We have been having a stretch of below freezing temperatures here in western NC for a number of days now. Our home has a main level of about 1500 sq. ft. where our Jotul F600 is located in the living room. The lower level of the house is another 1200 sq. ft. where a Woodstock Classic is located. There is an open staircase between the two levels. For the most part we spend most of our time upstairs in the winter and do not heat the lower level where it will stay around 55 F while the upstairs will be around 72 F.
Last night my wife mentioned to me that she was covering up the floor register in her bathroom because she felt a cold draft coming in through it. We have a propane forced air heating system, but we don't use it; we heat exclusively with wood. The cold air return in the lower level is sealed off, but the large cold air return in the living room floor is open. After my wife made her comment I took my IR thermometer and did a check on our heating/AC registers. I recorded temperatures about 3 degrees cooler over the registers than the surrounding laminate floor. However, when I took a reading over the large cold air return in the living room floor it read 53 F! I put my hand over the vent and was surprised to feel a cold draft blowing up through the vent.
I had never bothered sealing this cold air return because I wrongly assumed any air flow would be going from upstairs where it is warm to the downstairs where it is cold. Since cold air sinks and hot air rises I figured the air current would be from warm to cold. However, the air was flowing in the opposite direction and the cold downstairs air was rising up into the heated part of the house. I covered the vent with some books for the time being until I can make a more elegant cover for the vent. So, if you have similarly open cold air return vents you might want to do a temperature check and see if you are getting cold air coming through them.
Last night my wife mentioned to me that she was covering up the floor register in her bathroom because she felt a cold draft coming in through it. We have a propane forced air heating system, but we don't use it; we heat exclusively with wood. The cold air return in the lower level is sealed off, but the large cold air return in the living room floor is open. After my wife made her comment I took my IR thermometer and did a check on our heating/AC registers. I recorded temperatures about 3 degrees cooler over the registers than the surrounding laminate floor. However, when I took a reading over the large cold air return in the living room floor it read 53 F! I put my hand over the vent and was surprised to feel a cold draft blowing up through the vent.
I had never bothered sealing this cold air return because I wrongly assumed any air flow would be going from upstairs where it is warm to the downstairs where it is cold. Since cold air sinks and hot air rises I figured the air current would be from warm to cold. However, the air was flowing in the opposite direction and the cold downstairs air was rising up into the heated part of the house. I covered the vent with some books for the time being until I can make a more elegant cover for the vent. So, if you have similarly open cold air return vents you might want to do a temperature check and see if you are getting cold air coming through them.
