Power Floor Register and Circulating Air in House

Hi,

I need some advice. I have my coal stove on the 1st floor of a two story home. I also installed and a fan at the top of a large open stairwell going to the 2nd floor. I want to equalize the heat better in the house. Usually there is a good 10 degree difference between floors and much more of a variance when it get colder outside.

Keep in mind that the floor register will be located in the coldest 2nd story room and the main objective is to get more warm air into this room. Thanks in advance.

I have 2 plans but am not sure which plan is the best. Here goes:

1. Install a power floor register (10" x 12" approximate) on the 1st floor close to the stove (about 10 ft. away). The register would use a blower to suck air up into the register and into the colder and story room. Also, the ceiling fan at the top of my stairwell woud blow the air back down to the 1st floor. I'm afraid that the colder room would get warm but I would be making the other rooms upstairs cold.

2. Once again install the power vent but the blower would blow the air back into the room with the stove while the ceiling fan would be ran in reverse and pulling air from the 1st floor up to the 2nd floor. My concern is that there would be better air circulating but the room upstairs wouldn't warm up much because the floor register is not pulling warm air.

I would also appreciate if anyone could suggest a supplier for these floor registers and a what is a good size?


Thanks in advance

Without knowing a lot more details, it is a little difficult to speculate. I think if the stove and stairs are close to the middle of the house, I would put two power vents as far apart and at opposite ends of the house. These would draw air to the ends of the house, push it upstairs at the outside and the cooler air would come down the stairs to the stove. Yes, some warm air will go up the stairs too, but whatever volume you can push through the power registers will return down the stairs. Higher velocities will maintain a more even temperature up and down.

I have a similar setup and had a similar problem last year after I put in new windows. I put a vent and floor register behind the stove. in the vent I have a 6" duct fan that I have blowing towards the second floor. I use my open stair well at the opposite end of the room with the stove as the cold air return. I was able get the temp difference between the floors too about 2-3 degrees instead of 10 degrees.

Jpen: This is why this site is so great. You have lived what I want to do and are willing to share your experience. Thanks. It sounds just like my setup. The only caveat is that I have a celing fan at the top of my stairwell. Do I run it so it sucks the warm air up the stairs to the 2nd floor or should I run it in reverse to push the cold air back down to the stove? My gut says to run it in reverse so it creates a draw of the warmer air and that the colder air will still make its way down the stairwell.

Thanks in advance.

I think it is going to depend on where the stairwell is in relationship to the stove. My living room runs the entire width of my lower story. The stove is at one end and the stairwell is at the other. An illustration of your floor plan and where the duct is at will really help. Another thing you can do is with no fans blowing is perform the candle draft test which is what I ended up doing to determine which way the air naturally flows in your house. Before I put the new windows in,the hot air would rise right up the steps and the vent above my stove acted as a cold air return. Now I had to reverse the fan in the duct and pull the air up from over top of the stove. Bottom line is use your home's natural draft to your advantage