Gravity and Heat

[mt.stalker]

Question ; Will the amount of heat rising from my basement (woodstove) , up through the cellar stairway , be directly proportional to the amount of cold air returns that are in my first floor floors ?
I know that in a forced hot air system , 110% return is recommended . But this is just gravity and some vents cut in my floors with no duct work . What are your opinions ?

 

[chucker]

with your system, you could try a box fan to help redirect the cold air flow from the 1st floor with a box fan! which ever floor vent is the futherest away from the celler door and a vent furtherest away from the heat source ! attach the box fan to the floor joists in the celler to pull the cold air from the upper floor to the celler using the lower speed to draw as much cold air or more for the amount to your heating conditions.....

 

[olyman]

Question ; Will the amount of heat rising from my basement (woodstove) , up through the cellar stairway , be directly proportional to the amount of cold air returns that are in my first floor floors ?
I know that in a forced hot air system , 110% return is recommended . But this is just gravity and some vents cut in my floors with no duct work . What are your opinions ?

when I first put my woodburner in,,thats how I had it for a few years,,till I found a old timey 32 square floor grate.................which then got put into the floor, right above the woodstove...then ductwork built around the stove,,for even faster flow....

 

[flotek]

I have heard many times A large old school steel floor register cut in the floor directly above the wood stove makes a huge difference in getting heat where you want it . Nothing will replace the benefits and even temperatures of a properly ducted wood furnace though

 

[olyman]

I have heard many times A large old school steel floor register cut in the floor directly above the wood stove makes a huge difference in getting heat where you want it . Nothing will replace the benefits and even temperatures of a properly ducted wood furnace though

your toooooo far away,,or id say,,come to my house for a few days,,and then tell me that..................

 

[Whitespider]

Will the amount of heat rising from my basement (woodstove) , up through the cellar stairway , be directly proportional to the amount of cold air returns that are in my first floor floors ?
...this is just gravity and some vents cut in my floors with no duct work .

First of all, any floor vents connected to duct-work won't be of any help or use to you... they are part of a "closed system" (so to speak) that your wood stove is not part of.
Likely the open floor vents will allow heat to rise from the basement, not allow cooler air to sink into the basement. This is because the cooler, denser, heavier air wants to follow the path of least resistance... it want's to get under the warmer, less dense, lighter air.
The warm air collecting at the ceiling in your basement is effectively the high pressure, the cooler air collecting at the floor above is effectively the low pressure.
Your flow will be something like this...

 

[olyman]

First of all, any floor vents connected to duct-work won't be of any help or use to you... they are part of a "closed system" (so to speak) that your wood stove is not part of.
Likely the open floor vents will allow heat to rise from the basement, not allow cooler air to sink into the basement. This is because the cooler, denser, heavier air wants to follow the path of least resistance... it want's to get under the warmer, less dense, lighter air.
The warm air collecting at the ceiling in your basement is effectively the high pressure, the cooler air collecting at the floor above is effectively the low pressure.
Your flow will be something like this...

View attachment 450175

YUP!!!

 

[Marine5068]

Well gravity really has nothing to do with air circulation(sort of) and the actual pressure inside the residence can be exactly the same all over and air will still flow around the space.
In other words the air pressure as stated above is not just air pressure because, but is actually caused by the airs movement as it is heated or cooled.
Air movement has more to do with how light and expansive or dense and compacted the air molecules are. When air is heated it expands and the molecules separate with more space between them and is therefore less dense and it is lighter and rises, The opposite is true of colder air, so it is denser and sinks.
This heating and cooling causes air to make convection currents and this principle moves air and there's actually a lot more science involved than I want to get into to reply to this question.
Cold air sinks and warm air rises as we all know, but if you can help it move it makes it more efficient and more comfortable in the space.(more even heat/cold distribution)
Fans are a good option.
I have a blower on my basement stove and a large, reservable ceiling fan upstairs in the cathedral ceiling that does all I need to get air flowing.

 

[stihlguy]

Barrel stove in basement, duct work from stove to cast iron register in living room floor, cold air return duct work @ end of hall down to basement floor. Simple ranch house. Been this way for 30+ yrs. w/ no complaints from the better half. Where you at in upstate NY?

 

[muddstopper]

I have one of those little, 4x10 i think, grates like you would normally see with forced heat and air. That vent is directly above my stove. I use the fan on my heat pump to circulate the air all thru the house. The problem I have with the vent directly over the stove is every time I open the stove door to put more wood in, it will give off a small puff of smoke and guess where that smoke ends up. I have found that if i just crack the door to the stove before I get a arm load of wood, it wont puff any smoke into the room.

 

[olyman]

I have one of those little, 4x10 i think, grates like you would normally see with forced heat and air. That vent is directly above my stove. I use the fan on my heat pump to circulate the air all thru the house. The problem I have with the vent directly over the stove is every time I open the stove door to put more wood in, it will give off a small puff of smoke and guess where that smoke ends up. I have found that if i just crack the door to the stove before I get a arm load of wood, it wont puff any smoke into the room.

yep! draft is slow,,and by cracking the door,,the amount of flow picks up,,which stops the backup....

 

[Del_]

A way to get some cold air back into the basement so warm air can rise to replace it and also to warm up some cool spots in upstairs rooms is to place a 1ft. x 1ft. grate in the coolest corners of upstairs rooms and fashion a duct from something as simple a 4 mill plastic that drops from the upstairs room to about 2 feet from the basement floor. In my install it was surprising how much cold air 'fell' down the two ducts I had. One duct was formed by using the space between the floor joist between a finished ceiling in the basement and the floor above it then transitioning to a 4mil plastic drop down duct. Cheap.