Reversing the blower on Fireplace

[jejeosborne]

I have a Napoleon NZ6000 fireplace with the optional blower. We installed the blower in our basement with the intake near the floor. The fireplace is on the 1st floor. This arrange works great because it circulates the cooler basement air through the fireplace and the warmer air to the basement. We just finished the basement and with this setup, I am only achieving basement temperatures of about 60 degrees on colder days. I would like to reverse my fan on days we are in the basement and force the warm air backwards from the fireplace to the basement floor grill. I see three potential issues:
1. My air filter is mounted on the fan unit and would blow the collected dust into the room.
2. Can the direct drive fan unit operate in the elevated temperatures?
3. Unfiltered air will be brought through the fireplace.

I would expect to operate the unit about 20% of the time in this reverse direction. Looking for any comments and concerns.
Jeff

 

[DiscoInferno]

I think your #2 could be a problem, depending on the blower setup. I have a basement blower pulling from a 1st floor fireplace that can handle the temps, because the hot air never hits the motor itself.

I tend to wonder how effective it would be to pull air from the bottom of the fireplace. You might not get a lot of heat that way unless the blower is strong enough to overcome natural convection. My basement outlet is from the side of the unit, and only pulls some of the total heat out.

 

[jejeosborne]

Thanks for the response. I am looking at using a fan similar to this one I found. (broken link removed to http://www.aero-flo.com/boosterfan.html)
It states that it can be used with temps to 266 degree. I plan on taking a temp reading this weekend when it will be cold enough for me to light another fire. I will build a real hot fire and see what my outlet temp is. I know that it a lot of flow and the air is uncomfortable to hold your hand in front of it.

I first will try to add this fan in series with my squirel cage fan. I will then check see how much this will restrict the flow as well as the restriction that the squirel cage will give me in when blowing through it. If there isn't a noticable flow difference then I am done. If I do notice a restriction then I will add a Y in the basement and place this fan directly next to the squirel cage fan and make a slidable gate that will block the inlet of the fan not in use.
Jeff

 

[josifoski]

How did your experiment work out. I am interested in doing the same thing.

 

[Arc_Dad]

I'm interested too.