Just recently installed a Pacific Energy T5 in my living room with 12ft vaulted ceilings. I live in a Bi-lvel ranch in which the stove is on the second floor. My living room, kitchen, and dining room run between 72- 76 degrees. The bedrooms (on the other end of the house) are 65-68. What is going on here? I have twin newborns and a todler back there. It has to be at least 72 back there. I just ordered the rear fan for my stove. I don't know i it will help any, but advice on this matter would greatly be appreciated!
Moving heat to the rest of the house
- Thread starter Johnnyguitars
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Stoves are space heaters. They are kind of like big versions of the little electric heaters that you plug into the wall. You probably will not be able to get an even temperature all over the house. A 4 degree difference is not all that bad.
Matt
Matt
I am not sure how you are setup but in my home, my Living Room opens into my dining room as a large space. This is the warmest part of my house. My bedrooms and bath are all located off of a hallway that runs down the center to the cooler end of the house from this warm living room / dining room. I place this fan at the furthest end of the hallway (coldest part) and blow the cold air back to the warmest room and have good results in bringing my temps up to a more even level in the bedrooms.
![[Hearth.com] Moving heat to the rest of the house](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/31ua7ubi0gl-_sl500_aa280_-webp.211194/ "[Hearth.com] Moving heat to the rest of the house")
I like this fan because it doesn't look as terrible as a box fan and moves a surprising volume of air. The pressure of air it puts out isn't great, but does move a lot of it.
As Lime (Matt) mentioned, you are expecting too much from your stove if you want it even everywhere considering it is only dumping it's load worth of heat in one place. Try ceiling fans or what I have suggested to get air circulating.
The general rule is to push cold from the floor towards the hot space. It then gets warmed, rises and moves along the ceiling back to the area that is coldest that is now a negative pressure area because of the fan....... and the cycle continues.
pen
I like this fan because it doesn't look as terrible as a box fan and moves a surprising volume of air. The pressure of air it puts out isn't great, but does move a lot of it.
As Lime (Matt) mentioned, you are expecting too much from your stove if you want it even everywhere considering it is only dumping it's load worth of heat in one place. Try ceiling fans or what I have suggested to get air circulating.
The general rule is to push cold from the floor towards the hot space. It then gets warmed, rises and moves along the ceiling back to the area that is coldest that is now a negative pressure area because of the fan....... and the cycle continues.
pen
Yes, but the OP is talking closer to 10 degrees difference.EatenByLimestone said:
What I do is move the cold air over to the stove. The fan on the stove may salvage some of the heat that otherwise might go up the flue but I doubt it will do anything for the temperature difference in the bedrooms.
Try a fan, on the hallway floor, blowing towards the wood stove room as a temporary test. You can use a box fan or a table fan. Low speed usually works well.
Also, is there a ceiling fan in the stove room? Try running it in reverse (blowing upward) on low to assist in draft free heat circulation.
Also, is there a ceiling fan in the stove room? Try running it in reverse (blowing upward) on low to assist in draft free heat circulation.
My stove is located on the far end of our den which opens directly into the kitchen and dining area at the other end of the house. The bedrooms are down a 20' hallway in the center of the house. I use a 12" fan placed on the floor at the end of the hallway by the bedrooms and push it back to the main living space. Temps in the stove room will run 3-4 degrees higher than the bedrooms which is better than I anticipated.
After 4 years of burning in this house I decided to try something other than the celing fans to move the air. The ceiling fan was ok but I recently tried to blow the cold air towards the stove. It makes a very significant difference in my house. I monitor the temperatures in the upstairs rooms and the temperature definitely rises faster up there now that I hve the cold air blowing towards the stove. In our 2700 sf house the temp differential is about 5 degrees with just the 1st floor insert running with outside temps in the teens.
I have just had my stove going for about a day, but I have had some real good success in using my furnace fan to move the air around the house.
Hallway Fans Work To A Point But Make A Nasty Draft. Not a big deal for us big folks but if you are a curtain crawler you may notice it badly. We get a similar differential in our house and just use a small space heater in the bedroom ( electric) to make up the difference. Even with NYSEG's extortionist rates it only costs a few bucks a month. The oil filled radiator type is cheap at $40 and safe around kids. It works as a good trade off for us as it lets me lower the thermostat setting on the pellet stove drastically at nighty and somewhat during the daytime. Doing this cut my pellet / corn burn from 5 - 6 to around 3 tons / year so it must work. I doubt you could make up the difference using fans without sweathing yourself out of the rest of the place.
Johnnyguitars said:
am i reading this right? I think he isnt using any fan at all
once you order the fan for the stove and use another small one to bring air to the stove you should see a huge difference.. but... expect the ohter end to be about 5 degrees cooler than where your stove is..
and on days the temp warms up a little you need to run your stove just as hard ... it will get hot but when the cool air comes back your temp wont drop as much
too many factors with layout to consider, but I'd just buy a couple of those $18 safe-to-touch, electric, thermostat controlled heaters at Wal-Mart (or your favorite store).
I like electric heaters, but don't really use mine unless it's wicked cold or windy, having the thermostat makes a HUGE difference, so don't buy those little $10-$12 ones that run constantly. they use way too much electricity to be running all the time (IMHO).
They are nice when we go away for the weekend, because we have a caged bird, I like to turn the thermostat on the gas furnace down to like 55, and then throw the bird into my son's room and let the little heater keep it warm enough.
I imagine that temps drop from the woodstove in the early morning hours when the fire has died down, so it's nice to help even out the temps.
not the only option, just another option. it's nice because it's cheap to test, and if you don't like it, then you are only out $40....
I like electric heaters, but don't really use mine unless it's wicked cold or windy, having the thermostat makes a HUGE difference, so don't buy those little $10-$12 ones that run constantly. they use way too much electricity to be running all the time (IMHO).
They are nice when we go away for the weekend, because we have a caged bird, I like to turn the thermostat on the gas furnace down to like 55, and then throw the bird into my son's room and let the little heater keep it warm enough.
I imagine that temps drop from the woodstove in the early morning hours when the fire has died down, so it's nice to help even out the temps.
not the only option, just another option. it's nice because it's cheap to test, and if you don't like it, then you are only out $40....
I was wrong, they are $15. I bought two of these and I love them.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12338796.
Also, since they have two heat settings, you can have two on the same breaker line. I don't remember if I read the wattage for the lower setting, but I imagine that it's probably half (so 750 watts).
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12338796.
Also, since they have two heat settings, you can have two on the same breaker line. I don't remember if I read the wattage for the lower setting, but I imagine that it's probably half (so 750 watts).
If you're not using a floor fan try going that route first . . . as mentioned, try pointing it towards the stove from the doorway. In my house I notice a big difference in the way heat is distributed when I am using the fan . . . without the fan the heat moves out, but it moves out more slowly with the majority of the heat "trapped" in the room with the stove.
If the fan doesn't work I would go with Danno's suggestion and get an electric space heater. In my house I have an electric space heater set to kick on at 60 degrees to keep the Mud Room/Bathroom/Utility Room warm . . . and (ironically enough) keep my oil boiler pipes from freezing up.
If the fan doesn't work I would go with Danno's suggestion and get an electric space heater. In my house I have an electric space heater set to kick on at 60 degrees to keep the Mud Room/Bathroom/Utility Room warm . . . and (ironically enough) keep my oil boiler pipes from freezing up.
- Status
Similar threads
