Best way to move the heat?

I am getting ready to install a Harman Elite insert in my house but the design of the house will make distributing the heat a pain. The house is a bi-level design and the insert will be on the upper level. Therein lays the problem. I will have to convince the heat to go against its natural desire to go up and force it into the lower level.

The room that the insert will be in is the living room which has cathedral ceilings. My best idea to date is to cut out a section of the sheet rock from the kitchen wall on the living room side and remove a stud (non-load bearing wall) and fill the resulting space with a 31x3 ½ “ duct going through the floor and tying into the cold air return ducting of the main furnace. The design of that wall will put intake grate almost at the peak of the ceiling ensuring the warmest air will be pulled out of the room and be distributed throughout the rest of the house via the furnace’s blower fan.

I am also playing with the idea of a damper in the cold air return ducting upstream of the new tie in to limit the cooler air being drawn in from floor level in the winter. Additionally, I am planning on installing a ceiling fan over the stairway to assist with convincing the warm air down into the lower level.

Anybody have any other ideas?

Sounds like you got some ideas. I would put in the stove first and see what happens with the hot air flow before cutting anything. Maybe just a ceiling fan or box fan somewhere to move the heat.....

A guy I work with has a ceiling fan above his stove, reversible so it will blow either up or down. He says when he uses the stove, he sets the fan to blow up so it works with and greatly increases the natural convection effect. However, I don't know the layout of his house or how far he is distributing the heat.

Hard to move the heat unless you put an insulated body around the stove to capture the heat and feed it to where you want it to go. I have found that it's easier to grab the cold air off the floor and make it go to the stove. Some kind of cold air return. If you can put a return trunk line in from the basement to the stove, a direct line, it will serve your purpose the best. I have a Vaulted A-Frame with a 40 foot ceiling. two ceiling fans that drop down 6 feet from the very top both going in reverse in the middle setting not the fastest but the next one down, when set at the fastest setting the fans wobble way to much because the ceiling doesn't allow the same pressure of air all the way around. I have a trunk line from the floor of the basement that feeds right into the stove with a fan inside the duct. You get rid of the cold and no matter what your gonna be warm. Cold air is easier to move also.