installing registers to circulate the heat

[OhioBurner©]

Wanted some advice on how to get the house warm. The 'new' side of our house is always cold in the winter, with the wood stove on the 'old' side. This year we put the Jotul insert in the new side. One thing my installers pointed out is that since the great room (were the insert is) is 2 storys tall and fully open, that the heat is going to want to rise. He suggested not try to push it back down with fans, but to let it rise into the upstairs (the hallway is open across part of the great room) which would warm up the bedroom better and then put a register in the floor of the upstairs bedroom/ceiling of the kitchen and let the cooler air come down into the kitchen and get pushed back into the greatroom. I've attached a couple of pics I just took to try and give a visual.

Basically this side of the house is the great room and kitchen on the first floor, great room is open all the way up, and over the kitchen is hallway, bathroom, and mbr.

The installer said possibly using a register that has a fan to blow the air down (I didnt know they made em with fans). In the picture of the kitchen I was going to put the register basically into the farthest corner, there above the clock. One other thing I was wondering is if I could put it in the ceiling of the pantry there in the corner instead of in the open (the pantry is on the left of the spot I was going to put it - near the clock in the pic). The pantry is a screen door. Not sure if that would hinder the circulation or not. I'm not looking forward to cutting a hole in the sheetrock of the kitchen so I was hoping to get some advise to make sure everything is right before I do it.

Thanks!

 

[GunSeth]

I know that everyone around here says to blow the cold air rather than try to blow the warm air so I'm not sure if trying to blow the hot air down through a register into the kitchen will work well. Based on such an open area I would have thought that the kitchen would receive some benefits naturally.

 

[Pagey]

Check your authority having jurisdiction on building codes. Some consider them to be a code violation, I believe.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Wow I never thought they would be a building code violation? Guess I better check.

Gunseth - well I thought it was trying to move the cold air... since it gets so cold up in the mbr, that as the hot air is trying to go in the cooler air will come down through the vent. Otherwise I;m not sure how much if any heat will make it to the kitchen being that its going to all want to rise in the great room. With the one vent it would create a loop for air movement, allowing the hot air to rise and the cool air to loop back into the family room. Without any register it is going to be stagnant, am I off base here?

 

[KB007]

Yes, Check your local building codes - if your cieling is finished. you may have to install a full metal duct plus a fusible link. Not hugely expensive, but still adds some money.

Woudl also suggest a small fan sitting on the floor of the kitchen blowing the cold air back into the great room and maybe another on the edge of the loft porion blowing the cold air down into the great room.

 

[pyper]

I'd suggest trying it the way it is first.

 

[JotulOwner]

I installed a register with dual fans in the stove room and found that it doesn't really accomplish a great deal of heat movement between floors. I believe that the best way to move heat in my home is to open a window on the first floor (not too much, just enough). It seems to allow the warm air to travel upward much more easily.

 

[vvvv]

if ure trying to get more heat upstairs, blow air from coldest spot upstairs towards the ceiling of the great room. if that brick fireplace continues thru the roof & outdoor , its a great conductor of heat to the outdoors, hope u got an insert with a blower.