So the wife and I are looking to make a move this year. We generally like the ranch style houses but a lot of the available houses where we are looking are split-level homes in the 1500-1800sqft range. My sister and brother in-law have a split level with a gas fireplace on the bottom level which does a nice job warming it up down there during get togethers but they don't use it as a primary heat source. I'd guess the best set up is the stove on the bottom level since heat rises but my concern is the heat making it's way upstairs to the living room, kitchen and bedrooms. When we move I plan on getting a woodstove rather than an insert. I have my eyes on an Ideal Steel after following the thread here. So who's heating a split-level, where is your stove located and are you doing anything special to move the heat around?
I have a tri level house, insert is on the mid level ( living,dining,kitchen) heat has no issues going up to the upper level where the 3 bedrooms are located, just got to keep the bedroom doors open to let the heat get in easier Obviously the heat will not go to the bottom level so i just run a little electric space heater in the main room down there and keep the laundry room cold, unless it gets below freezing then i run a little oil filled heater in the laundry room
I heat a 2350 sqft split level with an old all nighter pre EPA woodstove in the basement. I have ceiling fans on both levels of the house just to move air. I keep the upstairs between 68 and 72 roughly. We have electric baseboard but currently have the breakers off. The stove is below the bedrooms and opposite the living and dining rooms. Bedrooms stay slightly cooler but that is fine with us.
I have a 2200sqft split level and i heat it with a Progress Hybrid. Stove is on main floor in dead center of house. Doing nothing to move air. Before the ph i had a convection stove and i must say that having a radiant stove has made a huge difference in even house temps. House has some high cathedrals, so i am actually heating around 3000 sqft or more. I keep the house at 68-69 without even trying(low and slow cat burns), crack the air open just a bit and i can climb into the low to mid 70s easily. Bedroom level stays the same temp as the main floor within a degree or two.
Remember too that you can use toilet paper or tissues to see which way the air is flowing if you place fans in different areas. I'm not sure if it works in all instances but I know a guy that blows a fan on floor level across the room at his stove. He used TP to figure that was getting the most warm air movement to the upstairs.
wildwest, convection just means moving air through the hot parts of the stove to heat the air. Radiant heat will heat up objects as well as the air. Wiki has some detailed info.
i was thinking more like a forced-air furnace vs. a free-standing stove, that's a good question. Anyone?
LOL He said convection STOVE which is what confused me and I'm pretty sure he's not talking about a kitchen appliance. I never referred to my forced air oil burner as a stove.
My old stove was a Hampton H300 free standing wood stove. It was convective in design. A steel box with a cast shell offset an inch or two off the steel body. Air would naturaly flow through this opening and out the opening on the front top section. Worked good, just it was making hot air predominatly. the only radiant heat off of that stove was out of the glass. the cast body/shell barely got over 200F. I ran it for awhile as is and then we put the blower kit on it which helped alot but it was still not doing what we needed. We replaced it with the progress hybrid a purely radiant stove and it was a night and day difference. That hot air from the h300 just all got trapped up in the cathedral ceilings. The radiant stove(the PH) prevents that as the radiant heat travels out in all directions. I think convection/convective design stoves work great, but they arnt the best choice if you have really high ceilings. In my opinion anyway.
Thanks, oldrambler, for a good explaination of a typical convection wood stove. A combination of both types, especially if the space is partitioned, can work well. It's hard to beat that molecular-level heat transfer, though.
