Ducted heat shifting systems

[namtrak]

Im not sure if thats what you would call it, but does anyone have any experience with ducting systems, which can shift warm from one room into another? We will be putting a gas heater into our living area, and the heat will be more than enough for that area. We are therefore thinking of using a ducting system to re-rout the air into other rooms in the house. I would also like to control remotely which ducting systems are open and which ones aren't. Any suggestions?

[Trav]

My recommendation would be to get a proper ducted gas system if you can. It will cost more, but is worthwhile IMHO.

Trav

[Aussiebruce]

There is a fair amount of planning to get a ducted system right.
You will need to calculate the amount of air being pushed through the duct to make sure you get the right size ducts and pipes. Too small and you get a lot of wind noise - too big might be a problem getting the duct between the joists/though the wall or where ever you are planning to put it.

Never put a register at the bitter end of a run of pipe/ducting - it needs to be back about .5 mtr from the end of the pipe. If you miss this point all your warm air will run to the end register/duct and the intermediate registers will not get much output. Assuming you have the diameter of the pipes correct (see above)

remote on/off servos for various ducts will require each leg of the ducted system to be able to handle the entire load - cuz you might have most of them turned off. Therefore each leg can get rather large to beable to handle the entire output of the heating source. Or there will be a lot of whooshing noise if too many are shut down

How hot is the air being blown in? unless you are using a furnace with a blower set up for ducted heat you may be trying to put too hot air down the duct with resulting problems. The heat coming out of a heating register is normally about 85-95F, not very hot.

Rather than trying to cobble together a makeshift ducted system go with a gas fired one from a local retailer. may be more expensive up front but a lot less aggrivation down the road.

[Aussiebruce]

There is a fair amount of planning to get a ducted system right.
You will need to calculate the amount of air being pushed through the duct to make sure you get the right size ducts and pipes. Too small and you get a lot of wind noise - too big might be a problem getting the duct between the joists/though the wall or where ever you are planning to put it.

Never put a register at the bitter end of a run of pipe/ducting - it needs to be back about .5 mtr from the end of the pipe. If you miss this point all your warm air will run to the end register/duct and the intermediate registers will not get much output. Assuming you have the diameter of the pipes correct (see above)

remote on/off servos for various ducts will require each leg of the ducted system to be able to handle the entire load - cuz you might have most of them turned off. Therefore each leg can get rather large to beable to handle the entire output of the heating source. Or there will be a lot of whooshing noise if too many are shut down

How hot is the air being blown in? unless you are using a furnace with a blower set up for ducted heat you may be trying to put too hot air down the duct with resulting problems. The heat coming out of a heating register is normally about 85-95F, not very hot.

Rather than trying to cobble together a makeshift ducted system go with a gas fired one from a local retailer. may be more expensive up front but a lot less aggrivation down the road.

[kiwigeo]

Namtrack, I assume you have one room with a fire or other heat source and you want to move the heat to other rooms in your house?

If youre moving the heat to just one or to other rooms in your house then a simple duct system with electric fans is probably the way to go. However if youre trying to heat your whole house and want sophisitcated control over routing of the heat through the ducting then I think a commercial ducted heating system is the way to go. If youve got piped gas available then ducted gas heating is the go.

Cheers Martin

[namtrak]

Yup, we have settled on a Gas wood heater, I preferred an old style Wood Combustion stove but my vote didn't count on that one. We looked at a gas ducted sytem in the roof, but we felt there is a warmer ambience provided by a wood look heater rather than a unit hidden in the ceiling. We also felt there was no real need to create ducting with direct heating in to the bedrooms as we didnt want them to be 'stuffy'. Hence my research into ducting systems to redirect/shift the warm air around the house a bit.

[outback]

As I sit and type this, I am in my nice warm comfy office. Warmed by heat transferred by one of the systems you mention. I also have another installed, warming my daughters bedroom.

I reckon they are great. They are not central heating. They are not ducted heating as such.

For what you describe, i.e. pinching heat from one room to heat another, go for it. Just remeber they are limited in what they can do. I believe you can get them with two outlets, bigger ducting/fan. I have two separate units, the first for my daughters bedroom, and when it worked so well I installed one for the office.

I wish I could get something this easy to heat the shed.

[Barry_White]

Bradford Insulation used have one for this specific application. Do not know if they still have but I have seen other brands around also.

[namtrak]

Thanks guys, just what I was after. We dont really want to warm those extra rooms up extravagantly, just take the edge off the cool.