Heating home with closed floor plan???

[melikefire]

I have a later 70's standard 2-story colonial which is not at all a open floor plan. I got a nice old Timberline insert to put in my fireplace for $200. Wondering ways that I might be able to distribute the heat throughout the house? The fireplace is in the family room on the first floor. I put in a new gas forced air furnace a couple of years ago that has a D/C fan on it. The fan ramps up when the furnace calls for heat and ramps back down to a slow speed when the furnace does not call for heat....so there is always air circulating thru the duct work. If I close off most of the cold air return lines except for the one in the room with the stove do you think this would distribute some of the heat???? Open for any suggestions!

 

[john317]

A couple of ideas might be:

-install floor grates above the door openings and in the floor to the upstairs
-door fans/ceiling fans
-go nuts and open up the floor plan(Did this with long skinny colonial and it did wonders)

just some thoughts.

I have a Forced hot air system and didn't find that the air cirulator did anything to distribute the heat really but that's just my experience.

-Bob

 

[wendell]

Be careful adding vents as you can quickly be in violation of code and also make your house a fire hazard as you are allowing a fire to spread very quickly.

I have a very closed floor plan and you will be surprised at how well the heat will move with just the help of a fan or two.

 

[begreen]

I have a later 70's standard 2-story colonial which is not at all a open floor plan. I got a nice old Timberline insert to put in my fireplace for $200. Wondering ways that I might be able to distribute the heat throughout the house? The fireplace is in the family room on the first floor. I put in a new gas forced air furnace a couple of years ago that has a D/C fan on it. The fan ramps up when the furnace calls for heat and ramps back down to a slow speed when the furnace does not call for heat....so there is always air circulating thru the duct work. If I close off most of the cold air return lines except for the one in the room with the stove do you think this would distribute some of the heat???? Open for any suggestions!

Don't do that! Closing off the vents in that manner will unbalance the system and may damage the blower. If you are going to use the furnace system's fan, leave the vents open. However, it's best to look at the floorplan before making suggestions. If you can post a simple diagram that will help a lot.

Did you read the suggestions for this closed floorplan?

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/38145/