Coalpail.com Forum

Hello - I'm new to this forum, I purchased a DVC-500 stove last February and installed it in my basement, I used it a couple months last winter and I'm starting to use it again this winter. The basement is about 7/8 finished, I installed the stove in the corner of the 1/8 of the basement that isn't finished because I thought it would be easier to handle the bagged coal and not worry about the mess. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to get the heat from the stove (It puts out a lot) to the rest of the house. The room the stove sits in is approx 10 by 15 feet, it has 2 doors which are open, I cut a hole in the floor above the stove, and I also have a couple fans running to circulate the air. In hind site I guess I should have purchased a coal furnace, the reason I purchased the DVC-500 is because you don't need a chimney. The stove is working really well so far, just need some suggestions on how to get the heat up through the rest of the house if possible. The basement temp is around 80 - 85 / the first floor temp is around 70 - 73 / upstairs temp is around 68 - 70. Alot of the heat filters up to the rest of the house, but alot of it is still in the room where the stove sits.....Thanks

Hi JB, welcome to the forum.
Sorry, theres no easy way to get a stove to heat all 3 floors in a house. Unless its 1000 Sq Ft. house.

I would suggest moving it up to your first floor. That should help alot.
Like you said, it is a stove, not a furnace.
Or get a 2nd DVC-500 for the first floor.
Or get a furnace.

This is the age old problem of finding the pieces of your circulation puzzle. From the temperatures you have posted, your problem is not getting the dense cold air back into the basement stove room so that the less dense hot air can naturally travel in the upward direction it "wants" to. Cutting a grate directly above the stove tends to set up a road block of sorts where the hottest air nearest the stove is dammed up against the grate while the cold air from the floor is trying to get through the grate. Help the air to circulate better by moving it in the direction nature intended: cold air falls and hot air rises. You need to create a circle for it to follow.

You didn't state what kind of central heating system you currently have. If it is a furnace, you could cut into the duct work and use the central blower to move the second floor's cold air to the basement. Give us a little more information about your system and the location of stairwells and hallways or possibly stacked closets (one above the other on the next floor).

As has been said, an age old problem. If you happen to have a hot air system and it is shut down, you will already have plenums in place to circulate cold air back to that furnace. I installed my stove right next to my furnace to tie in to the hot air plenums and open the base of the furnace to allow the cold air to flow back out and be re-heated by the stove. Links on the Leisure Line web site I think illustrate this fairly well ( at least that is where I thought I saw it) Best of luck!

Coal is a Heat Best Served Warm!

Greyhound - Can you reply back with info on exactly how you tied your stove into your duct work please? I have a furnace (Shutdown) that runs on propane thats sits fairly close to my coal stove, maybe this option will work for me, at least its something I can try.....Thanks

Yes my DVC is a heat machine too. A second one is not the way to go and as you are already aware the install of these stoves is a challenge. I also find the stove noise in the living area to be offensive (am I the only one bothered by this?) but on the other hand they are great looking machines that are best looked at in a living area. That has always been the DVC puzzle - where to put it.

In my application I found the cold air return is the key to my puzzle, so a piece of flexible AL hose from the floor register to the cold air intake of the dist. fan from the third floor might work for you. Convection is your friend and often does the rest. However, as has been suggested, getting from the basement to the bedrooms might be a stretch, it depends where you live as at best that will be inefficient.

Do you want cheap or elegant? Your temperatures suggest you are nearly there so will a cheapie hand fed get you there. Depends on your chimney situation and unless you live in a Dow Corning bubble, where you live.

Greyhound wrote: I installed my stove right next to my furnace to tie in to the hot air plenums and open the base of the furnace to allow the cold air to flow back out and be re-heated by the stove.

PLEASE HAVE A CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR IN THE BASEMENT, sorry for yelling, not really and let me tell you why. I have a warm air oil fire furnace. I recently moved my stove into the basement about 6' from my furnace, would have been closer but I had an existing pot belly and flue pipe in front of a fireplace in the basement and the furnace is on the other side of the fireplace. My stove is below the 2 bedrooms in an 1100 sq. ft. unfinished block wall basement. I have been doing alot of reading about air movement and pulling cold air from the oposite end of the home is what is needed for my home, now the fun part. I opened up a cold air return, it is a simple 2 joist with a metal pan under. I opened up the return above the stove and turnrd on my furnace blower and was impressed with the suction pulling hot air in, I wanted more! I removed the back panel from the furnace because when the stove is cranking away the basement is 80-85 degrees and I want that heat upstairs. I turned the furnace blower back on and I headed up the basement stairs at the oposing end ( I will call it the cold air return end of the basement ). Well the cold air coming down the stairs felt like a wave in the ocean, because of the increased pressure of taking the back panel of the furnace off, the basement door slammed in my face and I was amazed at the increased rate the warm air was coming out of my heat registers my wife could have dried her hair faster than with a hair dryer. I had loaded the stove 5 min. before and I could smell the volitals burning of and the wife thought I had farted : I raced down stairs to shut off the furnace blower. My home is fairly tight and I caused a negative pressure , greater than the stove draft and was pulling stove exhaust into my home, C.O. detector went off and I felt like an idiot in my quest of wanting more. I wanted to start a thread today about this called "heat greed" but you post seemed relevant. be safe and warm.

michaelanthony wrote:I had loaded the stove 5 min. before and I could smell the volitals burning of and the wife thought I had farted . I raced down stairs to shut off the furnace blower. My home is fairly tight and I caused a negative pressure , greater than the stove draft and was pulling stove exhaust into my home, C.O. detector went off and I felt like an idiot in my quest of wanting more. I wanted to start a thread today about this called "heat greed" but you post seemed relevant. be safe and warm.

The DVC-500 is a completely sealed stove, taking fresh air from outside the house, and exhausting fumes outside thru a sealed square plenum. Neg or Pos pressure in the room would not affect its operation. Unless you left the hopper door or ash door open

009to090 wrote:

michaelanthony wrote:I had loaded the stove 5 min. before and I could smell the volitals burning of and the wife thought I had farted . I raced down stairs to shut off the furnace blower. My home is fairly tight and I caused a negative pressure , greater than the stove draft and was pulling stove exhaust into my home, C.O. detector went off and I felt like an idiot in my quest of wanting more. I wanted to start a thread today about this called "heat greed" but you post seemed relevant. be safe and warm.

The DVC-500 is a completely sealed stove, taking fresh air from outside the house, and exhausting fumes outside thru a sealed square plenum. Neg or Pos pressure in the room would not affect its operation. Unless you left the hopper door or ash door open

Sorry, I thought it had a baro. that the flue gases could be drawn past

In case michaelanthony was speaking to me, I am well covered with Kidde Digital CO detectors, on all floors of the house. I had tried the furnace fan trick a year or two ago. In principle it really should work, but after a few days I shut if off. I probably need to wire it so that it goes on when the blower on the stove goes on, but that's a project for another day.

JB2034--PM sent!

Rick

Greyhound wrote:In case michaelanthony was speaking to me, I am well covered with Kidde Digital CO detectors, on all floors of the house.

Sorry greyhound, I didn't clarify that. You have things covered, it was based on my experience or I should say lack of...stay warm Mike.