How to get heat up from the basement

[Lumberjack]

I have a raised ranch with my stove in what was the fireplace. I can get the basement very hot, 70-80 degrees no problem. My question is what are others doing to get the heat up to the living area? I have already cut 2 12" x 4" holes through the floor, but they didn't seem to make much of a difference. Initially, I had hoped that the heat would travel up the stair case on its own, but only cold air seems to be coming down, not much heat going up. Would a bigger 16" x 20"+ help? I hate to cut a big hole and have no effect again.....

Thanks!

 

[swestall]

Well, how about a fan in the lower side blowing the heat up? I've seen some nice ones on EBAY...

And, before someone else says it, the duct is supposed to have a fire stop damper in it when it runs between floors..

 

[gpcollen1]

If the cold is going down - I bet the heat is going up. Maybe you cannot feel it but it is.

EDIT: I have one of the 75 CFM door jam fans that moves the heat pretty well.

 

[Cearbhaill]

I have a raised ranch with my stove in what was the fireplace. I can get the basement very hot, 70-80 degrees no problem. My question is what are others doing to get the heat up to the living area?

My situation is very similar to yours- fire in the basement and a cool house above.
I have a ceiling fan in the room at the top of the stairs pulling air up. I also have a fan in the basement blowing directly at the insert to keep the air moving downstairs. These things in combination with my drafty basement and a very well insulated main floor with newer doors and windows does the trick. I still have one bedroom whose door has to be kept closed and it does get nippy in there, but if we were able to leave the door open it would be a tolerable 70ºF- fine for sleeping for most folks.

My heat pump does kick on occasionally, especially on these 5ºF nights. But as the nice folks here keep telling me- an insert is a space heater and just can't be expected to keep the upstairs back bedrooms as warm as the room it is in.

 

[RedRanger]

I found a "sweet solution" for that problem. Bought a big screen tv for the rec-room, where the insert is. And now when the wife gets home from work, she no longer complains about how cold it is upstairs,rather she plants herself in front of the big screen next to the insert where the temperature is 75-80, and spends the whole evening downstairs.

Only negative that I have found with this solution is-I have to tolerate more soapy tv and less hockey

 

[jeepin in maine]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/13067/ ...........contains my battle with basement heating.

 

[RonB]

I heat from the basement in a similar situation. The temp down there needs to be 80-84 and then upstairs is 72-75. I have an open stairway at the top and a normal doorway at the base of the stairs. I get good natural heat/cold convection. For the back bedrooms upstairs I turn on the furnace blower and circulate the air throughout the house occasionaly. I do have a large cold air intake on the furnace that pulls warm air from the basement.

 

[jtb51b]

I do similar to Ronb. I use the furnace to pull the heat up. I added a closeable register in the return line for the furnace. I used a sheet of thin metal (available at Lowes right beside the registers) to block off the upstairs air return, forcing the furnace to pull from the basement. Beneficially I put the basement register at the highest avaiable point and therefore draw the warmest air. Once the upstairs is warm (70-75) I no longer need the fan as the convection is good enough to keep things warm for several hours. In my setup I have to leave the basement door open which is not a problem for me. I keep the basement at 80* and the upstairs stays around 72, its 20* here now which is VERY cold for us and I'm still cozy upstairs..

Jason

 

[Todd]

Is your basement insulated? If not, you may be losing alot of heat before it gets the chance to go upstairs.

I've heated 3 different houses with wood stoves in basements and they all acted differently. Sometimes it's better to blow cold air down a vent to create positive pressure in the basement forcing the warm air up the stairwell. Other times the opposite works. You have to experiment and there is never a guarantee either will work.