Aside from the heat powered fans that sit on top of the wood burner and ceiling fans how do you fellow wood burners move warm air from one room to another, just regular free standing fans? I’d like some input from you guys, one side of my house is toasty warm and the other side is a frozen tundra, any good ideas out there? Thank so much! I truly enjoy this site!!
I use a pedestal fan behind my stove because the stove fan is not that great, works much better then a small fan blowing cold air toward the stove. YRMV
Yup This^^^^ If you have access under the floor, you can put an inline fan in ductwork and pull cold air from the floor of the tundra and bring up near the woodstove. This works for more remote rooms if you keep the doors open. You need enough cfm to change the air 2 to 4 times per hour to make a difference. Depends on insulation values and windows.
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Cheers to your last line! This is a truly awesome site filled with great info and answers! I posted a similar issue with uneven heat distribution about a year or two ago and got the same feedback from this community... it’s all about moving the cold air into the warm zone with a small fan (like many above posted). I tried this on other’s recommendations here and it has worked wonders! Within 5 min of turning on the fan at cold end of the house and aiming it at the warmer stove end I boost the cold side temps by 3-4 degrees. Before trying this I was frustrated by failed attempts of trying to move the hot air out, when in fact it’s the other way around. The best way I can understand it is it actually works better to displace the hot air with cold air. Good luck!
Getting back on track, yes a small fan can do wonders. The one we used was like a 4 or 5" fan blade and it did not take long for the rear rooms to warm. One point is to run the fan on low speed so as to not create a cold draft. Also, place the fan on the floor rather than elevating it. Remember that it is easier to move cool air than warm air; because cool air is more dense than the warm.
My neighbors cut in a return air in the wall above their wood stove and will run the fan on their central gas furnace to move the heat around the house a bit. I thought it was a pretty decent idea. I personally think you need to put another stove at the other end of the house
I have a two story house and I installed an air register in the ceiling above the stove, to let air into the upstairs and and also cut some down registers in the second floor going back down in a first story bathroom and bedroom that was always cold. This helps and does not require a fan, the airs circulates back to the stove through convection. But last year, I improved on that, as I still wanted some more air transfer to the bathroom in question and for a few years I though about it, and finally came up with the idea of installing a small fan high up in the wall between the bathroom and utility room, then I cut an air register above the door of the utility room which is close to the stove. I also leave the door open to the utility room, but it's noisy if the washer or dryer is running so, that's why I cut the air register above the utility room door, so I can leave it shut if I want to. The air register above the door header also helps draw the warmest air from high up at the ceiling out of the living room. Door headers block air movement at ceiling level. Many old houses and other building used to have windows on hinges above the door headers, that could be opened to allow more air movement. Old technology that has pretty much been lost with the advent of modern central heat and air. The fan pulls air through the utility room and blows it into the bathroom in question, and then the air can circulate into the bedroom, from the bathroom, and back out the bedroom door to the stove again. Now. it's quite comfortable in all of the lower floor rooms, except when I build too big a fire in the living room and get it too hot in there. I have a toggle switch to control the little fan which is only about 4 or 5 inch diameter and very quite. That way I can shut it off and on easily, as needed. I also run a ceiling fan or two on low, sometimes.
The fan on our stove does a decent job of moving enough air to keep the house warm enough. The stove is at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms, but it is centered on the hallway which helps get the air down that way. When it gets really cold, I have had the kids make hot laps up and down the hallway to stir the air. Plus they aren’t cold after running back and forth for a few minutes.
I use this. It's up at ceiling height so it moves the warmest air from my kitchen into my living room. Small, quiet, efficient and out of the way.
Multiple opinions and good ideas on the moving of air, aside from buZZsaw BRAD. If one practice works best for any given situation, then that's the one for you.
