Hot Air Rises

Dave Ewald

Now that I've sold my 3-story house, it doesn't matter so much to me.

However, since warm air rises, the third floor was always hot, the first floor always cold, regardless of whether the third floor radiators were on or off. I suppose it would have been worse with forced air heat, but it was bothersome enough with steam radiators.

Two remedies occurr to me:
Isolate the stories by enclosing the stair wells, to be accessed through doors.
Building a column duct in a chase wall with a fan to force warm air from the third floor to the first floor.

Any comments?

jerry scharf_2

insulate

Dave,

Your house was being a chimney. For a chimney to work, you need cold air to replace the hot air that is rising. No cold air, no chimney. So seal up all the air leaks and windows and you should see the problem diminish significantly. You'll save a bunch on the fuel bills as well.

You can get convection with a sealed chamber if you have a place for cold air to fall difference from where the warm air rises. Again I would argue that insulation, in this case probably wall insulation, is still the best remedy.

If you have a convection problem, it's always better to remedy the driving force than to seal it or recirculate it. Some times it's not possible, but that's always a fallback solution.

jerry

Mitch_4

forced air

would have a return duct to evenly redistribute that hot air. Properly designed, it would not "have been worse with forced air".

Sealing up the structure would also help.