I need some input from you HVAC guys concerning the heating of our house, more specifically how better to circulate wood stove heated air .

House is approx 1600 sq feet; for the floor plan picture a long rectangle with 1/3 at one end being open as the living room and kitchen, and the other 2/3rd’s being 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Hallway with door separates the first area from the second. We do have a forced air (propane) system for the house, whole system including ducting is about 5 years old.

Problem: We also have in the living room a wood stove rated for an 1800 sq foot house. Nice one, and it sure cranks, but that portion of the house gets overheated while the bedroom section is still chilled.

I’ve tried moving the warm air with floor fans and even just the ”fan” setting on the forced air system, but it really seems to just cool the house if anything.

I’ve thought about trying to “passively” draw the cold air back by installing quiet (and low amp) bathroom style fans in the ceilings/attic above the bedrooms, and having the cold air dumped out near the wood stove. Theoretically the warm air slowly gets drawn down the hallway and into the bedrooms without getting cooled from a fan.

I’ve also wondered if it’s possible to use the existing forced air system and reverse the air flow so the bedroom ducts draw air and deposit it back into the front of the house through the main draw, hopefully achieving the same result. The filter might be an issue there…

Any ideas…or wiseguy comments?

Thanks,

Erik

 

Depends on how committed you are to this wood stove.

If it's a passing fancy, then I'd just install ceiling fans in place of some ceiling light fixtures to push the warm air back down and it will cirulate.

If it's part of your home heating strategy, then look at the air ducts on your forced air system. If turning on the fan just cools the house, I bet all the vents - both supply and return - are on the floor. So they're pulling in the cold floor air and circulating it around while the warm air at waist height and above sits there. To remedy this for long term solution, install air return vents and ducts up closer to the ceiling. This is becoming more common in newer construction. You put dampers on all the return vents. When you run the propane furnace, open the floor return vents to pull in the cold air at the floor and heat it up. When you run the fan only to circulate wood stove heat, close the floor returna sn open the higher returns to grab the hot air and circulate it.

 

You could also look at re-doing your cold air return. Put a large one in the ceiling in the room with the wood stove, and duct that back to your HVAC. Depending on how your HVAC is done, you may be able to simply re-route the cold air return for the furnace blower to use the one installed near the fireplace. Suck that hot air off the ceiling, cooling that room down to a comfortable level, and redistribute the heat to the other rooms. Shouldn't be blowing cold air at that point.

Just an idea. I use a wood burning insert to heat 2300 sq\ft here. Wish my environment were that easy to switch around.

 

Ask your question here

http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/

 

I once put a wood burner in a double wide mobile home.
I placed it in what was called the great room.
On the opposite side of the wall where the heater was, was a closet.
The heater had 2 blowers on the back of it.
I made a hole in the wall and a hole in the closet floor ,which was right over my forced air heating system ductwork.
I made a hole in the heater duct and ran a dryer vent hose from the duct to the blower on back of the heater.
It did a good job of sucking the air out of the other rooms and drawing warm air into the rooms.
I used it a couple of years and the insurance company said they were gonna cancel my policy if I didn't take the heater out of the trailer.
No other company would insure it so I took it out.

 

Chugalug: Good point about doing things that might negate fire/homeowners insurance! I'll remember to check before doing anything.

8996EBBroncos: Thanks for the link, haven't had time to check it out but certainly will.

RangerXLT and Fred79F250:
The draw for the furnace is near the ceiling in the kitchen so it's high up where the warmer air is, but is 25 feet from the wood stove. The ducting from furnace and fan to the rooms is under the floor in the crawlspace, with the vents on the floor, obviously. Unfortunately the ceiling in the kitchen/living area is vaulted with no attic (well,the attic over the rest of the house extends just over where the stove is), so there's no way of adding a draw near the stove and ducting to the existing system.

For clarity: The original house construction had a vaulted ceiling with no attic over the common area. The bedroom/bath area was originally a flat roof, with a gabled roof and attic added over it later (after the '89 quake, epicenter a mile from here). So that "newer" attic/roof extends partially over the vaulted section, including the stove location.

I do want to keep the stove, as we have a constant supply of wood from trees that need removal.

Somewhere on the WWW I saw a company that sells an idea similar to mine for use in cooling a house in the summer. Each room gets a small fan mounted in the attic (suspended on framing for low vibration and quiet) with ducting to the ceiling of the room. The idea is the whole house fan theory, where warm house air is drawn up and pushes out superheated air in the attic. If I installed (or copied) that system, and added a return line (to near the stove) for use in the winter...maybe the system could do double duty...I'd just go into the attic and redirect the flow when necessary.

I'll check the HVAC forum link and give them a laugh...er, chance to help.

Erik