Subject: [permaculture] Better Woodstove Heat Distribution
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:44:20 -0800
Hi -
I've got a newfangled high-efficiency wood burning fireplace insert,
which heats our main living area nicely, but the back bedrooms and
other extremities of the house remain pretty frigid most of the winter.
I'd like to rig up some kind of ducting system to distribute heat more
uniformly, but I'm not quite sure where to start. I'm familiar with
thermo-siphon systems used to assist hot water heaters in winter. My
challenge is that it's a single level home, so I don't have the
benefit of much elevation gain to assist a convection cycle. If I
ducted the heat off of the back of the flue, would I be able to place
vents on the floor of the back rooms? Would the vents need to be
higher than the heat source? Say if I put them midway up the wall,
higher than the heat source, would they vent heat properly even if the
ducts have to dive under the floor after getting their heat at the flue?
Does anyone have any experience with this? I guess I could use a
blower, if necessary, but I'd like it to be passive.