move thermostat to basement for cycling warm air from fireplace?

[iron]

i tried searching some other threads
(https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/move-thermostat.78359/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/thermostat-to-harman-p43.152720/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/thermostat-and-location.115567/)
but didn't see the answer i was seeking.

so, here's the background:
2 story house (basically a ranch with a basement and garage on the bottom level).
basement has rec room, bedroom, bath and washer/dryer.
upstairs is fireplace, kitchen, living room, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths.

the thermostat is currently in the hallway that the bedroom doors are located in - about 25ft from the fireplace.

we find that when the thermostat reaches 70, we're perfectly comfortable in the living area. however, if you go into the basement, since the electric furnace (with heat pump) is never on, the basement is probably 60 degrees.

what i'm thinking of doing is relocating the thermostat to the basement so that i can turn AUTO-HEAT back on and maybe set the temp to 67 degrees. i know when we've test-run the furnace, there's a strong rush of air circulating down the stairs (2 of the 3 cold air returns are near the bottom of the stairs).

i think i have relatively easy access to the thermostat wiring, so getting the thermostat hardwired into the basement shouldn't be a big deal.

any issues with this approach? drawbacks? etc?

thanks

 

[beermann]

I like the idea of spot heating like that. I can only think of a few potential issues that may need some extra troubleshooting.

I am not a professional.

You might cause the upstairs to get really hot since heat rises. Maby you will have to plug up some air vents going upstairs.

You may cause a difference in air pressure on different levels of the house cause smoke to come back down the chimney and into your house? Not sure on that but I've read some people having issues while running fans and air conditioners.

Maby you can consult with a professional and install an extra and very basic thermostat downstairs. Have a couple light switches wired in, one switch cuts power to your current thermostat and the other runs power to the downstairs thermostat. This is by far my favorite option but I lack the know how to help you along. What I would do it read up on how to wire that in, run the cord but do not connect anything, now I strongly suggest having a qualified person come along and finish the job. Since the job is 90% complete you can pay him a little less while still paying him more than he would normally make. I do this all the time with a friend, I'll give $60 for 1 hours work to finish up my work on a job that would normally cost $200 or more. Since he's qualified he can either fix mistake or tell me what to do and I fix it, either way you save money and he saves time.

Safety is the number one priority.

Best of luck

 

[iron]

i did a test this past weekend running the furnace for the first time this winter.

1. loaded up the fireplace to get 'er going for the day
2. turned on the furnace with heat pump - wake up temp in the upstairs was 65 degrees, downstairs was 60 degrees
3. set thermostat to 70
4. took maybe 30 mins to heat up the upstairs
5. downstairs has 3 heating areas (albeit without drywall installed yet): a) bed; b) bath; c) rec room
a) temp was about 68-69 degrees. lots of air flow coming directly from the HVAC trunk
b) temp was 68 degrees. good air flow coming from 6" circular duct (which i've later reduced to 4" per this thread (will post pics soon): https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/rerouting-6-heating-duct.160233/)
c) temp was 66-67 degrees, but felt cooler to me

so, overall not bad. in area c), there are 2 vents fed from 6" duct. each duct also has another vent going to the upstairs. i blocked those ducts with some magazines since they feed the fireplace room. air volume ~ doubled. so, i think the rec room will get closer to 68-69 degrees if the upstairs is set to 70.

so, coming back to my original question: if i move the thermostat downstairs as the only thermostat in the house, if i heat the basement to 70, i suspect the upstairs will be 71. are there any issues with this approach? my HVAC system is not zoned and does not have dampers (though i've contemplated using inflatable air bladders, but it seems like that could wreak havoc on your pressure balance and overall static head: (broken link removed to http://www.retrozone.com/Catalog/retrofit.htm)).

i feel like by moving the thermostat to the basement, we'll keep that space at the temp we want it and the upstairs will likely be warmer anyway since the fireplace will be heating it up to 71-74 degrees.

 

[maple1]

Your thermostat will heat the space that it is in, to the temp it is set at. Simple.

What it does to the rest of the house depends on your ducting & duct pressures. It could either end up being colder or warmer than that.

This is where a zoning & separate stat setup comes in.

Or, if you had manual dampers on your duct lines, you could shut ones going to upstairs down a bit if it gets too warm upstairs, or leave them open & shut the downstairs ones down a bit of it gets too cold up there.