Leisure Line Pocono to heat whole house - tips, advice

[alexw]

Hi brand new coal newbie here I have read alot of the posts and need some additional info - I installed a pocono in my cellar into terra cotta shimeny, baro-damper set on 4, stoker lit up nice damper hovers around 30 and 45 degrees open when stoker is cooking pretty good.

I have questions about where to locate the coal-trol and getting the heat to circulate through the whole house. I believe its burning efficiently as the draft appears to be good, ashes are nice and even the cellar is H O T. Now I need to get the heat evened out.

Two story house with mostly new windows, a bit o insulation, but still a little drafty, most insulation removed from cellar ceiling, 8x10" registers cut in 2 of 3 1st flr rooms and in the face of the top step to the 2nd flr. Cellar door is open half way. Coal trol is in foyer that leads to 2nd flr and is set to 72-74 near cellar steps - its a small maybe 1800 sq ft any suggestions for getting more of that H O T cellar air to the first floor? I installed a few passive vents but don't want to hack up my whole house to find out that it won't work.

PS anyone near Scranton own and operate a draft meter? I make mean a Pizza and wouldn't mind having my draft measured.


Thanks

[davemich]

Alex, a sales rep from Leisure Line frequents this site. He will be able to supply you with answers to all of your questions.

[davemich]

...and the Coal-Trol rep as well. This post should move to the correct section of the forum. Good luck Alex!!

[alexw]

I appreciate your thoughts, but I was actually looking for some advice from stoker users in general in regards to their placement of said stoker, whether or not they ues passive, or active registers (with fans) and where they place them for most efficiency. The stove and stat work great I just need to get the heat built up in the basement (85-90) up to the first flr

[ewcsretired]

Alex,

I have a Lesiure line Hyfire 2. Mine is in the cellar as, my cellar stays at about 72 when we keep the house at 68. Our house is a very old farm house, as in 150 years, but well maintained. We have double pane windows throughout and a super insulated attic. I have three layers of R-19 in the attic.

Heres what I have done.

I duct my stove to two registers in the main room.
We leave the cellar door fully open.
Because I dont have a coal trol thermostat, we run the duct fans 24/7.

We dont have a coal trol yet, have ordered one but there is some delay in the manufacture of the unit we have ordered.

[LsFarm]

Alex, often it is the lack of cold air return that restricts the free flow of heat. Try putting a 21" box fan at the doorway of the basement stairs blowing down the stairs to the basement.

What type of 'regular' heat do you have?? forced air?? If so you may be able to add a duct from your present cold air return to the base of your stoker to induce a better flow.

Fans in the floor registers will definitly help too.

Greg L

[alexw]

My regular heat and now my back-up is a 30K btu natural gas fireplace unit in the corner of my dining room. In the day we run a ceiling fan on low in bothe the dining and living rooms (adjacent) and at night we turn them off to let the heat flow upstairs. This was fine with a few exceptions - the floor and one foot above was never warm, the cellar with no furnace was 40-50 in the winter, on the coldest days the 30K output was just a bit shy of comfortable (according to my wife) I can definately feel the cool air returning to the basement along the steps with the cellar door open and I also feel the warm air wafting out from the upper portion, but the volume and current isn't sufficient to heat all the 1st flr rooms. What type of ducts and ducts fans do you use? I may go to home depot to find something I can run to the registers in the living, dining and possibly 2nd floor - maybe connect it to the coal-trol?

Thanks for the info

[LsFarm]

Hi Alex, do a search for duct fans, and register fans both on this site and on google, McMasters.com at Home Depot etc.

There was a thread on this site that listed several links to fans, but I can't find it right now. There are dozens of options for fans. WNY has a link in his thread about 4 lines down in this forum. It is for his round duct fan he bought.

Did you try just the regular 21" box fan from walmart or?? in the basement doorway?? It might be enough to make the difference you are looking for.

Take care, Greg.

[WNY]

Link:
http://nepacrossroads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1182

You can look on eBay or Google for Booster fans too!
Alot of choices.

[alexw]

Hey all - I tried the box fan in the cellaer steps and it only helps marginally. The stairway is L shaped so it may not be the most effective. Im off to home depot today to see what kind of ducts and fans they have. I am trying to decide what type of manifold to fashion for the ducts to attatch to at the stoker.

[dutch]

Here is a "hood" system that was on the stove
when I bought this house. It's quite crude,
but seems very effective. It consists of a metal
hood over the stove, going up into an insulated
flex pipe, along the cieling to the middle of the living
room on the floor above where the stove is. There is
also a fan in the floor "box" where the register is, that
can be turned on for more draw. I normally don't use
the fan until very cold temps.... and since I replaced the
fan late last year I didn't get to installing a variable
speed switch, and am going to do soon before the
very cold weather sets in. (if it ever does)

We leave the basement door open (in another room)
to allow return air to the basement. I also use a couple
small fans in the basement to circulate the heat downstairs,
which in turn helps keep rooms above at a fairly even temp.

[dutch]

2 more pics of setup with hood and ductwork,
showing from above.

[wenchris]

Hope this helps.
Stay warm, Jimmy
http://www.suncourt.com/default.html

[dutch]

One word of caution for duct fans,,
make sure they are built to withstand
heat. I installed a cheap one from Home
Depot last year and it crapped out very quickly
in the heat. I replaced it with a different model
from a local hardware store that has held up
much better and was rated up to 200* or so.
(the original H.D. unit was only rated for 140*)

[timberman]

As an experiment you could try piping one of your basement registers down to within a foot from the floor. This will allow the cold air to fall, allowing the warm air up through the others to replace it. Use large pipe (12") if possible. Might be worth a try.