Hyfire II - Return Air

I have looked into some of the postings about making this more efficient by attaching from my air return ductwork to the bottom of the stove which I have read is better than drawing the cold air off of the basement floor...

My question is this...in this model there were 2 fans / blowers attached at the bottom where I have seen the air returns attached...when the guy installed the it he removed the two fans / blowers...do I need to reinstall them when attaching the cold air returns? Do they help?...or do I simply attach the ducts to the opeings at the bottom of the stove where the fans / blowers were mounted?

Thanks.

If your fans were removed, you must have the bonnet and a big duct fan pulling the heated air off the top of the stove body..

You can have cold air return lines attached to the fan mounting openings, I'd check when the big duct fan is running to see how much air fllow is being pulled through the fan mounting holes. if there isn't a lot of air flow, then maybe you will want to reinstall the fans.

Greg L

Can you post a photo of your installation?

GL

If the Hyfire is very close to your other furnace with the cold air return, connect the warm air out of the Hyfire into the cold air return of the furnace. The warm air flow should be BEFORE the air filter and the furnace fan will distribute the warm air. You should NOT remove the Hyfire's blower fans. You NEED them to push the warm air out, unless you install a heat jacket fan. But why would you do that if you have the Hyfire blower fans?

NOTE: It was installed this way by Dave and Matt's suggestions.

OK...thanks for the replies so far...I have taken a few pictures...to show the hot air jacket and round duct work that connects from to the cold air return of the furnace. I also took pics of the disconnected fan I was talking about...and the hole that it was attached to...There are still smaller fans attached which I took pics of...but I believe they are to keep the air to the fire (sorry for my lack of technical expertise).

I was thinking about the comments regarding fans (reference to a heat jacket fan)...and since I didn't do the install I wanted to check it out for myself. I have the hot air jacket...and the round duct coming off of the top of the jacket...there is a honeywell thermostat / switch mounted on the round ductwork (which you can see in the pic on the right hand side)...that thermostat / switch is hooked to the blower in my furnace...so when the hot air builds up in the round ductwork and when it reaches temp...the switch kicks on the furnace blower and I assume that is how it was set up to draw the hot air from the stove and blow it into the house ductwork. I did pull the top duct off of the stove to check inside and there is no fan installed in that round ductwork you see in the picture.

Like I said...I didn't install it...but if there are things that are not set up properly or efficiently - I'd appreciate any feedback.

Looks like it is hooked up per the install diagram, it should work fine.

The problem is getting the return air onto the sides of the stove, just leaving the fan off the back will draw air in up the back of the stove and along the sides, but with the sides being open, there is no easy way to run back to your furnace cold air return.

The 'stat' on the heat jacket is the fan limit switch. That will trigger the furnace fan to circulate the heated air at a set 'on' temp. Since the heat jacket doesn't have a fan, you should reconnect the Hyfire's dist fans so that the cold air can be collected way faster AND it'll push the warm air to the furnace fan more efficiently.

Great...thanks for the input.

So now if I reconnect the dist fans...does it still help to connect a duct from those fans that ties into cold air return duct from upstairs?
I thought I read somewhere that it would be more efficient than pulling the cold air to the stove off of the basement floor...because the air going through
the cold air returns from upstairs would already be warmed to a point...

If this will make a significant difference I would like to consider it...but not sure about the extra work if it really won't help all that much.

Thanks.

One other thing in addition to my last post - I took a look at the dist. fans that I am considering reconnecting...and I would have thought that the screened area on the fans would face outward on each side...but the fans are both the same...its almost like having 2 left shoes when I would have guessed there would be a left and a right - so on one side the screened area of the fan would face out...but on the other side it would face inward...are the fans really not mounted in the same on both sides?

AJtheNewbie wrote:Great...thanks for the input.

So now if I reconnect the dist fans...does it still help to connect a duct from those fans that ties into cold air return duct from upstairs?
I thought I read somewhere that it would be more efficient than pulling the cold air to the stove off of the basement floor...because the air going through
the cold air returns from upstairs would already be warmed to a point...

If this will make a significant difference I would like to consider it...but not sure about the extra work if it really won't help all that much.

Thanks.

Cold air is heavier. When the furnace AND Hyfire dist fans kick in, warm air is not going to suck in the return ducts because the air hasn't warmed up yet. Matter of fact, Leave the staircase door to the basemen open. You'll feel the cold air RUSH downstairs. The Hyfire's dist fans are very effective. So, the need to add return ducts is not necessary IMO. No need to add extra expense. Try this way first.

Don't worry about the Hyfire's fans being like "two left shoes". Cold air will be sucked in. I'm sure LL thought of that and it worked well on their tests.

Easier to have The 2 same fans, same orientation for cost savings from the factory, only 1 item to inventory, instead of 2, they all have that.

I hooked pipe to mine and tied them into my cold air return of my furance. But my furnace has no blower, just convection, so I need the blowers.

Cold Air Return From Existing Run

I also did my own custom heat jacket , since I don't have a blower on the furnace, I added a small blower 500CFM just for the jacket with it own temp switch and piped it to both sides to wash the sides of the stove off, it runs indepently from the other blowers, as to keep the sides from getting too hot. Works for me.!
Heat Jacket on LL Hyfire I jacket

Alright...I think I am going to hook the dist. fans back to the Hyfire...

I guess I am still not sure why they disconnected them when they installed it...did they feel they wouldn't be needed
since it was tied into the furnace and the furnace fan would be used to distribute the hot air through the ductwork?

Any thoughts?...maybe from an installer or someone experienced? Is disconnecting them recommended by LL for some reason?

Thanks.

I think the idea is that the bonnet and duct on the Hyfire would be pulling air into the house ductwork, and that this was enough air moving.. in many cases this is probably correct.. and the small fans would be a restriction to this air movement.. but since you want to pull cool return air from another part of the house/ductwork, it makes sense to reinstall the two fans and hook up ductwork to their inlets, like WNY did.. it will probably work very well..

Greg L.

Thanks for the reply...and you comment about it woking very well is my whole dilemma...
With my setup...will the effort and work it takes to hook the fans back up and connect them to the house return air ductwork make a difference in efficiency, etc?

I guess I didn't want to go through the expense and work if it really wouldn't make a difference in my setup.

Thanks.

AJtheNewbie wrote:Thanks for the reply...and you comment about it woking very well is my whole dilemma...
With my setup...will the effort and work it takes to hook the fans back up and connect them to the house return air ductwork make a difference in efficiency, etc?

I guess I didn't want to go through the expense and work if it really wouldn't make a difference in my setup.

Thanks.

You're never going to know till you try. My setup is basically yours and it woks great.

poconoman wrote:You're never going to know till you try. My setup is basically yours and it woks great.

Thanks...so you have "ducts" that are connected to your dist. fans - which tie back / connect into a house cold air return duct?...like these pics
from Dave's install (WNY)?