What is everyone doing this year ahead of the cold to improve your wood heat comfort this year.

[Gtautomation]

I have been thru a few different stoves and figured out that here in Kentucky I need a big firebox for long burns so I’ve settled on Pacific Energy stoves. Had osburn, lopi and buck stoves but non quite did what the house needed. The heat pump does just fine heating almost 4000sqft but I start fires when it gets into the low 40s or 30s. I’m always evolving the setup to make things better. I work nights and have used the nest thermostat on the heat pump and some inkbird temp controllers to track temps while I’m away. I have multiple temp/humidity displays around the house that I keep an eye on while I’m at home.

This year I’m putting in a new fan system to move more heat out to the farthest reaches of the house since it’s a large walk out ranch style home. Small vornado fans and such just wasn’t doing what I needed. Every home is different and heat flows thru them differently also. When I was burning in the basement everyone says move the cold air towards the stove. My situation worked best by blowing the hot air up to the main floor. It’s hard to put convective loops in to a fully finished basement but the stairs are wide open. Now that the woodstoves are not going anywhere the wife asked that the bedrooms be a little warmer which are at the far end of the house. I mainly burn a PE summit on the main floor for most of the heat thru the winter. I’m going to pull air from the stove room and run thru insulated duct in the attic to the three farthest bedrooms. I’ll have a thermostat in the master bedroom to control fan on/off. A inkbird temp controller will read if there is heat in the stove room not allowing the fan to come on if not warm enough. The fan will push around 200cfm per register into each large bedroom. The grill for the system will not be very close to the stove since it’s at opposite end of the stove room and in the vaulted ceiling up high. With doing R-8 insulted duct and will throw extra blown in over it I think she should be happy.

I owned and ran a Hvac business for years so the air movement and static pressure and such is right in my wheel house. I’m going to be using a greenheck insulated fan with speed controller to set the air flow since I know I may have to dial it down if the Mrs says she hears too much air movement. Will try to keep the velocity low enough thru the grills to keep her happy.

What are you guys doing this year?

 

[Itslay90]

Having seasoned firewood !! I just 5 cords of wood that been seasoning for 2 years, so I am ready for the fall and winter. This year I will be burning 24/7 my stove will not be off and on this year !

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Working on wood supply. Set for this winter but the following winter is looking really cold and/or expensive if I don’t haul in the next several months.

 

[moor]

Insulation wherever I can fit it. Also this year I repaired/rebuilt a lot of my storm windows and re glazed and caulked a ton of glass, should help. I also bought some of those cellular shade blinds that go behind my curtains for my picture windows in the great room.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

This year my goal is to dial in my loading volume and schedule. Last year out of excitement and inexperience I would usually end up loading up the stove too much or too often for the weather we had and due to that had a warmer than needed house pretty often and went through more wood than needed.

 

[Highbeam]

We will be leaning on the minisplit more often in the shoulder seasons. Comfort is much better when it's 60 outside with a heat pump than it is when trying to burn a wood fire at those outside temperatures.

 

[begreen]

Likewise, the heatpump is taking a greater share of the shoulder season load these days. It's been running nights lately with summer exiting quickly.

 

[stoveliker]

Not an improvement in comfort (I'm satisfied there) but in aesthetics and flue connection here (redoing the wall behind the stove).

I have enough solar kWh credits so I may use more heat pump too. Just whatever I like. Luxury position.

 

[Max W]

Had the mini split cleaned earlier this summer

 

[St. Coemgen]

Short answer: Adding more house insulation.

Long Answer: We are renovating. So we are adding more insulation under the soon to be poured new floor and into the soon to be renovated loft. This will also mediate our summer in house temps as well -- Winter is not the only climate to be concerned about, given the very hot summer we have had for a few years now....

 

[marty319]

I'm in the process of installing a mini split so I can get rid of baseboard electric backup to the stove.after I install mine doing 2 neighbors as well

 

[Highbeam]

I'm in the process of installing a mini split so I can get rid of baseboard electric backup to the stove.after I install mine doing 2 neighbors as well

I left the electric heaters in after the minisplit installation. They don’t hurt anything, cost anything, or need any maintenance but could be very important if the mini fails or can’t keep up.

The minisplits are almost too good to be true. I keep waiting for it to fail.

 

[marty319]

I left the electric heaters in after the minisplit installation. They don’t hurt anything, cost anything, or need any maintenance but could be very important if the mini fails or can’t keep up.

The minisplits are almost too good to be true. I keep waiting for it to fail.

Yes I left all mine in except for 1 that I scabbed the power for the mini.some of the estimates to get installed were through the roof.i decided to do it myself except to vacumn the lines.got 2 neighbors to do as well.im the guinea pig.

 

[Dix]

Had the OB tuned for back up. It runs for the accessory apartment for heat only, average use 300 gallons a year. Back up for the main house where the PE resides.

Tuned up the AO Smith 80 gal hybrid HWH myself, (love that thing !) OB runs for the apt heat, creates heat in the basement which, in turn becomes HW

Stocking up on wood. 2 years ahead, working on 4.

 

[GG Woody]

I have been thru a few different stoves and figured out that here in Kentucky I need a big firebox for long burns so I’ve settled on Pacific Energy stoves. Had osburn, lopi and buck stoves but non quite did what the house needed. The heat pump does just fine heating almost 4000sqft but I start fires when it gets into the low 40s or 30s. I’m always evolving the setup to make things better. I work nights and have used the nest thermostat on the heat pump and some inkbird temp controllers to track temps while I’m away. I have multiple temp/humidity displays around the house that I keep an eye on while I’m at home.

This year I’m putting in a new fan system to move more heat out to the farthest reaches of the house since it’s a large walk out ranch style home. Small vornado fans and such just wasn’t doing what I needed. Every home is different and heat flows thru them differently also. When I was burning in the basement everyone says move the cold air towards the stove. My situation worked best by blowing the hot air up to the main floor. It’s hard to put convective loops in to a fully finished basement but the stairs are wide open. Now that the woodstoves are not going anywhere the wife asked that the bedrooms be a little warmer which are at the far end of the house. I mainly burn a PE summit on the main floor for most of the heat thru the winter. I’m going to pull air from the stove room and run thru insulated duct in the attic to the three farthest bedrooms. I’ll have a thermostat in the master bedroom to control fan on/off. A inkbird temp controller will read if there is heat in the stove room not allowing the fan to come on if not warm enough. The fan will push around 200cfm per register into each large bedroom. The grill for the system will not be very close to the stove since it’s at opposite end of the stove room and in the vaulted ceiling up high. With doing R-8 insulted duct and will throw extra blown in over it I think she should be happy.

I owned and ran a Hvac business for years so the air movement and static pressure and such is right in my wheel house. I’m going to be using a greenheck insulated fan with speed controller to set the air flow since I know I may have to dial it down if the Mrs says she hears too much air movement. Will try to keep the velocity low enough thru the grills to keep her happy.

What are you guys doing this year?

This sounds familiar...
I also work in sheet metal/HVAC, in our last house I installed a fan in the middle of our top floor, drew air from above the fireplace insert at one end of the house and dumped it in the master bed/bath at the opposite end of the house. I used a 250cfm fan on rheostat, insulated duct and covered in blow in, it worked really well.
This year, different house, I am putting a new stove in the basement, I'm gonna try to heat from bottom up instead of top down. I've always been set up for failure by previous house owners in this respect, I'll be running the furnace full time at maybe 35% trying to circulate air the best I can. Stove should be in tomorrow, I'm super excited to get installed and inspected! Main floor insert should get some reprieve.

 

[stoveliker]

Make sure any air is not drawn from within 10 ft of the stove or insert.
It is against code and could lead to smoke roll-out.

(Moreover, it often works better to move cold air towards the stove room than hot air away from it. My approach is this one:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/moving-heat-from-basement.198703/post-2667802 )

 

[GG Woody]

Make sure any air is not drawn from within 10 ft of the stove or insert.
It is against code and could lead to smoke roll-out.

(Moreover, it often works better to move cold air towards the stove room than hot air away from it. My approach is this one:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/moving-heat-from-basement.198703/post-2667802 )

I don't have a return within 10ft of the stove, but all my ducting mains return and supply run directly above the new stove. Return is at the other side of the room. I'm hoping there is heat transfer to the exposed ducting, which there will be some, maybe not much.
I do not believe where I live in Canada has a code that deals with return air being drawn near wood appliances, I could easily be wrong. Generally there are no noticeable effects of airflow on suction within 1.5 of the diameter of the inlet at .1inwc. I could see supply air disturbing an appliance much easier from a distance.
I read your other post you linked, neat setup with the fire damper.

 

[BillBurns]

I cleaned the flue, got my blankets out for under the door drafts, brought a LOT of wood inside for ease of access. Once it gets cold ill put platic sheeting over a few doors and windows. Its an old house (1886 ). Gotta take the good with the bad.

 

[begreen]

This sounds familiar...
I also work in sheet metal/HVAC, in our last house I installed a fan in the middle of our top floor, drew air from above the fireplace insert at one end of the house and dumped it in the master bed/bath at the opposite end of the house. I used a 250cfm fan on rheostat, insulated duct and covered in blow in, it worked really well.
This year, different house, I am putting a new stove in the basement, I'm gonna try to heat from bottom up instead of top down. I've always been set up for failure by previous house owners in this respect, I'll be running the furnace full time at maybe 35% trying to circulate air the best I can. Stove should be in tomorrow, I'm super excited to get installed and inspected! Main floor insert should get some reprieve.

Using the furnace blower can be expensive and it adds wear and tear to an expensive part. Also, can be quite inefficient due to duct losses. The exception if this is a very well insulated heat pump system in which all ducting (supply and return) is sealed and well insulated and the plenums too.

 

[GG Woody]

Using the furnace blower can be expensive and it adds wear and tear to an expensive part. Also, can be quite inefficient due to duct losses. The exception if this is a very well insulated heat pump system in which all ducting (supply and return) is sealed and well insulated and the plenums too.

Thanks for the thoughts!
I do already run the furnace fan 24/7 for air filtering, it's all digital and I can choose cfm setpoints from the I Comfort smart stat. I'll probably just bump it up a bit. I do like the ability to keep air moving and filtering as I pretty much live in the forest and I'm usually a moving dust storm.
All of the duct is duct sealed or foil taped, the basement is pretty wide open and I figure any of the warm air that hits the outside of the duct must be a positive as there is no second story and the only duct coming through the floor is the register boots themselves which theoretically should be warm as well.
I'm sure there are more ducting projects to come from this as this is in my wheelhouse...

 

[begreen]

Sounds good. Having all the ductwork insulated and in a conditioned space helps a lot.

 

[Tron]

With doing R-8 insulted duct a

I'm thinking about doing the same. We're in the same situation, and the master bedroom and the office don't get any heat from the stove.
What size duct did you use? And inline axial fans in the middle of the duct? The 200cfm is the unloaded rating of the fan or what really exits the vents?

I'd only have to bridge about 10' from living room (also vaulted ceiling) to the office and maybe twice that to the bedroom...
I already have temperature sensors throughout the house, so all I'd need is a smart fan controller and a bit of logic in a smarthome rule.

I'm just wondering how well that will work, even with an insulated duct. The living room with the stove has somewhere between 75-77F, and the air in the attic can get to sub-freezing. So I wonder how much heat actually enters the rooms...

 

[stoveliker]

You can't move colder air through the duct?
Less losses that way by having the warmer air move through your hallways and the colder air through places you don't need to heat (deduced from the insulation).

I move cold air from my living room floor (register) through a 19 ft or so duct and deposit it near the stove. It is necessarily (no appreciable pressure differences are appearing as a result of the fan pumping air) replaced by warm air from the stove room.

Also, for any fan/duct system, mount the fan to the heaviest thing you have. In my case the concrete slab. Not the studs - you'll have way less vibration noise that way. Then have flex duct connect to both ends of the fan before you go (if you do so) to rigid duct.

 

[begreen]

An 8" trunk that branches via a Y to two 6" branches should suffice. If this is through the basement, then pull colder air from the office and br and blow it into the stove room. The axial fan can be suspended off of rubber or noise isolating mounts, though there are good ones that are quite quiet at a reduced speed producing 200 cfm. Look for their sone or db rating if this is a concern.

Amazon.com

 

[Tron]

You can't move colder air through the duct?

While I agree that would be the smarter way to do it, our house's construction prevents that. It is essentially a one-story home with an unfinished attic and built on a concrete slab. And since the rooms in question do not share any walls, and the interior walls are only the framing with drywall on each side, I don't see a good way to move ground-level (=cold) air.

I tried running the HVAC fan to distribute cold air (returns are at floor level), but that made little difference in overall temperatures. Especially as the return for the main HVAC is right in between the living room with the stove and the bedroom, so the cold air just takes a shortcut through the system and never gets heated.