Can I "pipe" the heat from my wood stove into my furnace?

Question

I now have a hood over the stove which goes into a dryer hose (metal) with a fan on the end of it which blows a little heat upstairs. I was told by someone that I can put that same part into the furnace and have the heat go out of all my ducts that the furnace sends heat out of.

Answer 1

no doubt if you can collect the heat in a hood ( not the flue pipei t must be piped outside the house) I would connect it to the return part of the furnace and let the furnace fan move it around. just be careful your hood doen not create a negative condition where the stove does not draft out of the house. A negative condition at the stove coule actually pull the combuston product into the home and may be dangerous be careful

Answer 2

You can as long as you pay close attension to a couple of things:
1) Make sure the section of flue pipe youo pull the heat from is a solid section so there is no way to pull flue gasses into your house
2.) Connect to the return duct on your existing furnace and use your furnace fan to provide the movement of the warmed air. This will dilute the warming effect, but should be better overall.
3.) Watch out you don't cool your flue gasses off too much and mess up the natural draft of your wood stove.
4.) Insulate your ductwork from the wood stove to the heating system to maxamize heat.

Answer 3

Well, the best way to do that takes a little mechanical know-how and some time. Use a boiler type configuration. Make a loop filled with a liquid like anti-freeze. Build coils that will absorb the heat from the wood stove. Pump that liquid through tubing into coils on the output side of your furnace fan. This will blow the heat into your furnace ducts. You can make this setup as basic or as advanced as your knowledge limits.

I have built systems like this and has seen systems like this in all sorts of configurations. But they all work well. You will get efficient, low cost heat into your house.

If you can't do the work yourself, a little leg work will find someone who can.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Not recommended. A better option may be to just open a section of the ceiling on the main floor and the on the floor upstairs and install a grate that allows heated air to rise from your first story to the second. This is natural convection, and it may allow enough warmth to get upstairs to make a difference. To add to the effect, try mounting a fan in a duct upstairs at or near floor level, and have that force air down to your basement (or main floor at floor level if no basement), this will help warm air to move upstairs, without moving a lot of dust etc along with it. A 120mm 110 volt ac computer fan in a 4" (dryer type, expandible plastic) duct will work fine for this, and can be squashed to fit into a wall cavity. It carries no high heat so is perfectly safe.

Answer 5

the smart answer can only be given with the size of your house and location of wood burning stove.... wood stoves have no thermostats,,, so if your buying wood in the end you ll loose money an concentrate your heat in one area... central heat is controlled an efficient but if you have a free wood source go wood till it runs out at this time of year its all about the $$$$$

Answer 6

talk to your local hvac installer and have them look at your situation would be your best bet
but dont use anyone that is not licensed or has a bad rating by the bbb

Answer 7

how about you ask lows online or some other diy online
company because on here you will get people that will lie to you.
How about hgtv on line .....think about it.
.

Answer 8

To meet fire code it must be designed for it.

Answer 9

Yes you can do that as long as the flu isn't connected.I don't think insurance co. dig it

Answer 10

YES - LOOK AT BACK OF COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE!