Advice For Moving Air Upstairs

[schinz]

Hello All,
I am getting ready to replace our gas fireplace with a wood burning insert. We have a large kithen with the family room on one side <wide open> and the dining room on the other side. There are ceiling fans in the kitchen <2> and one in the family room. There is a short hallway off of the kithcen leading to a two story foyer looked down upon by the hallway upstairs. There are four bedrooms upstairs My question is how do I effectively get the warm air into those four bedrooms upstairs? Thanks for anyone who can help out this newbie.

 

[Log Splitter]

What you've described sounds a lot like my camp. I have a wood burning stove downstairs and it keeps the upstairs warm by convection via the staircase. You should not have to do anything other than let the warm air rise and add wood if you wake up cold.

 

[jags]

Moving heat upstairs isn't too hard. Moving it into the 4 rooms is gonna be the tough part. I really don't have much for a solution other than saying that moving cold air to the heat source always works better than trying to move the heated air around. The displacement of cold air (heavier) will by nature be replaced with warm air (lighter). I hope this may help a "little" bit.

I guess if it were me, I would try 4 small fans (1 per room moving cold air out) and 1 larger fan moving the cold air down the stairs. By the way, these fans need to be at floor level to really take advantage of the hot/cold convection that you will be creating. No ceiling fans are to be used in this......or else:chainsawguy: .

 

[Jimfound]

I have found it very difficult to move the hot air to my second floor (woodstove in the basement). We have only one route for the air to go...right up the staircase. I tried a fan at the top of the basement stairs which worked to a certain degree, but never was able to get the hot air effectively circulated upstairs. The trick to getting the air to circulate I think is having openings on either side of the basement. With only one opening (the staircase) the cold air can actually act as blockade (being heavier) and never allow the hot air up. Only solution in my case would be to cut a couple holes in the floor on the second level and put in some floor vents. I have tried everything else. Haven't convinced my wife that we need to cut a hole(s) in the floor yet....

The trick is you need a circular rotation from the first to the second floor. Only one path for the air to travel (the staircase) won't get the air moving effectively. This has been my experience. Hope it helps.

 

[kellog]

Schinz,

Welcome to the forum.

I have a similar set up to yours except my wood stove is in the two story area. I find that the upstairs is warmer than I would like it. The hot air moves very quickly up to the second story. The hallway in the second floor is 80 degs +. The bedrooms are warmed quiet nicely even too nicely. I wish more of the heat would stay in the kitchen/living room area.

I also have a stove in the basement which helps to heat the living room/kitchen area but I have two stoves going when it is cold which goes thru wood.

You may have the ideal set up for heat distribution with the stove in the kitchen area.

Again welcome.

 

[mga]

I have found it very difficult to move the hot air to my second floor (woodstove in the basement). We have only one route for the air to go...right up the staircase. I tried a fan at the top of the basement stairs which worked to a certain degree, but never was able to get the hot air effectively circulated upstairs. The trick to getting the air to circulate I think is having openings on either side of the basement. With only one opening (the staircase) the cold air can actually act as blockade (being heavier) and never allow the hot air up. Only solution in my case would be to cut a couple holes in the floor on the second level and put in some floor vents. I have tried everything else. Haven't convinced my wife that we need to cut a hole(s) in the floor yet....

The trick is you need a circular rotation from the first to the second floor. Only one path for the air to travel (the staircase) won't get the air moving effectively. This has been my experience. Hope it helps.

exactly. just like a regular furnace, the best way is to get rid of the cold air (which is heavier than warm air) heat it and recirculate it. that would be the best way to get efficiency out of your wood burner and make it feel comfortable.

also, solving that type of problem would differ from house to house, just like installing duct work would also differ. there isn't one universal answer that could cover each house.

to heat the upstairs, you need to evaluate how the air would circulate in your home's floor plan....you might end up with an upstairs that's 95 degrees and a downstairs that's 65 degrees.

 

[goof008]

I have opened up the cold air returns that run from the upstairs rooms to the basement (where my stove is). I will also use the the blower motor on the furnace to get the air circulating. I am planning to cut a hole in the ceiling of the basement above the stove and cap it with a register on the main floor to try to get more warmth to the main floor....then it's half way upstairs. I haven't decided if i should us it as a floor vent or have it go up into a partition wall and vent out of that. But that was my thought. Hope it helps.

 

[Sprig]

Good advice from all so far and points out the variables involved. Just to add a small comment about venting an upstairs. True that you will have heat rising up your staircase but as pointed out this can be hampered by the cooled air having no place to go. If you look at some older (I mean '50's or earlier) homes and buildings vents used to be placed either floor level in the halls or above the doors for warm air and the cold returns would usually be on the opposite side of the room, ideally under the windows to help remove and cold radiating from the glass as well as getting over-all circulation happening. One of the houses I grew up in in Winnipeg used this type of system for the top floor (basement furnace ducted to the first floor rooms and one single (big)duct to the upstairs hall which was great for rolling marbles down ), though the house was a big leaky old thing we didn't freeze, much.
As mention in a previous post it would be prudent to get the stove up and running first so that you can assess your particular needs. I'd even go so far as to rent a thermal imager to give you an idea of where the heat pools and losses are and work from there.
Though simply letting the warm air rise up the stairs and circulate through the doors might work in some cases the issue that strikes me there is privacy as the room's doors would have to be opened, decent venting/ducting avoids this.
Visited a house last winter (about 1400sq ft) that used radiant heat in the floors and a basement boiler, nice (especially on cold toes) but very expensive and hungry when the weather got cold as the smoldering long fires didn't seem to have enough oomph. The guy who built it was considering adding an airtight to the kitchen/dining area to compensate.
My woodstove has a water jacket at its back and I'm seriously considering a hot water tank for an added heatsink/radiator, just not sure where the heck to put it as this is a small house and space is already at a premium.
Just my morning 0.02$ blatherin'

And Welcome to da Newbies here too!

Serge

 

[Mr. Obvious]

If you want a lot of air moving upstairs just tell the wife you left some chocolate up there for her.:hmm3grin2orange: