How to run the central A/C fan without the compresser

My son has Installed a Harman Advance Insert in his fireplace. On the floor right next to It Is the cold return for his central A/C. We were thinking that In the winter If we could run the unit without running the compressor It would move hot air from the stove room and distribute It to the rest of the house. Has anyone done this ? Without burning up the compressor or other parts? and how easy Is It to do. My son Is a Mechanical Engineer but I am a retired Old Fart and Its my Idea. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks
JimH

 

I think the general consensus is that it doesn't work well.

 

Most t-stats have an "on" and an "auto" setting for the air handler. If you set it to "on" it runs continuously..."auto" runs when there's heat demand.

It will even things out, but you loose a lot of heat to your duct system especially if they are outside the conditioned envelope of the house (attic, crawl, or unconditioned basement). You'll probably find that the stove room is less hot and the rest of the house is about the same.

 

Yep you turn it to "ON" and off the auto setting.

But you do loose a lot of heat to your cold ducts. Once you heat them up its ok but really no better than just a few key placed fans.

 

I have a forced air furnace with ac coil on it. In the winter I run the blower and it evens out the house temp. This is a pic of my tstat. Old school I know but left lever switched between heat and ac, right lever turns on blower manually.

 

Flip the breaker to the condenser?

My forced air system is AC only and has an on and auto setting.

 

I have experience with exactly one insert so I'm maybe not the most authoritative source on this, but even with the insert's fan running the heat rises pretty rapidly. A ceiling-level intake over the stove would be one thing, but I don't think floor level to the side of an insert is likely to be especially warm.