Unusual house air circulation

[Colorlessgreen]

So I’ve searched through the forums and read a fair amount of threads on this topic, ie: how do I get the hot air everywhere in my house?

I have, however, a bit of an unusually shaped house so I’m interested in anybody’s speculation & opinions (informed or otherwise) on what things I could try.
I right now have a late 80’s steel stove that will be replaced with a Woodstock Ideal Steel in just a few weeks. I do think that will make a significant difference.
The house has *a lot* of glass, but it’s almost all south-facing so the solar gains are fantastic and it is usually warm all afternoon. As far as I can tell, they are not particularly leaky any more, though I’ve done a lot of caulking to get there. It is mostly nights and early mornings so far that I need the heat, but I’m sure as it gets colder this year I’ll need more.

The house in total is around 2200 sq feet though that’s a rough math estimate because the house is not just round, it is a donut.
The stove is downstairs and right now the upstairs gets plenty warm, the far reaching and even near the stove in the downstairs areas, not so much.

Here are my questions:
- there’s evidence that there once was a small (30” or so) ceiling fan above the stove in the double-height space, maybe 8-12 feet above the stove, should I put it back?
- there is a ceiling fan in the “great room” with the stove- should I leave it on? Will it do anything?
- I’ve tried to divide the “great room” with a curtain to try and get more heat into the bathroom, that’s minimally effective: any other ideas to try?
- I have a fan in the bathroom door because I though perhaps I could blow cold air out, but it’s mounted high (to avoid trip hazards), is that mostly counterproductive and blowing any warm air out of the bathroom? I’ve read that trying to suck warm air in would not be as efficient.

There is a labeled “master bedroom” which we are not currently using because it’s just so cold. My main concern is honestly just to get heat into that bathroom, which is less than 20ft from the stove itself but around kind of a corner with a narrowed hall.

Enjoy my rough sketches, let me know if you have more questions and thanks in advance for any input or creative ideas!

 

[begreen]

Definitely get the ceiling fan working. most of the heat is stratifying up high. Consider going up to a larger 50 or 60" fan. To get heat in the bedroom, open all doors and place a box or table fan on the floor of the bedroom, pointing out the door near the bathroom so that it is blowing cool air out toward the stove, past the utility room. This will help start a convective loop.

 

[Colorlessgreen]

Thanks @begreen! I wish we could do a larger ceiling fan above the stove, but because of the size of that “wedge” and where the stovepipe is, any larger and we’d be whacking the blades on either a window, a wall, or a stovepipe.

Would you recommend nixing the curtain divider of the large space then, in order to get a full convective loop going?

 

[begreen]

The picture shows the ceiling fan far away from the stove. Is that a second one? Yes, remove the divider for the floor fan test. Give it about 30 minutes and measure the temp in the bedroom before and after.

What is the insulation like in this place?

 

[Colorlessgreen]

The picture shows the ceiling fan far away from the stove. Is that a second one? Yes, remove the divider for the floor fan test. Give it about 30 minutes and measure the temp in the bedroom before and after.

Sorry, my bad: there's an existing ceiling fan, as on the drawing- that one is probably a regular 52" fan or so, but there's definitely space to go up to 60". The small 30" fan I was referencing is where I think there was a fan, above the stove (the fan hanger and electrical is all there, just dangling), so not on the drawing. I guess I'm not sure if it should be put back up? No idea why it's no longer there. My thought is if we put it back perhaps we could prevent all of the hot air from going straight into the upstairs by pushing it back down?

Good idea to do a temperature test with the fan off and then on after some time. I've been using an infrared thermometer to check temps of the floor/walls, but should probably get a digital air thermometer as well.

What is the insulation like in this place?

On the downstairs it's essentially a walk-out basement, with all walls being earth/solarcrete or south-facing windows (fixed, double pane), or windows to the courtyard (also fixed, double-pane). Foundation is slab-on-grade with footers insulated with 2" foam and a vapor barrier throughout. I think in theory the slab is supposed to provide thermal mass but is just so huge.
Upstairs is either the south-facing windows or 3" foam insulation.

 

[30WCF]

So, you asked for ideas of all sorts…
I would start with begreen’s suggestion and see where that gets you. I would also remove or reverse the fan in the top of the bathroom door. That seems counterproductive to blow war air away from the target.

If you dont get satisfactory results maybe put a box fan right at the 45* corner of the utility room blowing down the hall towards the bathroom. (Close utility room door) Add a second box fan blowing into the great room near the hall on the opposite side to create a doughnut cyclone.
This may move warm air right off the stove towards the bathroom and master, and return cool air from the other side

If can afford to add duct work and don’t mind a temporary inconvenience. you could experiment with renting an air scrubber and some duct. Don’t put any filters in it. Your just trying to move air. It would look like that scene from E.T. for a couple days, but you could see if really directing air is useful. I would start with the scrubber in the master with the duct draped over the banister and run into the kitchen. You can move that stuff around really easily. You can try moving a lot of air very precisely that way. If it works, figure out how to build in a duct with an inline blower.

You can move the duct panel from one side of the scrubber to the other to reverse flow kind of like moving the hose on a shop vac.

It’s a little extravagant, but, you live in a doughnut. Maybe extravagant is your style.

 

[begreen]

That seems counterproductive to blow war air away from the target.

It may not be if this pulls in warmer air thru the bedroom behind it but yes, putting the fan on the opposite side, in the left side BR door blowing into the large open area, is definitely worth trying for comparison.

 

[Colorlessgreen]

So, you asked for ideas of all sorts…
I would start with begreen’s suggestion and see where that gets you. I would also remove or reverse the fan in the top of the bathroom door. That seems counterproductive to blow war air away from the target.

If you dont get satisfactory results maybe put a box fan right at the 45* corner of the utility room blowing down the hall towards the bathroom. (Close utility room door) Add a second box fan blowing into the great room near the hall on the opposite side to create a doughnut cyclone.
This may move warm air right off the stove towards the bathroom and master, and return cool air from the other side

The fan I have on the bathroom can definitely be reversed, I've tried both ways so far with little difference either way. And my first thought was definitely a box fan on the corner of the utility too, so you're probably on the money there. I just didn't want to because that hall is pretty narrow and I hate stepping over/around things. I know they're usually not as powerful, but maybe I'll try a tower fan there and see how it goes.

If can afford to add duct work and don’t mind a temporary inconvenience. you experiment with renting an air scrubber and some duct. Don’t put any filters in it. Your just trying to move air. It would look like that scene from E.T. for a couple days, but you could see if really directing air is useful. I would start with the scrubber in the master with the duct draped over the banister and run into the kitchen. You can move that stuff around really easily. You can try moving a lot of air very precisely that way. If it works, figure out how to build in a duct with an inline blower.

You can move the duct panel from one side of the scrubber to the other to reverse flow kind of like moving the hose on a shop vac.

^ this really is a clever idea, unfortunately, ducting is definitely out of the question. There are actually open vents in some of the upstairs rooms (presumably for heat to rise through?) that I've covered up because there is definitely enough heat upstairs...but I wonder if I could try putting a little fan on those to push air back down and see what happens.

It’s a little extravagant, but, you live in a doughnut. Maybe extravagant is your style.

Hah! It certainly feels that way-- I could spend a fortune on curtains alone in this place but instead am still using moving blankets draped over rods in some places, lol. It gets the job done.