cathedral ceilings we chose the jotul for that reason...I see that your getting the progress hybrid that should solve a lot of your problem.

I was thinking the same thing actually, really curious to see how big a difference it will be when I get the PH installed

 

[begreen]

Every architect that designs in cathedral ceilings should be forced to spend a winter in a stone cathedral in a northern country. Stone cold they are.

 

[xman23]

I designed my cabin with cathedral ceiling / open floor plan all for woodstove heating. Not that I have anything to compare it to, but it works as well as I expected. The second level is hotter than the level below with the stove by 5 degrees. The two ceilings fans help a lot moving the air.

 

[shoot-straight]

Every architect that designs in cathedral ceilings should be forced to spend a winter in a stone cathedral in a northern country. Stone cold they are.

yes. gosh i wish i could go back in time and "re-do" my house. we have vaulted cielings in our great room and 1st floor master. mistake 1. mistake 2 was the cape cod design. oh how i love the looks of both vaulted ceilings and cape cods, energy efficient they are NOT.

i have fans in both rooms running 24/7.

 

[firefighterjake]

yes. gosh i wish i could go back in time and "re-do" my house. we have vaulted cielings in our great room and 1st floor master. mistake 1. mistake 2 was the cape cod design. oh how i love the looks of both vaulted ceilings and cape cods, energy efficient they are NOT.

i have fans in both rooms running 24/7.

Agree with you on the cathedral ceiling . . . when my Uncle built his third (and final home) he went away from the huge cathedral ceiling and loft of his second home and went with a much lower ceiling . . . when we asked him about it he said it was because he was constantly fighting with keeping the heat in the living room and then having to deal with the high heat in the loft area.

Cannot agree with you on the Cape . . . overall the heat moves pretty well in my Cape . . . other than in the attached MudRoom/Utility Room/3rd Bathroom attachment to the house and my master bedroom. That said, I suspect the design of the interior probably has a major effect on how well the heat moves through a particular style home. In my own case, the upstairs bedrooms are quite comfortable and other rooms are warm to comfortable (other than the aforementioned rooms).