Circulating wood stove heat throughout small home

[olympyk_999]

im no HVAC expert but....if it were me, I would likely plumb in a secondary/auxiliary return in the basement, with a damper to switch between the main return in the living space, and the return in the basement...

with the return in the basement, it would pull the cold air out of the basement, and push it upstairs, and with the basement door open it would draw the tempered air back to the basement
but that's just me...

 

[NSMaple1]

I would also add what is necessary to the ductwork so that unheated place down there becomes part of the normal heating system. Then you could get air moving around the place by switching the blower on - and, if you're using the furnace without the stove, the area also gets covered. Which is the way your HVAC system should be, for starters - should be able to heat the whole place without the stove.

But - if you didn't want to wait for that to get done, or wanted to add more flexibility, you should also be able to use a fan to get air moving between the two levels. I would not use the fan to blow hot air away from the hot places though, I would use it to blow cold air towards the hot places. Then warmer air would move in to replace the cold air you're moving. It is more efficient for the fan to move cold air than warm air - colder air is more dense, therefore the fan will move more cold air than warm, all else being equal. For instance, using the idea mentioned earlier of a tube or duct between the hot high area and the cold lower area with a fan in it - I would run the fan so it is blowing up not down.

 

[olympyk_999]

I would also add what is necessary to the ductwork so that unheated place down there becomes part of the normal heating system. Then you could get air moving around the place by switching the blower on - and, if you're using the furnace without the stove, the area also gets covered. Which is the way your HVAC system should be, for starters - should be able to heat the whole place without the stove.

But - if you didn't want to wait for that to get done, or wanted to add more flexibility, you should also be able to use a fan to get air moving between the two levels. I would not use the fan to blow hot air away from the hot places though, I would use it to blow cold air towards the hot places. Then warmer air would move in to replace the cold air you're moving. It is more efficient for the fan to move cold air than warm air - colder air is more dense, therefore the fan will move more cold air than warm, all else being equal. For instance, using the idea mentioned earlier of a tube or duct between the hot high area and the cold lower area with a fan in it - I would run the fan so it is blowing up not down.

that would be good...a lot of basement don't really need it though...the heat coming off the furnace usually does a pretty good job
I heat with wood 99% of the time, but have base board heat too...if I heat with the furnace the basement is usually around 60 deg. but when I heat with wood it drops right off...34 is the lowest I have seen it...
but it would still be good to do while the guy was already there...

 

[NSMaple1]

I might have read wrong - I was thinking the downstairs room being slept in doesn't get any heat at all, even when the furnace is going.

 

[olympyk_999]

I might have read wrong - I was thinking the downstairs room being slept in doesn't get any heat at all, even when the furnace is going.

I missed the part about the downstairs being finished...sorry