How to circulate heat from wood stove?

How to Circulate Heat From Wood Stove?

Winter is usually harsh and inconvenient, isn’t it? The pangs of coldness can falter your peace of mind. That’s why you need a quick but effective solution. Wood burning stove is a good choice to cope with chills.

Wood stoves have made today’s house comfier with their heat radiation. It can heat the entire room within a short period of time, and that too with limited usage of woods.

But many people often face problems with heat distribution from the stove. If the heat is not circulated proportionately, your cozy room cannot be a warm place to rest. Therefore it’s an important issue to know about heat circulation.

So, how to circulate heat from a wood stove? Here we shall explore some crucial information and fruitful tips about the distribution of heat that you can apply in your home without facing many difficulties.

1. Proper Wood Stove Placement

Placement refers to the place where one should put the stove. It plays an important role in keeping the room warm. So when installing a new stove you should consider a few things. 

Wood stove in the basement
P.C: Zeus Building

Try to install it in the basement. Wood stove in the basement can heat the whole house. Since heat rises above and then circulates, it is wise to put the stove in a lower location. However, if you fail to do so, don’t worry. There are other alternatives as well.

But what if you have to cover a large chunk of the area? It’s simple. Keep the stove at a convenient but middle point or center of your house/ apartment so that heat produced by wood stove can radiate in all directions of your house. And keep the inside doors open for smooth airflow. However, only the home air distribution system may not be sufficient enough to distribute the heat of the wood stove all around, therefore you may need to purchase a specialized fan or blower to distribute heat at both ends of the house

Reference: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/placement-wood-stove-ranch-89556.html

2. Better Insulation

The stove may generate heat, but containing the heat depends on the proper insulation of your home. If your windows are open you cannot expect your room to be warm and snug. 

Therefore, it’s necessary that you keep your windows and doors closed. But keeping the windows closed all the time means air won’t come to refresh your home either. So what you need to do is to open those closures for a brief period of time during the daytime and keep the refreshment.

Curtains can help to reduce the loss of heat in a bigger-sized room. They trap the hotness and prevent unwanted air infiltration into your house. So, you can use curtains to trap heat in a closed area. But if you want circulation to another room, you don’t need doors or curtains in between to be hermetically sealed.

You perhaps know that heat usually rises, moving warm air from the ceiling to the floor afterward. But in many cases, most heat is released through the attic. So you can use plastic covering or any heat resistance on the ceiling. 

3. Using Fans

ceiling fan using for wood stove

It is an old practice to use fans to circulate heat. Fans can disseminate heat by rotating the air. Usually, larger fans are used for this purpose, though small-sized fans also can be effective. Fans can pull cool air from the ground and push warm air down.

You should place the fan in the opposite direction of where you want to heat it. Don’t put the fan too close to the stove. Otherwise, it can cool the air instead of keeping it warm.

Moreover, ceiling fans and stovetop fans like small air circulator fans are also better choices for circulating heat. As heat, by nature, ascends upwards, the airflow should be expanded from there also. Ensure your fan’s clockwise rotation for an efficient result. 

But it should be remembered that over speediness of the fan can backfire on your plan by cooling the room. So it would help if you kept the fan’s speed as low as possible.

4. Connecting Wood Stove Fan with Heating Duct

Wood stove fan to circulate heat

This is another fruitful way to distribute heat into your room and its vicinity. It necessarily works well only when the wood stove is placed near or adjacent to the inline duct. 

The furnace plenum plays the most important role here. It distributes heat fairly according to intake. When you connect a stove fan to the heating duct of your home, the fan will blow hot air, once the wood stove is at work. 

Start the fan while the stove is burning and the plenum will do the rest of the work. However, if your house doesn’t have an effective duct system that can move heat from one room to another, the process may not be successful enough.

Also read: https://www.theblazinghome.com/how-do-heat-powered-fans-work/

5. Other Steps

Apart from those steps mentioned above, you can take some other measures as well. For instance, there are some heat duct kits available in the market today that are significantly useful. You can try those kits out.

Another good thing to consider here is the ventilation issue. If you often face problems with lighting your wood stove, probably airflow is too less then. Try ensuring oxygen flow through windows, so that the stove can be optimized.

Move away from any furniture or objects that can hinder heat radiation from the stove. Especially try to make the source and the receiver free from obstacles. It may sound unnecessary to you. But the truth is, a considerable amount of heat is absorbed in objects and furniture.

If you follow these procedures, we are optimistic that heat will spontaneously circulate around the rooms. But here are some cautions that you should follow as well for a cozy home.

Also read: https://www.theblazinghome.com/best-ash-vacuum/

5 Don’ts With Wood Stove

  • Don’t let the cool air come into your room. Only a short time of airflow is enough for oxygen refilling.
  • Don’t put your wood-burning stove in a higher place. It hinders temperature to spread properly.
  • Don’t use any black curtains. Black clothes usually absorb much of the heat coming from the flames. And white clothes do the opposite.
  • Don’t run the fan at a crazy speed. Make it slow but cushy.
  • Don’t lock the interior doors if you have to circulate heat all over your house. Keep them open according to the temperature necessity.

Conclusion:

After all these nuisances, getting a warm room is not a big expectation. It is always advisable to place your heat stove at the middle point for equal distribution of heat. If you want your upstairs to be comfy as well, you can make a vent at the stovetop for passing the heat.

Wood stoves are not expensive, but they bring a result worth a huge expense. Once you successfully circulate heat from a wood stove you can expect a happy winter. Have a nice day buddy!

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