Fireplace and HVAC unit bumping heads

[Billbill84]

Good morning everyone.
So I have a little annoying dilemma on my hands with the fireplace and HVAC system.
Problem is is that when it's cold out like last night (30 but felt like 20 degrees), I have the fireplace on and the fireplace fan is set to a setting that's quite yet continuous once the fireplace reaches a certain temp.

The problem: When my fireplace is on for a while the rest of the house gets pretty cold except for the main floor that has the fireplace. It dawned on me that the furnace isn't kicking on as often because the thermostat is being satisfied by the fireplace.

Is there a way around this and what are some methods to tackle this one? A second thermostat on the second floor that somehow communicates with the main floor thermostat to say "hey it's getting cold up here so u must turn on"?

 

[nealtw]

Just put another another in a basement wired in parallel so either could turn it on, you would have to figure out what temp in the basement would make for comfort on the second floor, Maybe you would need a switch between them so you only power one at a time.

 

[bud16415]

That’s the main way fireplaces save you money on heating. They make the rest of the house cold.


The real solution is zoning and ether separate heat sources or a smart system of sending heat just to the zones needed. It is not to hard to do with hot water heat.


If you do as Neal suggests that will work but the room with the fireplace will then get really warm as it will be heated both ways.

 

[Jeff Handy]

If you don’t want to invest in changing your furnace to zones, you can just set the furnace blower to ON while using the fireplace.
Some thermostats have dropped the always on setting, so buy a new one if needed.
Get a wifi one while you are at it.
Control it from your phone or computer while away.

That ON setting will push and pull air to mix evenly all over the house.

So the fireplace heat will get spread out, and the furnace will come on to heat as needed.

 

[bud16415]

If you don’t want to invest in changing your furnace to zones, you can just set the furnace blower to ON while using the fireplace.
Some thermostats have dropped the always on setting, so buy a new one if needed.
Get a wifi one while you are at it.
Control it from your phone or computer while away.

That ON setting will push and pull air to mix evenly all over the house.

So the fireplace heat will get spread out, and the furnace will come on to heat as needed.

Great idea!

 

[Billbill84]

If you don’t want to invest in changing your furnace to zones, you can just set the furnace blower to ON while using the fireplace.
Some thermostats have dropped the always on setting, so buy a new one if needed.
Get a wifi one while you are at it.
Control it from your phone or computer while away.

That ON setting will push and pull air to mix evenly all over the house.

So the fireplace heat will get spread out, and the furnace will come on to heat as needed.

This is a great idea to try. I never touched the thermostat blower it's always on auto, so next time I'm running the fireplace I'll switch it to on and see if that improves the issue before I invest into a awesome zoned system.

I'm wondering if the "always cold upstairs 2nd floor above main" is a separate issue or if it's only cold because the main and basement floors get heated much quicker resulting in the thermostat being satisfied and shutting down before upstairs can get heated enough. Part 2 of this experiment will be to crank the thermostat up and see if it improves the 2nd floor, if so then I know what's going on with the thermostat.

 

[Jeff Handy]

The upstairs is cold because the ductwork and dampers are likely unbalanced.

Just choke back the registers on the main floor, especially near the thermostat.

Don’t close any return vents.

Partially closing registers on main floor will push more hot air upstairs.

I think we already went over this same issue with you several months ago.

 

[68bucks]

Ecobee thermostats have remote sensors you can place is other rooms in addition to the main stat. They detect movement and will control the furnace to keep occupied areas at the correct temp. If there are people in more than one area I believe it will try to average them. It also has the ability to program the the blower to run for a while each hour to circulate air to even things out. It's wifi of course. Might help your problem but I'd just choke off the vents in that area and push the furnace air to the colder rooms.