Heat not reaching whole house

[Whitespider]

It's a lot easier and more efficient to pull air than it is to push it. Pulling the air from the colder parts of the house to the warmer parts is usually going to work better than trying to push the hot air. But you'll need a way for the warmer air to be pulled into the colder spaces.

Yeah, that's true... but it isn't really the "pushing" or "pulling" that makes a forced air system work efficiently. It has more to do with pressure zones... the blower in a forced air system isn't used so much to "push" the warm air from the furnace to the living area, or "pull" the cold air from the living area to the furnace as it is used to create high and low pressure areas. In the natural world air in a high pressure zone will flow to a low pressure zone... sometimes a a very high rate of speed.

The blower in a forced air system creates a low pressure zone on the cold air side and high pressure zone in the plenum above the furnace (the heating of the air also increases pressure). Because the heat ducts and cold air return ducts are normally in a different room, or even a different floor from the furnace... it acts something like a closed loop circuit (the heated room, or rooms, are just part of the closed loop), where the air in the high pressure zone on one side of the blower naturally flows to the low pressure zone on the other side. While a blower with a higher CFM rating will move more air if it's just used as a fan where there ain't pressure resistance, in a closed loop higher horsepower is more important because it will overcome more backpressure and create a greater pressure differential.

A free standing fan cannot do what a closed loop circuit-like forced air system will do... it is comparatively horribly inefficient, relying near solely on horsepower without any help from natural forces.

 

[elmoleaf]

+1 on fan on floor at bedrooms, blowing cold air towards stove area. Does not need to be large or high speed.

Also, spend time air-sealing your house. Check where sill plate meets foundation....likely large amounts of cold air leaking into your house and wall cavities. Insulate rim joist area. There are a lot of guides online of other items to check/seal. Air-sealing is not necessarily the same thing as insulating.

 

[stihly dan]

Get some flex duct. Cut in a floor register in each bedroom, install a fan in a can in each at the basement. ($15 each) Then 2 floor registers behind the stove tied into the flex. All your problems will go away.

 

[CTYank]

One of the most effective ways to heat a house is to keep the heat within the house.

Insulation is good, but useless without sealing. Especially important is to eliminate any "chimney effect" leaks- where you have leaks down low (like, basement) and others up high (attic). They can really suck. Heat, that is.

Good door and window sealing is worth the trouble too. Ditto adding plastic film to interior window frame.

Then maybe more attic insulation.

You might be surprised where you find substantial leaks.

 

[planman]

heat in bedroom

I would try creating a return path for the air either through the master bath wall or by putting a Y valve in the bathroom ceiling vent and pumping it through the living room. Easier to pull cold air than push hot. You need a loop.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I have a similar, though not as extreme, situation. I used Thruwall fans to bring warm air into my bathrooms, which helped balance the temp in
the bathrooms and master bedroom.
Suncourt ThruWall 7-5/8 in. Transfer Fan-TW108 at The Home Depot

View attachment 314909

While I don't care for the drone of the fans, they make a huge difference. I run them 24/7 during heating season.

I'd try one thru the wall between the master bath and the livingroom, placed high to bring in the warmest air. The cold air will flow down the hall into the living room. The fans can also be used with flexible duct. If you have access to the attic crawl space, place the intake in the ceiling of the livingroom with flex duct to the fan in the ceiling of the furthest bedroom. There are also inline duct fans.

Suncourt Corded 8 in. In-Line Duct Fan-DB208-CRD at The Home Depot

 

[blades]

The "LP" line is a small diameter copper line, same as what runs to my dryer and stove in the kitchen.

Water line is also copper, runs straight from the water heater about 2 feet away.

I'll post some pics. thanks for the quick tutorial, I'm pretty decent at computers though (I'm a software developer)

Sorry got confused with another post, where couldn't get pic up

 

[MrWhoopee]

After thinking about this a little more, I would suggest the following:

1. A Thruwall fan between the livingroom and the master bath. This will take care of the master bath and bedroom.

2. A register in the ceiling above the stove mounted to a box (I built one from OSB) in the attic crawl space. Two 8 inch flex ducts connected to the box, supplying warm air to two more Thruwall fans, one in the ceiling of each of the other two bedrooms. Place the fans in the corner of the room furthest from the door.
View attachment 315062
The fan in the master bath could also be ducted from the register box to reduce noise in the livingroom. You could also run the ducts along the basement ceiling, but the intake(s) in the livingroom need to be as high as possible to get the warmest air.

The fans will be "pulling" warm air from the livingroom, cold air will return through the hall to the livingroom, creating a full loop.

I have eliminated the cold spots in my house using a similar system. During the night, I close the door to the master bath, keeping the bedroom a little cooler and providing the added benefit of a warm bathroom for those mid-night calls. The bathrooms also stay dry and mildew free.

 

[leftyz]

After thinking about this a little more, I would suggest the following:

1. A Thruwall fan between the livingroom and the master bath. This will take care of the master bath and bedroom.

2. A register in the ceiling above the stove mounted to a box (I built one from OSB) in the attic crawl space. Two 8 inch flex ducts connected to the box, supplying warm air to two more Thruwall fans, one in the ceiling of each of the other two bedrooms. Place the fans in the corner of the room furthest from the door.
View attachment 315062
The fan in the master bath could also be ducted from the register box to reduce noise in the livingroom. You could also run the ducts along the basement ceiling, but the intake(s) in the livingroom need to be as high as possible to get the warmest air.

The fans will be "pulling" warm air from the livingroom, cold air will return through the hall to the livingroom, creating a full loop.

I have eliminated the cold spots in my house using a similar system. During the night, I close the door to the master bath, keeping the bedroom a little cooler and providing the added benefit of a warm bathroom for those mid-night calls. The bathrooms also stay dry and mildew free.

Thanks for these ideas. I like this approach very much.

So you suggest having the fans located at the bedrooms to PULL air from the living room, correct? (versus PUSHing the air with duct fans located near the living room)

We do have a thruwall setup going into the master bathroom, but it just doesnt seem to work, I think the fan is junk for this application (old computer fan).

 

[MrWhoopee]

Thanks for these ideas. I like this approach very much.

So you suggest having the fans located at the bedrooms to PULL air from the living room, correct? (versus PUSHing the air with duct fans located near the living room)

We do have a thruwall setup going into the master bathroom, but it just doesnt seem to work, I think the fan is junk for this application (old computer fan).

Yes, the fans are designed to pull, they must be located at the discharge end of the duct.
Sounds like the setup you have is improvised. A computer fan just doesn't move that much air.

HTH

 

[Woodchucker Ron]

Your stove is a space heater, it's designed and intended to heat the space around it (i.e. the room it sits in), it ain't a whole house heater... that's called a furnace. I know there are some on this board who claim to heat their whole house with a stove... but, if you pay close attention, most of them (I did not say all) do not live in northern tier states. And then to make things worse, you have a ranch-style home... which increases exterior walls area and means you have to move warm air a long distance, through several doors to heat all rooms (it just don't hold enough heat that long). A stove is not ever gonna' heat your whole home to your satisfaction... it-is-what-it-is. You may be able to improve it some with fans and whatnot (which I flat hate)... but the room with the stove will always be too darn hot, and the far end of the house will always be too darn cold. It flat is-what-it-is... a stove is not the correct wood-fired heating appliance for your style home, where you live, you need a forced air wood-fired furnace or maybe a boiler.

I gave-up on the "space heater" type appliances many years ago... I hate sweating bare chested at one end of the house, and shivering with a sweatshirt at the other (it ain't healthy), not to mention sitting down on that porcelain toilet. And I really hate fans running, the drafts they create (it ain't healthy in winter), and the dust they keep stirred up (it ain't healthy) even more. I prefer to be comfortable anywhere in the house, while wearing the same set of cloths throughout it (although I do throttle back the forced air in the bedrooms just a bit)... we prefer our house in the 69° to 71° range during winter.

I think this is what I would do. I to live in a ranch-style house and have a forced air wood-fired furnace and heats my house very well.It just don't make sense to me to be cutting holes all through your house installing fans and moving fans around and such. If you already have duct work I would save the money you would be spending on fans and such(because I don't think you are going to be satisfied with this in the long run) and invest in a forced air wood furnace. The money you spend on it will pay for itself in a year or two and I'm sure it will fill all your heating needs.

 

[woodchuck357]

Plug air leaks, insulate, put a stove large enough to heat the whole house in the basement, and add a return air register in the center of the house with duct work to extend to near the floor of the basement. A fan in the bottom of the duct will pull cold air down and the heated air in the basement will flow up thru the vents in the floor from the basement to the rooms above. A closed system without much ducting. The system will work even without the fan but is better with it.

Until you get a system set up, box fans on the floor blowing cold air from the cooler rooms toward the stove is your best way of evening out the temps in all rooms.

 

[2rod511]

A wood stove will never be able to adequately heat your home. I live in NC and have a similar style ranch house and even down here I couldn't heat my house with the wood insert that was being used in my living room when I bought the house. Waking up in the morning to take a shower in a 55 degree bathroom won't keep your wife happy for long. If you are seriously thinking about heating with wood then you will need a wood furnace or OWB.
I wouldn't go cutting holes in my walls or making any serious alterations to your house in an attempt to make a wood stove heat a house it will never be able to heat. If you continue to heat with wood you will eventually want some sort of forced air system.
Many people here will tell you that they heat a 2000 sqft home with a wood stove or insert and their home stays within a comfortable temperature range all day long. Trust me if this were the case, I would of never spent $5500 buying and installing an OWB. There is a reason why people buy the things.

 

[ppkgmsy]

I live in Central VT, so our weather is probably like yours, and have a similar ranch house. I have a nice size stove down in my basement. It's positioned relatively close to the stairs so the heat easily reaches up to the kitchen at the top and, after cutting a half wall, the adjoining living room. I have stovepipe ducted into the hall, and floor vents in the bedrooms.

My wife likes the two main rooms at 70 and is amenable to having the bedrooms less heated. I rise early in the morning and build a fire, so by the time she and my son wake, the house is cozy. Plus, the downstairs is toasty. I've been down there on many -0 mornings in a t-shirt.

With thorough insulation, we heat comfortably with 3.5 - 4 cords a year. I think if you are commited to heating with a stove, you could pull this off. Of course, it's up to you and the lifestyle your family wants.

 

[leftyz]

Thanks for all of the help and suggestions. Until it gets really cold I wont know what is working well, but last night it was chilly enough for a fire. I removed the 'computer fan' and styrofoam buffer that the previous occupants had rigged up around the vent between the living room and master bathroom. With it wide open I could definitely feel some warm air coming through the vent. I tried placing a box fan up near the vent in the master bath, but I don't believe this worked that well. I'll try it on the floor, blowing back down the hall like you all have suggested, and I'll experiment with no fan as well.

This should be fine for the master bedroom. We just need to figure out something for the 2nd bedroom, for our 3 year old. Right now he is fine with sleeping in his footie pajamas, but when it's -10* or colder outside and probably 40* in his room, his habit of kicking off the covers will lead to some cold nights for him. Thinking about a space heater like an electric baseboard heater or something similar could work until I get the furnace situation figured out (probably next year).

Another note, I need to remember to close off the 3rd bedroom (office) and bathroom at night to reduce the amount of square footage I'm trying to warm up.

 

[VA_Curtis38]

I'm new to the forum and hopefully I'm not breaking any rules by replying to this right away but I can definitely relate. Our home was built pre-1900 and is an old farmhouse to be blunt. It has been renovated and insulated as much as possible but we've encountered the same issues. We have a Fisher Papa Bear woodstove in a large family room as well as gas logs in another room and upstairs. While the woodstove would adequately heat the family room and kitchen & dining room adjacent, the heat just wouldn't circulate elsewhere. We've burned a fortune in gas the last two years and finally broke down and placed an order on a HeatMaster MF5000 ODWB. I know this may not be an option for you, but if your house has existing duct work for forced air this may be a solution for you. I'm eager to see how this helps us. In central VA, we don't have the winters like upstate NY, but it can definitely get cold and windy here January through March and even into April. We tried fans, etc., but nothing ever really worked well. Good luck.