Where to put my fan/fans?

[babalu87]

We are getting plenty of heat but maybe too much , especially in the living room.
House has a very open floor plan downstairs with three bedrooms and a bath up.

Even with temps in the teens the living room gets to near 80 or even above, especially when loading up for a long burn.
The den is the room that ends up being the coldest in the house, even cooler than the upstairs (they are in the mid 60's PERFECT for sleeping)

I have had the fan in location A and am wondering if I would be better suited moving it to location B?
Location B should provide better heat to the Den while still allowing for enough heat to get upstairs.

The stairwell is open on one side to about halfway up.
Maybe pictures would help, I will try and post some later tonight.

May need another fan somewhere?
We are getting good warm/cool exchange on the stairwell.

 

[Rhone]

I think your plan is pretty sound. It looks like you currently have the fan blowing the hot air into your front door, and doors usually have very little insulation and are rather leaky. You're basically cooling it down and pushing the hot air out of the front door cracks by the way it looks. The B configuration is much better, no direct air flow against the front door so you should save some heat, and it should help you get the heat over to the den side without being cooled first by the door. Have the fan blowing across the stove to really get some good transfer.

 

[wg_bent]

If possible, try putting a floor level fan just above the "h" in the word "south" on your diagram pushing cool air into the den. The other thing to aid natural air flow would be to put a small fan pushing cool air from your coldest room towards the stairs upstairs.

I use a honeywell hepa filter in our master br upstairs to push cool air towards the stairs. Fortunately for me, that's a direct shot down the upstairs hall and down the stairs, so it works well for me and results in a few degrees of improvement upstairs.

What I've found works best is to turn off all fans and try to feel what the natural air currents are and work to aid them a bit with fans. That's best accomplished by feeling for cool air movement near the floor.

 

[babalu87]

I think the natural currents are my issue Warren and I am trying to figure out how to fight them.

The staircase is open to about 6 steps up on the living room side, the hot air from the stove just cranks right up through that opening leaving little for the Den.

The Den is the room that is coolest but the real problem is it gets too hot sitting on the couch (directly across from the stove)

 

[Roospike]

Try this babs


using a floor fan,
This looks like it should work with the natural flow of the home and boost the cool air coming down from the stairs as well as boots warm into the den.

Pictured is the style floor fan that does a good job of pulling and pushing air over long distances.

 

[babalu87]

Roo, that looks like a good idea but with two kids (2 and 4) it would never work, that fan would be right in the way of the nightly TICKLE ME WHEN I RUN DADDY! line of fire
There are a few crashes and bangs when they try and fit through that spot and there is nothing there now.
I could put it closer to the computer desk but I think the noise would make me nuts, thats where I go for quiet time ;-P

I have two fans set up per the drawing and though it is a little early to tell I think I am getting better results in the Den and in the living room.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I have a silly question since I have spent a lot of time experimenting with fans myself. When you point a fan at your stove, are you cooling the hot air, or just displacing it with the heavier cold air?

I cannot figure out if I will get more movement by directing the air from the colder room toward my stove or by pushing the hot air from behind the stove outwards.

 

[Roospike]

I have a silly question since I have spent a lot of time experimenting with fans myself. When you point a fan at your stove, are you cooling the hot air, or just displacing it with the heavier cold air?

I cannot figure out if I will get more movement by directing the air from the colder room toward my stove or by pushing the hot air from behind the stove outwards.

Normally its easier to put a fan down low and blow the cool air from the room to be heated and then it pulls the heat from the stove room to the room the fan is in . The issue with this is that having a fan on the floor is always a hard spot to get / to find and the best place for the fan always seems to be in the way.