Coalpail.com Forum

Devil505 wrote:I've been scratching my head all night from the fiberglass insulation I used to wrap the duct pipes.

You are not suposed to apply insulation with your head !

gambler wrote:You are not suposed to apply insulation with your head !

Now you tell me!!

Just wondering.....The new vent I put in is at the end of the hall in the basement, about 32' from my Harman TLC where allot of warm air gets trapped due to it being a dead end. (Directly above is the Dining room with the floor vent)
Usually, the stove warmed air makes it's way up the stairs & the cold air fall down the stairs (from above)

I'm wondering if, when the new vent fan is powered on, if it will actually draw the warm air to the end of the hall & blow it up into the dining room/living room better than just the natural air movement up the stairs? (it's just a 75 CFM blower http://www.iaqsource.com/product.php?p=tjernlund_ ... uct=171095 that I bought for another use but am using it here instead))

What do you think?

New thought:

The vent seems to work fine but the blower is only a 75cfm blower venting into about 6' of 6" round ducting (with 2 elbows) http://www.iaqsource.com/product.php?p=tjernlund_ ... uct=171095
& doesn't have great force coming out, upstairs.
I'm thinking of 2 possible options:

1. Adding a 270cfm in-line 6" duct fan (that I already have) to boost the air movement in the line I just installed

....or

2. Installing another vent in roughly the same "dead-air" area in the basement & running another duct line about 12' to the front of the living room & installing the 270cfm in-line 6" duct fan in this new duct.
(the living room & dining room are one large room & the vents would end up being 26' apart to distribute the heat better)

What do you HVAC experts think would be better?

I think, the larger fan would tend to blow the heat "further". On the other hand, it might tend to feel drafty.

Keep in mind, that the "return air" might need some help getting back to the stove. The cooler air is easier to move .... it's more dense.

Experiment.

Dallas wrote:Keep in mind, that the "return air" might need some help getting back to the stove. The cooler air is easier to move .... it's more dense.

Thanks for your thoughts..I'm not to worried about a cold air return in that the front vent (if I install it) will be just to the right of the lamp table (in the pic below) & any cold air naturally falls down the stairway into the basement hall.
The first idea would be easier to do, but the 2nd idea would spread the heat to the front of the house better. I'm concerned that adding an in-line fan to the existing (powered vent) duct may damage the fan motor of the vent fan by sucking air in a line that is already powered. Is that a consideration?

may damage the fan motor of the vent fan by sucking air in a line that is already powered

No, I don't think it will do any harm to have them in series. Maybe, you'll not need the vent fan.

In looking further at your picture, if I understand your thoughts correctly, the air from a vent by the table lamp, would have a pretty "short trip", to get headed back down the stairs. The heated air won't be in the room very long and it won't get very far from the vent, before heading downstairs.

Dallas wrote:In looking further at your picture, if I understand your thoughts correctly, the air from a vent by the table lamp, would have a pretty "short trip", to get headed back down the stairs. The heated air won't be in the room very long and it won't get very far from the vent, before heading downstairs.

Never thought of that....I figured since the warm vented air would be rising, that it wouldn't just fall down the nearby stairs.
Do you think it would? (I could locate any new floor vent anywhere I wanted, so maybe have it located to the left of the sofa? (off the pic)

It would just be allot easier to add the inline booster fan the he duct I just ran the other day.

I don't know for sure how the vent would work by the lamp. The warm air could get further with a fan. I've got kind of a similar situation, with the heat source right adjacent to the return ... it seems to work fairly good. As you mention, the heated air rises and the cooler air falls.

I was also, thinking of a fan/return over the stove.

Dallas wrote:I was also, thinking of a fan/return over the stove.

I don't know if you were just thinking out loud (in re your own house) or asking me about my house?

If you meant that for me, the stove is in the basement family room (on the opposite side of the house under the bedrooms) & there would be no practical way to run duct lines to it.

I was looking at your diagram and thinking of just dropping a pipe or vent through the first floor, to the basement. ... with a fan in it. Just thoughts.

Dallas wrote:I was looking at your diagram and thinking of just dropping a pipe or vent through the first floor, to the basement. ... with a fan in it. Just thoughts.

If you talking about doing that above the stove, that is the bedroom side of the house & I already do have floor vents cut in 2 of the bedroom's floors.

Devil I would try the larger fan, you know it's going to move more air then the 75cfm one. As far as it blowing to much air why not just connect it to a variable speed control so you could just dial it in the way you want it. I would think you would need more air being moved during the coldest days and less on the average normal temperature days.

Adamiscold wrote:Devil I would try the larger fan, you know it's going to move more air then the 75cfm one. As far as it blowing to much air why not just connect it to a variable speed control so you could just dial it in the way you want it. I would think you would need more air being moved during the coldest days and less on the average normal temperature days.

The inline fan I have is already a 2 speed (200cfm or 300cfm) selectable fan. I could try it at both speeds to try it out.
(Now I'm thinking of adding a separate duct line but closer to the middle of the living room/dining room. It'll be shorter/easier to run, provide a new floor vent away from the stairs & I can tie both fans to work together, off the same switch)