Cold Air Return Without Ducting?

Dallas:

Well, I didn't burn the house down yet. Good thing, the relatives needed a place to stay while visiting. I added another cold air return so now both rooms have a cold air return that exit next to the stove. In the cellar I had the two returns join into one line with an inline booster fan (500 cfm). The floors in the two rooms are cool, however, the room temp has been around 65-66 degrees. At the stove where the return exit I deverted some of the air towards the air control on the stove. These changes have almost eliminated the cool air traveling across the floor towards the stove. Standing in the furthest room from the stove I can feel a warm flow of air coming into the room. In the living room where the stove is located I really only feel a cool draft when I get within three to four feet of the stove. I don't think I can eliminate this draft. I think the fan behind the stove is creating this draft. I guess the real test of these changes will be when the temps outside drop back down into the low teens and single digits. I believe I am suppose to be getting these kinds of temps within the next few days. This weekend I am going to pick up some Kimmels coal; I am not happy with the Blaschak I have been burning lately. I have a ton of fines, shale, and very small sized coal. I talked to the dealer with the Kimmels and he stated that he has Kimmels in stove coal size. That is baseball size coal. I am going to pick up a bag of the stove coal size and see how the Jotul likes burning it. I had burned a couple of bags of Kimmels about a month ago and it seemed better than the Blaschak. The only problem with Kimmels is they closed the mine. I read this on the forum. I would burn Superior if I could get it up here on the Tug Hill. I just wanted to bring you and everyone else up to speed as to how I was doing with the cold air return situation. If you have any thoughts let me know. Thanks.

The snowman.

It sounds as if you have made some progress, which you can hopefully use for direction, if further improvement is needed. "Baby Steps"!

Dallas:

The baby step thing is the hardest for me to do. Next year I might take the other Jotul I have and overhaul it and install it in one of the last two rooms. I would have to put up a chimney for the stove. It would cut down on the electric since I wouldn't need to run the booster fan or the doorway fan I'm currently running. I would also be able to throttle back the stove in the living room. That would be cool. I would still like to see the room temps a little higher, just not sure how to do that. Thanks dallas.

the snowman