Need to get the heat moving

[nhcowboy]

Our little Woodstock stove is great - but I need to get the heat circulating!

I can't post a diagram, but I think I can give you an adequate description . . . Picture a capital "H" - the stove is in the center, on the north wall. The room it's in is about 14 x 20 feet, with very low ceilings. The northwest arm of the "H" is a small alcove, leading to a bedroom. The northeast arm of the "H" is closed off for the winter. The southwest leg of the "H" is a bathroom. And the southeast leg is a hallway, maybe 10 ft. long, leading to another bedroom.

The fan I had in the great room (where the stove is) died and needs to be replaced. I'm assuming a Vornado is the way to go, but I'd like to know how to position it to get the best circulation to the two bedrooms.

I'll also use a doorway fan for the bedroom that's the furthest away - and in the past have had success placing a small fan on the floor, in the doorway, to suck the cold air out of the room. I may want to do that for the closer bedroom as well - or is there a better way to get heat to these rooms?

I appreciate any help you can give me!

 

[Todd]

Welcome,
Sounds like you need two small fans on both hallway floors pointed towards the stove. I don't think you will be able to push the heat towards those rooms without moving the cold air out. Which Woodstock do you have?

 

[nhcowboy]

Which Woodstock do you have?

Palladian. If I had the whole house opened up, it wouldn't be enough . . . but I shut most of it down in the winter, so it should be more than adequate. And we made it through the December power outage rather nicely! It was a bit chilly in the bedroom farthest from the stove, but not unbearably so.

 

[Todd]

Does your stove room have room for a ceiling fan?

 

[SteveT]

I'm assuming a Vornado is the way to go........

Certainly not a bad choice. But based on several favorable comments on threads here I bought the following fan. It seems to me that it moves a lot more air than a similarly priced Vornado. And it's pretty quiet for the performance.

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-65570...d_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1232236671&sr=8-1

 

[nhcowboy]

Does your stove room have room for a ceiling fan?

Hmmm, interesting thought. Brings to mind that old rhyme about Lizzie Borden . . . .

Very old house. Very low ceilings.

 

[Todd]

Yeah, wouldn't want you to chop your head off. The only thing to do is play with fans and try to figure some kind of circulation loop that works best. If fans don't work maybe buy one of those small oil filled radiant space heaters. I have one in my daughters bedroom. She whines if it gets below 70.

 

[Todd]

Yeah, wouldn't want you to chop your head off. The only thing to do is play with fans and try to figure some kind of circulation loop that works best. If fans don't work maybe buy one of those small oil filled radiant space heaters. I have one in my daughters bedroom. She whines if it gets below 70.

oil filled heater is not radiant, is a radiator & employs convective,not radiant, heat delivery.

Then why do they call it a radiator? It probably does both.

 

[rowerwet]

If you want to get real crazy, put in air ducts above your ceiling with fans inside them to move hot air to the bedrooms, I actually considered a set up like this before my wife said "no inside pellet stove"!

 

[bsruther]

I have a vornado fan on the floor, at the end of the hallway, pointing towards the living room, where the stove is. It does a great job and keeps the bedrooms at just the right temps. I can feel the breeze of heat as I'm walking down the hall.

 

[nhcowboy]

I have a vornado fan on the floor, at the end of the hallway, pointing towards the living room, where the stove is. It does a great job and keeps the bedrooms at just the right temps. I can feel the breeze of heat as I'm walking down the hall.

So, should I just have two small fans at the corners of the great room nearest the bedrooms, facing in toward the stove, and not have a big one in the great room itself? Before the fan I had died, I had it pointing at the ceiling just above the wood stove. I figured that would get the heat moving around . . . .

 

[Woodrat]

[quote author="EngineRep"

Certainly not a bad choice. But based on several favorable comments on threads here I bought the following fan. It seems to me that it moves a lot more air than a similarly priced Vornado. And it's pretty quiet for the performance.

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-65570...d_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1232236671&sr=8-1[/quote]

Ditto EngineRep's evaluation of the Stanley blower! I have one ducted to move air thru the internal air passages of my big old Nashua----- moves a lot of air very quietly and efficiently!!

Best wishes, Woodrat

 

[Todd]

I have a vornado fan on the floor, at the end of the hallway, pointing towards the living room, where the stove is. It does a great job and keeps the bedrooms at just the right temps. I can feel the breeze of heat as I'm walking down the hall.

So, should I just have two small fans at the corners of the great room nearest the bedrooms, facing in toward the stove, and not have a big one in the great room itself? Before the fan I had died, I had it pointing at the ceiling just above the wood stove. I figured that would get the heat moving around . . . .

Yes, try and suck that cold air out of the bedrooms and push it towards the stove, then the warm air will go up and over to replace the denser cold air.

 

[bsruther]

I have a vornado fan on the floor, at the end of the hallway, pointing towards the living room, where the stove is. It does a great job and keeps the bedrooms at just the right temps. I can feel the breeze of heat as I'm walking down the hall.

So, should I just have two small fans at the corners of the great room nearest the bedrooms, facing in toward the stove, and not have a big one in the great room itself? Before the fan I had died, I had it pointing at the ceiling just above the wood stove. I figured that would get the heat moving around . . . .

I don't think you need fans near the stove. Try putting the fans near the cold areas, pointing towards the stove area. Suck that cold air out and the warm air should replace it.

 

[nhcowboy]

don't think you need fans near the stove. Try putting the fans near the cold areas, pointing towards the stove area. Suck that cold air out and the warm air should replace it.

Okay, then, so much for the great deal I just found on a used pedestal-model Vornado - I'll go with a couple of the shorter ones instead, or perhaps try that Stanley that was recommended. It will be an interesting change not to have a fan in the great room . . . .

Thanks!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It all depends on your heating area. We have Vornado fan near the stove blowing (above the stove) one way and another small fan which sits right on the floor by the hallway which blows towards the stove. Works fantastic. One should experiment with various ways of moving the air.

 

[stejus]

My house is different (Colonial w/center hall) but every house with a stove will have cold areas. Find the cold area and move that colder air into the warmer air.

Anyone with a Colonial with the stove on one of the external walls will want to try this

In my case, cold air pours down the stairs that lead to the upstairs bed rooms. I have a small fan on the floor (base of stairs) pointed at the stove. It's about 18 ft away from the stove. I run it on low to move that cold air along the floor directly at the stove. If I stand at the stove, near the floor, I can feel a faint cool breeze coming from the fan. As the cold air hits the stove and hearth, it forces the heat around the stove to move in the opposite direction of the cold air stream below.

With the stove blower on and the (cool air fan) pointing at the stove, it makes all the difference.

 

[nhcowboy]

Savage and Stejus - Thanks for your replies!

I don't have the problem of cold air blowing down from upstairs because I just close off that entire part of the house during the winter. We move into the rooms closest to the stove and block off everything else.

I really like the idea of having fans on the floor blowing toward the stove from the two bedrooms. Haven't got the fans yet - no one carries them in the winter, so they have to be shipped. But I'm curious to see how it will work without a fan in the room with the stove. I've always used a pedestal fan pointing at the ceiling above the stove, and it does a passable job but it's really not terribly effective for the bedroom furthest away. So setting things up without that fan will be an interesting experiment!