How do I spread the heat?

[trueg50]

My wife and I recently purchased a tri-level, and are new to heating with wood, so after a bit of a learning curve we are getting the hang of it, but our configuration is presenting some challenges with getting heat circulating from our woodstove.

We have a Garrison II stove parked half in, half out of a fireplace (from previous owners) and located on the main floor (floor plan attached). We have stairs leading up stairs to a long hallway with bedrooms, and a stair way leading to an entry way, then around a corner to more stairs and a basement.

We tried running the ceiling fan in the living room set to blow towards the ceiling, but that didn't do much for the up/down stairs areas, does any one else have a configuration like this?

 

[Typ0]

what are the footages of these rooms and stairwells? How high are the ceilings?

 

[trueg50]

what are the footages of these rooms and stairwells? How high are the ceilings?

The living room is about 12x20 with 8 foot ceiling.

The stairs on the left of the diagram go down 4 feet to an entry way then around a corner to the basement. I don't think I'll be getting much heat down to there since the basement is directly under the living room.

The stairs on the right of the diagram go up about 8 feet (drawing is wrong, its not 6 feet) to a straight hallway. The hallway is probably 15 feet long and has bedrooms on the left and right.

 

[danimal1968]

Try running the ceiling fan in both directions to see if one is more effective than the other. Another recommendation is to run small fans on the floor blowing from the colder areas in the direction of the stove. Cold air is denser and this can be more effective than trying to blow the warm air away from the stove.

Given that warm air rises, trying to move heat to an area downstairs from the stove is typically an exercise in frustration.

At the end of the day, a stove is a space heater and will always be most effective at heating the areas closest to the stove.

 

[Renjilj]

Based on advice from this forum, I tried the "fan on floor trick" and it has worked well. Isnt perfect, but significant difference.

If my main 1/2 house is at 77F with stove running, my back 1/2 (farthest BR) is at 66-68F. I can easily raise to 72-73 in about an hr with a fan on the floor in the doorway of that far bedroom at the end of the hall. This allows me to keep things a bit more balanced, and to heat the whole house with an insert at the far end of the house and around a corner.

With the fan running, after about 10 mins you can feel the warm air rushing into the room at head height. Very effective for me, but <8' ceilings and single level also..