How do you circulate heated air?

[Brew]

Need some advice about circulating heated air. We’re about to have a Harman 52i installed and let the oil/forced hot water system take a break. Have a look at the attached layout. Will one upright fan at the red star be enough to circulate heat through most of the living space (extra layers while in the bedroom/office)? Would the next best thing be adding a standing fan in the dining room, actively returning air to the room with the stove? Can anybody give a review of those corner-mounted doorway fans?

 

[TimfromMA]

It's difficult to know for sure. When I put in my stove, I did alot of experimenting with fans and where to put them. I finally decided that the the heat filled the house quite nicely without the use of extra fans. There is a few degree temperature differential between the room where the stove is and the outlying rooms but nothing too bad.

 

[bbfarm]

Same here. We ran the ceiling fan in the dining room (the room our stove is in ) for a month and found out it was counter productive. Our heat circulates better by itself

 

[hockeypuck]

Box fans work well for air around on floor. I would imagine just leaving doors open will be the best for getting it stairs.

 

[Bioburner]

I would get the stove up and running for two or three hours and use something that makes smoke to see what your natural air flows are and then use fans to help those natural flows. Sometimes easier to push the cool air back to stove. I used to use a paper towel twisted up and then lit it and snuffed it out for a simple cheap smoke source. Now I use a personal vaporizer. Great to check out power outlets and windows for leaks. All those little leaks add up. End of summer sales on fans starting.

 

[alternativeheat]

I do have one small clip up fan going but really with the P61A I found that running the blower on high in the mid winter weather gets the heat around the house pretty well. The 52i has a powerful convection fan, try that first. And yes heat can't get past closed doors very well . At the top of our stairs we have a ceiling fan and I push air down the stairs or the heat might all end up up there ( we have a cape too). And the clip up fan is at the downstairs hall before the stairway to try and push some heat towards the kitchen before it goes up that stairway. I guess the message here is there is no issue heating our upstairs !

 

[Bioburner]

Funny, we are getting end of winter stove sales events....

And you posted a picture of snow not that long ago. Hope to not see any of that till end of November.

 

[TimfromMA]

I would get the stove up and running for two or three hours and use something that makes smoke to see what your natural air flows are and then use fans to help those natural flows. Sometimes easier to push the cool air back to stove. I used to use a paper towel twisted up and then lit it and snuffed it out for a simple cheap smoke source. Now I use a personal vaporizer. Great to check out power outlets and windows for leaks. All those little leaks add up. End of summer sales on fans starting.

Incense sticks work good too.

 

[Bioburner]

Incense sticks work good too.

These older eyes need more smoke. Few more years I"ll need a fog generator

 

[alternativeheat]

These older eyes need more smoke. Few more years I"ll need a fog generator

I use a charcoal grill lighter and watch the flame change angles. A good draft will lean it right over to 90 deg. Just stand still with it though, as you walk it also leans over. But this way there is no smoke in the house.

 

[Bioburner]

Our home does not have so much draft(thankfully)that a small flame can hardly be affected enough to be noticed. Around power outlets, door and window frames a open flame could work. Personal vaporizer uses propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin with a drop or two of flavoring found in processed food products.

 

[Dojistar]

Need some advice about circulating heated air. We’re about to have a Harman 52i installed and let the oil/forced hot water system take a break. Have a look at the attached layout. Will one upright fan at the red star be enough to circulate heat through most of the living space (extra layers while in the bedroom/office)? Would the next best thing be adding a standing fan in the dining room, actively returning air to the room with the stove? Can anybody give a review of those corner-mounted doorway fans?

View attachment 136351

I put a box fan on the floor at the doorway of the room where the stove is located. I blow the cool denser air into the room with the stove, and the light warm air billows out the top of the door way into the adjacent room. I also, on occasion, put a second box fan down the hallway and do the same thing. Blow the cooler air on the floor down the hall to the first fan, which blows the cooler air into the heated room.

I've done this since I'v installed the stove and seems to be the most efficient way to displace the warm air from the room with the stove.

 

[alternativeheat]

Our home does not have so much draft(thankfully)that a small flame can hardly be affected enough to be noticed. Around power outlets, door and window frames a open flame could work. Personal vaporizer uses propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin with a drop or two of flavoring found in processed food products.

Oh but I bet the flame responds, just place that flame at the top of a door jam leading out of your stove room. It will lay right over, I guaranty it will. Now at the bottom of the door jam, bet it lays right over the opposite way. Let me know when heating season starts up though, don't waste pellets now !

 

[moey]

We had pretty good luck with these fans in the corners noticed a couple degree difference. They are quiet. I would suggest running the stove first for a while and see what happens in terms of circulation before you get to crazy with fans.

http://www.amazon.com/Achla-Designs...TF8&qid=1407759086&sr=8-1&keywords=corner+fan

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

I have the same house as you do. My stove sits kitty corner on the walls marked with the square. I put a ceiling fan in the room and It is marked with a triangle.The stove Is a Harman Advance and when It Is running that room will be 72 Deg. The rest of the downstairs will be 67 Deg and upstairs will be about 62 deg. with the outside temp. around 20 Deg.If you want to put a box fan at the top of your stairs and blow the COLD air down the stairs. The warm air will be pulled up by natural convection.

 

[Brew]

That's GREAT to hear. I'll try the box fan on the stairs. Thanks, Jim!

By the way, what year was your home built and what's your insulation like?

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

Home was built In 1972 4 inches In the walls 6 in the floors and 12 in the attic
Insulation Is your friend
I dont use the box fan. Never felt I needed It
Jim

 

[The Grintch]

I just move my wife from room to room.

 

[Pellet-King]

It's difficult to know for sure. When I put in my stove, I did alot of experimenting with fans and where to put them. I finally decided that the the heat filled the house quite nicely without the use of extra fans. There is a few degree temperature differential between the room where the stove is and the outlying rooms but nothing too bad.

Few degree's?, there is a 10 degree cooler difference between my living room where the stove and around the corner in the dining room, maybe lower in kitchen and my cape is more open unlike the OP pic where the staircase is there is no door, it's his bedroom which will be alot colder than living room.
My house is built in 1952 same basically as OP's 1945, even thou it has new windows I highly doubt there is any insulation in the wall's..

 

[briansol]

Most folks have better luck pushing cold air out on the floor away from the bedroom in this case, vs trying to move the hot air to the cold rooms at the ceiling. I would suggest a small box fan in the office aiming towards the kitchen at floor level.

 

[NHcpa]

Most folks have better luck pushing cold air out on the floor away from the bedroom in this case, vs trying to move the hot air to the cold rooms at the ceiling. I would suggest a small box fan in the office aiming towards the kitchen at floor level.

Sounds counter intuitive to move cold air towards the heat...but most threads repeat the advice. I would think you would move the hot air from the stove towards the cooler areas, but guess not.

 

[TimfromMA]

Sounds counter intuitive to move cold air towards the heat...but most threads repeat the advice. I would think you would move the hot air from the stove towards the cooler areas, but guess not.

Hot air rises while cool air falls. Whether you are moving hot air away from the stove or cool air towards, you are helping the natural convection.

 

[nailed_nailer]

Cold air is denser. Supposedly more efficient to move a cooler volume of air.

Thus, I find Having a small 4" quiet muffin fan at floor level blowing cool air towards the stove helps even out the rooms.
I have my thermostat in a "cooler" room (Kitchen) adjacent to the stove.
In my case The Living room (stove location) gets "overheated" slightly and the cool air becoming warm from the stove forces the warm air into the rest of the house.
Once the cycle is established the whole loop repeats itself and I end up with fairly normalized comfort in the living areas.
The bedrooms get the residual heat but do get coldish. Which I like for comfort.
Only room I wish that was a bit warmer is the Bathroom but a hot shower warms it up just fine.

The fan I use is one I paid way too much for about 5 years ago at a stove shop. $35
But, it does run silent (unless the dog hair loads it up)
Brand is Imperial made in Canada. Don't think they are available anymore
I would think any 4 or 5 inch muffin fan would work.
Look for db levels under 80 and a CFM rating around 100. Might have to experiment with # of blades.
They shouldn't be more than about $15 surplus.
I have found most old PC fans are too loud for me.
Also look for one that is 120VAC not 12VDC unless you want to run a transformer to power it.
And get one with safety grills on it. Helps catch the dog fur and keeps small fingers out of the blades.

YMMV
---Nailer----