Good Air Circulation

I researched here and what I learned was I need to get the cold down to bring the heat up and once that flow is established the temps should be close to equal in a two story ranch.

Here is my history and I am going to attempt to attach a drawing of the upstairs floor plan.

I live in a 2200 sq ft ranch less if you include an attached garage I don't want to heat. The basement is currently wide open and will be a finished basement in the near future. I located my Stoker Stove in the basement because that is where the family room will be when finished. Right now I have about 75* in basement and around 67* upstairs during the day less at night when the sun is down. The office where the only ceiling fan in the house is running on the lowest setting it is usually 68*-70*. I cut registers in the Master Bed, hallway and in the dinning room (circles on floor plan). In the office is an access panel that opens to the bath room tub and it also is open to the basement I leave that open as a makeshift register also. The stairway is enclosed with a door and sheetrocked until the 6th step. The stove is located under the bathroom.

So far this is what I have tried. I bought a flexible 6" duct and put it over the blower fan on the stove and the other end was under the register at the end of the hallway with no major improvement. I tried the duct from the top step back to the stove and I tried the duct from the dinning room register also with no improvements. The 6" flexible duct is not long enough to reach the Master Bedroom so I didn't try that.

Here is what I want to do now.
Buy enough 6" round duct (and an inline fan) to run from the master bed to the stove. If I have been paying attention this should pull the cold air off the bedroom floor send it to the stove causing heat to rise up the stairway to the second floor. I also ordered a register fan for the dining room to pull some heat up that is on the way via snail mail.

Before I spend more money and agravate my wife further I need to know is my logic correct?

I couldn't attach the word document that I drew the floor plan on but I'm sure you get the idea from my notes above.

I found a way to attach the upstairs floor plan for my last post.

By looking at your floor plan I would think you have an easier time of transferring the cold air than I would. Having a ranch should allow you to heat the living space easier. I would duct your cold air from the bedroom and cut another cold air return in the far corner of the TV room. then duct hot air to the hall register. let the dining register and stairs free flow.

Now that I look at my overall floor plan, i basically have 36 feet of house on one side of my stove and 26 feet of house on another side of my stove. i should think about two 6" cold air return ducts from either far end of my first floor living space. Put these both in one single joined return to my blower, possibly adding a single inline fan to help suck the air.

Let the blower handle the hot air force. Duct out one single 8" pipe from the front of my stove and take it to two 6" ducts that lead to the floor registers.

I wonder if there is someone local that would hook up temporary ducts to perform an air flow test before I buy all the duct? I would hate to invest the money only to find out it is under built.

Well an update today. I will attach a floor plan and layout so you can get a feel for what I am trying to achieve.

I changed my duct from moving off of the side of the stove, to a scoop right in the front (4inch x 12inch to a 6"). I have my dining room inside wall ducted and have 6" going straight to it. It blows allot better and I bought a few thermometers to place around the house. The dining room is between 70 and 72 now.

I still need to change the 4" duct I have ran to the addition, to a 6" and try to use rigid. The addition with just the coal (not propane turned on) and the 4" duct is 62. I still need to finish insulating the garage ceiling with R30 this weekend.

I noticed while I was hooking up my duct last night, that the 4" flex running to the addition was feeding back cool air from the addition, so I can see where a cool air return will be noticeable. The question for me is do I want to insulate the pipe or let some radiant heat off into the garage which we use daily. With the garage insulated, I hope to reclaim some temps from my chimney pipe and blow that into the garage. If I achieve 50’s in the garage I will be happy.

The hall in my second floor was about 66 with just the dining room air pushing up the stairs. I will work on the second floor once I get the main level warmed.

Any suggestions?

Unless you have excess heat, I'd save it for the house,, don't waste it in the garage.. a garage typically has zero insulation,, none on the garage door or the walls.. it is a heat sink,, you need more BTU's to heat a 600sqft garage than are needed to heat a typical 1600sqft insulated house..


Greg L