Q: Heat and ceiling fans

[Charles Wiggins]

We have a Napolean fireplace insert in the basement and I want to use the ceiling fan to help "push" the hot air up the nearby stairs to the main floor. The ceiling fan is reversible. Will it work any better in reverse, blowing up to the ceiling? Or is having it blow down just as good?
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[Jim Koepke]

Having it blow upward will move the warm air along the ceiling, thus being more likely to flow up the stairwell.

jtk

[George Bokros]

I wouldn't expect it to push much heat up the stairs. Also, I have always believed that keeping firewood in the garage or house is not a good thing because of insects. I never even kept wood stacked against the back of the house for the same reason,

Just my two cents.

[Pat Barry]

My experience with similar fireplace is that a low speed box fan will work better

[Wayne Lomman]

The ceiling fan will help circulate the heat in the room but won't direct air up stairs. Simple convection will do that. However if you really want a fan, Pat is right - use a box fan and direct the warm air to the stairwell. Cheers

[Brian Elfert]

I have always read that a ceiling fan used for moving heat really only works with a tall ceiling (taller than 8 feet). I suspect it will feel more like a draft.

[John K Jordan]

We use a wood-burning stove downstairs and heat rises to the upper floors without a fan. I imagine a fan in that room would mostly move the air around within the room.

We do use fans upstairs (this is a timber frame house with vaulted ceilings upstairs). I don't use a ceiling fan in the room with the stove but warm air finds its way upstairs anyway.

We use ceiling fans upstairs summer and winter. It is generally recommended to blow air upwards in the winter to circulate warm air down the walls but this doesn't even consider a stairwell.

How about putting a thermometer upstairs and downstairs and see if running it one way or the other for a few days makes any difference?

JKJ

[Jerome Stanek]

We have an unvented heater and use our ceiling fan in reverse in the winter to keep the the heat move throughout the house. We run 2 one above the heater and one in our family room. In reverse you don't get the draft but the heat moves to other areas

[Mike Cutler]

Natural circulation should do it by itself, but a box fan directed at the stairwell to might help speed it along. I don't think the ceiling fan will do very much.
One thing I don't see in that room are down draft registers in the ceiling. In order for warm air to rise, cold air has to sink. You may need to resolve the cold air return issue before you get adequate natural circulation. We've been heating our house with a wood stove in the basement for many years and have never used a fan. The natural circulation is enough.

I think the dogs are "stealing" your heat. Pretty dogs.

[Charles Wiggins]

[QUOTE=Mike Cutler;2753098]One thing I don't see in that room are down draft registers in the ceiling. In order for warm air to rise, cold air has to sink. You may need to resolve the cold air return issue before you get adequate natural circulation.[/QUOTE]

There isn't really much natural air flow. It's minimal. We do use a small fan hanging down at the top of the stairwell but it doesn't draw a lot of the heat up. At one point I thought about installing a grate on the main floor with venting down across from the wood stove but never did it and now we are preparing to sell.

[QUOTE=Mike Cutler;2753098]I think the dogs are "stealing" your heat. Pretty dogs.[/QUOTE]

Them's my babies, Stormie and Rain. 30 lbs. each of pure love. They're welcome to all the heat they can absorb.