[bigbavarian]

So I hate the electric company. Any and am always trying to figure out a way to save money on the heating and electric bill. That is why I have a wood stove. Over the past 5 years it has worked very well but I am ready to take it to the next level. Tell me if I am not thinking of something.

I live in a ranch that is situated on a hill with a walkout basement. The wood stove is in the basement at one end of the house the and the stairs to the basement are on the other end of the basement. This works well in that the hear has to travcel all throught the basement and then up the stairs. So it heats the floor and then comes up the stairs to get into the main ground level floor.

Or bedroom is over where the stove is so it gets pretty toasty when we have it cranked. The only thing is that the other bedrooms can get pretty cold especiaslly when the doors are shut.

I was thinking of thinking of attatching a vent and an inline fan into one of the main ducts. I was thinking this would pump some of the heat into the main ductwork and into the rooms above. I can put a thermostat control on the fan so that it would not run when the furnace turns on.

Do you think this would work?

Looking for ideas to maximise the wood stove.

Stephen

 

[oh'mike]

That is done a lot----my brother had the return air duct relocated above his stove --the heated return air was then pumped throughout the house---worked very well---

 

[oh'mike]

That is done a lot----my brother had the return air duct relocated above his stove --the heated return air was then pumped throughout the house---worked very well---

 

[bigbavarian]

Unfortunately I don't have a return air duct on that side of the basement, only the supply side.

 

[oh'mike]

Any room to add one?

 

[techpappy]

run a return air duct from main return to ceiling height and add a stat in the area where the wood stove is and wire it to activate furnace circulating fan when temp is high . that way the furnace will recirculate the heat throughout the house.

 

[Missouri Bound]

Have you tried just running the fan continuously, or at least when the wood stove is "making heat". Very often just creating the circulation will help a great deal....and you already have that in place. Now I did have a friend who actually cut some large registers into the floor so the heat could rise directly....and that seemed to work well for him.:yes:

 

[bigbavarian]

These are some good ideas. Not exactly sure what I will do yet.

I don't think I will be cutting holes in the floor I lived is a house where that was done and didn;t really care for the grate or hearing people downstairs.

Running the fan on the furnace - Is an interesting one that I may think of in the short term and see how it works.

Long term I may end up trying to run a duct to the return line and installing the inline fan in that.

Thank you all for the ideas.