Air flow in the house
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GrassGuerilla
Olympic Piss-reving wanna be.
Try cracking awindow near the insert. Idea is to let it draw the cold air rather than pulling warm air up the chimney. When I crack the window by the fireplace, the back bedrooms stay warmer. Presumably not drawing the cold air in through any cracks.
To answer your Q: it draws cold air, not pushes warm. The warm (hot) air is drawn up the chimney.
To answer your Q: it draws cold air, not pushes warm. The warm (hot) air is drawn up the chimney.
cmsmoke
ArboristSite Operative
I think cold will travel in the window, due to the draft created from the stove and chimney. I don't believe it will help circulate air at all. Probably just dilute the warm air. It will help you induce a better draft...if or when you have a problem with it.
GrassGuerilla
Olympic Piss-reving wanna be.
Sounds crazy, I know. But try what I posted (open nearest window 1/4" or so). The fire WILL draw air from somewhere. Better to pull cold air from near, rather than draw it all through the house. No kidding, when I crack a window 3 ft from the fireplace, the bedrooms further away actually stay warmer. Like magic. Been doing it for years.
D&B Mack
Sawin Wit It!
Assuming you have no other air intake, cold air will come in through the window and move towards the stove. Burning in an insert will create a negative pressure in the house pulling outside air in through the easiest access. If you don't open a window, it will pull through any openings throughout the house, hence causing a draft.
Before I installed an outside air intake directly into my insert, I used to leave the door to the garage open since it had the most leaks. Since the insert and the garage are on the lower level, the basement stayed a little cooler, but the upper floor (living space) stayed warmer since there was no cold air being sucked in through leaks.
Want you really want to do is create positive pressure though. Two "simple" ways to do it are, 1. like I did and have the combustible air pulled in directly from the outside or 2. pull the air that is going to be heated by your blower directly in from the outside; this will take the outside cold air, heat it, and push it into the house. This will give you hot air to create a positive pressure, then you will only have to worry about air leaking out, not in.
Before I installed an outside air intake directly into my insert, I used to leave the door to the garage open since it had the most leaks. Since the insert and the garage are on the lower level, the basement stayed a little cooler, but the upper floor (living space) stayed warmer since there was no cold air being sucked in through leaks.
Want you really want to do is create positive pressure though. Two "simple" ways to do it are, 1. like I did and have the combustible air pulled in directly from the outside or 2. pull the air that is going to be heated by your blower directly in from the outside; this will take the outside cold air, heat it, and push it into the house. This will give you hot air to create a positive pressure, then you will only have to worry about air leaking out, not in.
greengiant
ArboristSite Operative
Anyone else out there have experience with bringing in outside air? I've felt that I should be doing this for a few years, but didn't feel it was a priority. I always have cold air from my basement pulling up to the first floor which I presume is from the draft up the chimney (and downstairs leaks more air than upstairs)
The air going out the stack has to come from somewhere, right? Does the outside air have to go right into the stove, or can it dump right infront/side of my insert? I am plenty confident my walls and windows will still leak enough air that I'm not going to have air quality issues.
The air going out the stack has to come from somewhere, right? Does the outside air have to go right into the stove, or can it dump right infront/side of my insert? I am plenty confident my walls and windows will still leak enough air that I'm not going to have air quality issues.
sunfish
Fish Head
We crack a window closest to the stove. If you crack one on the other side of the house, it'll just cool off that side of the house.
Heat rises, cold settles near the floor. Turn on the ceiling fan to mix it up.
Heat rises, cold settles near the floor. Turn on the ceiling fan to mix it up.
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
A lot of wood stoves/furnace manuals call for a make-up air source. It's not uncommon to have weird stove problems go away with OAK (outside air kit) install. I'd say the closer to the stove the better. Quite a few wood furnaces use a barometric draft regulator on the flue, I read somewhere they can exhaust up to 150 cfm up the stack. Better have a OAK for that! My owners manual suggests a P trap shaped arrangement (think P trap like your bathroom/kitchen sink) for the OAK pipe, it keeps the cold air from flooding the room.
Nosmo
Addicted to ArboristSite
I live in an older small house and heat it only with my wood stove. A couple years ago I decided to fabricate a fitting over the non-adjustable air intake. Then I installed a 4 inch outside air intake to the fitting.
By the way the stove is an older Englander TR-18 which had no adjustable air intake - just a open slot about 7 or 8 inches long and about 1-1/4" wide.
You all may think this is a wierd setup but I am using 2-dampers on the flue and have made a 4" damper to regulate the air intake to the stove.
Oh, I have one 12" fan setting a little bit off to the side and behind blowing across the top of the stove and another 12" fan hanging from the ceiling in the doorway of that room which moves warm air into the living room.
I don't feel any drafts creeping around the floor and this setup seems to really work well for me.
By the way the stove is an older Englander TR-18 which had no adjustable air intake - just a open slot about 7 or 8 inches long and about 1-1/4" wide.
You all may think this is a wierd setup but I am using 2-dampers on the flue and have made a 4" damper to regulate the air intake to the stove.
Oh, I have one 12" fan setting a little bit off to the side and behind blowing across the top of the stove and another 12" fan hanging from the ceiling in the doorway of that room which moves warm air into the living room.
I don't feel any drafts creeping around the floor and this setup seems to really work well for me.
You will have better results if you take those fans and use them to blow the cold air towards the stove. Cold air is more dense, and the fan can move it a lot better. The incoming cold air to the furnace area will push the warm air out and into the rest of the house. As that cold air is warmed by the stove, it will expand further pushing more warm air out to the rest of the house. Trying to use warm air to displace cold air like you are doing now is a lot like trying to push a rope. The density of the warm air is so much less that trying to push it out into the cold is almost impossible. The cold air is like a brick wall in comparison.
Just my 2 bits,
Mark
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
That vent to the right top of the pic does wonders some old timer said to put it in many years ago
Where does that vent go?
Garage
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
So, basically, that's your cheap, quick, simple OAK.
Fatarrow
ArboristSite Operative
I live in a ranch style house with a very open floor plan in the common areas. My Woodstock Soapstone Fireview is in the living room at one end of the house where I have cathedral ceilings. The two ceiling fans are set on whisper mode pulling air up, creating convection. In the farthest bedroom at the back of the house, I have a small, cheap 8" fan on the floor set on low blowing the cooler air back toward the stove. Result - 26 degrees F outside, 72-75 in the living area/kitchen, and 65-68 in th back bedroom.
Oil furnace hardly ever runs. Puts a smile on my face!
I have a simple two way fan hooked up in the garage that either pushes air in or out in the garage. The fan is behide the hot water heater so it can't be seen unless your looking for it and the switch is by the door when you walk in from the garage
View attachment 265983
View attachment 265983
chadihman
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was told I would not like a wood stove. The neighbor and others said hot and cold areas in the house. I put one in anyway. Everybody thought I was crazy to put a $2700 quadrafire 5700 in my house. That stove is awsome and it heats my 2800 sq ft home perfectly. My stove sits on the first floor at the far end of the house. The heat moves up the first staircase close to the stove then through all the the bedrooms and back down the second stairs at the opposite side of the house and back to the stove. 73 deg in stove room now, 70 deg in first bedroom and 65 in the master bedroom. The air eally moves if I get it started. I run up the steps and through the bedrooms and down the other steps a couple times and the air is started in a really nice flow through the house.
That is an interesting mental image of you trying to jump start the jet stream
uttahere2:
That is an interesting mental image of you trying to jump start the jet stream
Possible Youtube Video?
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