Moving heat with inline fan

[wwigg]

I am trying to get more heat to the other end of our house that does not get much heat when I am burning. I have an insert in an old queen air fireplace. There are two 8" ducts on top of the old box that used to be connected to the return air. I disconnected them at the return air and sealed it up tight. They are still connected and insulated to the top of my old fireplace. I opened the duct up in a joint about 4 feet above the fp and I could feel the radiant heat coming up the pipe. My thoughts were to take one of the ducts running off the box and route it to the bedroom and use a 8" inline fan to help move the radiant heat from the top of the box to the other room. I am sure it will put some heat in the room but I have read on here about the importance of removing cold air from the other room and routing to the stove room. Would I get a lot more circulation by adding this as well? Again I am not taking heat from the actual fp room just from the top of the old box that is covered behind the wall. One story house. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Wes

 

[bholler]

I am trying to get more heat to the other end of our house that does not get much heat when I am burning. I have an insert in an old queen air fireplace. There are two 8" ducts on top of the old box that used to be connected to the return air. I disconnected them at the return air and sealed it up tight. They are still connected and insulated to the top of my old fireplace. I opened the duct up in a joint about 4 feet above the fp and I could feel the radiant heat coming up the pipe. My thoughts were to take one of the ducts running off the box and route it to the bedroom and use a 8" inline fan to help move the radiant heat from the top of the box to the other room. I am sure it will put some heat in the room but I have read on here about the importance of removing cold air from the other room and routing to the stove room. Would I get a lot more circulation by adding this as well? Again I am not taking heat from the actual fp room just from the top of the old box that is covered behind the wall. One story house. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Wes

Can you post some pics of your setup?

 

[begreen]

That would be convective heat coming out of the ducts. When moving it with a fan one is convecting the heat.
What kind of house is this, one story ranch, 2 story salt box, colonial? Is there a basement?

 

[wwigg]

You can see the ducts in the one pic. The others ones just show a few steps and finished product.

One story house. Crawl space that I can access. Also have access to the attic. I guess I would consider it ranch style. Long rectangular. 3,000 sq ft. Large open area with living area/kitchen/dining are all in one room where the fp is. Heats this area well. Medium sized hallway that has two bedrooms and a bathroom. This side receives adequate heat. Other side has short hallway with master bedroom and master bath. The entry to this room kind of turns a couple times which maybe hampers the airflow on this side a little. From the entry to this room it is roughly 20 ft to the other side and then the master closet and bath. Wife insists on closing the door when sleeping which definitely doesnt help. I could prob go up 4 ft then over 15 ft with the duct and would be in the room.

 

[begreen]

Is that a heat output vent in the middle above the firebox? What is venting the heat out and cooling the firebox now?

 

[bholler]

What is supplying air to those ducts?

 

[wwigg]

Is that a heat output vent in the middle above the firebox? What is venting the heat out and cooling the firebox now?

Yes it was a heat output for the queen air. I put roxul in this opening before covering it up. I put the fpx large flush hybrid insert in the old queen air. It has fans on the bottom that pull fresh air in and then out of the top.

 

[begreen]

Yes it was a heat output for the queen air. I put roxul in this opening before covering it up. I put the fpx large flush hybrid insert in the old queen air. It has fans on the bottom that pull fresh air in and then out of the top.

That leads me to bholler's question. Is there a room air intake for the plugged up vents?

 

[wwigg]

That leads me to bholler's question. Is there a room air intake for the plugged up vents?

When I began to answer his question I realized the issue I am going to have with trying to pull air from those ducts. The old firebox was double walled and had air intakes at the bottom on both sides of the masonry wall that allowed air to be pulled in and through the ducts when the central fan was running. The box itself still has the openings on both sides but no longer on the face. In the picture you can see on the bottom left and right of the fp the opening in the block where the air was drawn in. The cinder block wall I built in front of the fireplace is not completely flush with the face of the fp therefore not completely closing off the opening in the block for the vents. With this small airspace I would guess that it could pull air through the openings but it would probably not be very clean air with all of the insulation and dirt/dust inside the cavity surrounding the fp

 

[bholler]

When I began to answer his question I realized the issue I am going to have with trying to pull air from those ducts. The old firebox was double walled and had air intakes at the bottom on both sides of the masonry wall that allowed air to be pulled in and through the ducts when the central fan was running. The box itself still has the openings on both sides but no longer on the face. In the picture you can see on the bottom left and right of the fp the opening in the block where the air was drawn in. The cinder block wall I built in front of the fireplace is not completely flush with the face of the fp therefore not completely closing off the opening in the block for the vents. With this small airspace I would guess that it could pull air through the openings but it would probably not be very clean air with all of the insulation and dirt/dust inside the cavity surrounding the fp

It would also be pulling air from the area directly surrounding the stove which is dangerous and against code. You also have to seal up those gaps you mentioned. That insert needs to be put in a compliant woodburning fireplace. And gaps around the face are not allowed. You do have a full insulated stainless liner hooked to the insert right?

 

[begreen]

The fireplace appears to be a heatform style shell with an outer convection jacket. If so, there shouldn't be any smoke connection between the firebox and the outer jacket. Sounds like this has been compromised?

 

[wwigg]

It would also be pulling air from the area directly surrounding the stove which is dangerous and against code. You also have to seal up those gaps you mentioned. That insert needs to be put in a compliant woodburning fireplace. And gaps around the face are not allowed. You do have a full insulated stainless liner hooked to the insert right?

Ok thanks. Yes I used a full insulated liner

 

[wwigg]

The fireplace appears to be a heatform style shell with an outer convection jacket. If so, there shouldn't be any smoke connection between the firebox and the outer jacket. Sounds like this has been compromised?

Im not 100% sure what you are referring to on the smoke connection between firebox and outer jacket but I dont believe there is.

 

[bholler]

Im not 100% sure what you are referring to on the smoke connection between firebox and outer jacket but I dont believe there is.

That gap you said about that connects the firebox and those air passages. That is a no no

 

[begreen]

That gap you said about that connects the firebox and those air passages. That is a no no

Yes, that would compromise the setup by allowing smoke to pass from the fireplace firebox to the outer convection jacket regardless of whether an insert is in there or not.

 

[bholler]

Yes, that would compromise the setup by allowing smoke to pass from the fireplace firebox to the outer convection jacket regardless of whether an insert is in there or not.

Yes it could also cause negative pressure in the old firebox which could cause lots of problems