Advice on getting heat upstairs .

[painter1234]

To start off I'm not a heating guru. I own a painting business and know very little on how my add on works. I had a buddy install it for me. So here's my problem I have an older hot blast in the basement with a furnace blower installed on the back. Two problems im getting right now. 1. The first outlet on top doesn't get half as warm as the second outlet. The first outlet he ran straight to the duct in the living room since my wife loves heat. The second outlet ran to the furnace. All using six inch duct.2 problem is the heat when the blower is kicked on barely makes it upstairs u can hardly feel it on the vents. When I have the furnace running only there's no problem with the air coming out of the ducts. So I was thinking I would use the furnace fan to push the air throughout the house. That's when I ran into another problem, the fan air runs straight back into my woodstove cooling it down. I read something about a damper where maybe I can allow the heat to go into furnace but not allow the furnace fan to push it back out. Need any help I can get..my 4 month old is upstairs and with the temperatures dropping to negatives at night I want to make sure he stays warm

 

[Cheesecutter]

I'm not a heating Guru either, but I would say you need three separate in pipe dampers. Sounds like your heat is taking the path of least resistance. Put a regular damper in the pipe to the living room. Partially closing this will restrict some of the heat flow in that pipe and force it to go to the second outlet. Mine is set up with spring loaded "butterfly" dampers to allow either the regular furnace fan OR the add on furnace fan to push the heated air into the plenum and distribute it from there. Depending on which furnace fan is being used, the damper closest to it will open and the other damper to the other heat source stays closed blocking the heat from entering the second furnace and forcing it through the ducts. 6 inch duct seems kind of small, mine has 8 and 10 inch.

 

[flotek]

Run both ducts into the plenum of your main furnace and allow the ducts to do there job. Size the ducts correctly . Your losing static pressure by splitting it up and some configurations just don't work well . Your wood furnace blowers are probably only one third the cfm flow of the furnace blower so don't expect it to be as strong the fact is for wood heat running constantly it doesn't necessarily need to be strong coming out of the registers . Too strong a blower can cool a firebox and blow cold air . If the pressure sucks then you aren't doing much but wasting wood . The heat must be pressurized to work right and get your heatupstairs where it belongs

 

[painter1234]

cheesecutter do u have a pic of how ur using yours?Also the guy who installed it said he just took an duct out from the plenum which was only a six inch duct .. that's the reasoning of the outlets coming out six and connecting into the furnace at six..I will take a pic in the am. My house is 1900 sq ft and Im having to use my insert to my fireplace to try and keep up

 

[flotek]

The duct outlets on a hotblast are 8" not 6

 

[A.S.Woodchucker]

I would have an HVAC specialist look at your system and decide what would work best. It will probably save you some headaches! IMO

 

[painter1234]

yeah It has an eight into a six I think..Yeah I need hvav guy to set this up right.I feel like im wasting my wood..The ducts are always hot going into plenum but I feel like I never feel that heat in the house

 

[Woodchucker Ron]

I would have an HVAC specialist look at your system and decide what would work best. It will probably save you some headaches! IMO

Good advice, it sounds like you have numerous problems with your install. Don't think I would have the same guy try and fix it. Pic would help us understand more of what you have.

 

[flotek]

Keeping in mind a hotblast eats wood regardless . It doesn't need any more roadblocks to further reduce it's efficiency

 

[painter1234]

had pipes free and break today so I was fixing them.. I will get some pics uploading soon

 

[Cheesecutter]

Sorry Painter, I don't have a way to get pics without a partial tear out. By the way Welcome to AS.

 

[tawilson]

Painter, one thing to check on is the air returning to the furnace. Make sure it has a clear path. Inadequate return air is just as bad as supply air problems. It also sounds like when the furnace fan is running it is overpowering the wood furnace fan and blowing air back to the wood furnace. When the furnace fan is not running your wood furnace air may be taking the path of least resistance and going through the furnace and filter and out the return instead of going through the duct to the living space. Maybe you can block of the air inlet of the furnace? Also, you can get fans that fit in the round pipes from the furnace to boost the air flow.

 

[painter1234]

thank u all for the suggestions I just got off work im going to head downstairs and takes some pics here shortly

 

[cre10]

Do you have it tied into your return air?

 

[painter1234]

im not sure if its to my return air.. heres one picture

 

[painter1234]

more pictures