Heat recovery fan options.

[ferg]

I have absolutely zero experience with MVHR.

The issue I have in my own home is as follows.

Log fired burner in kitchen supplies hot water and heating via a thermal bank / store. Approx 2kw to the room and 9kw to the water.
If we want the heating on then this is on, combined with all the other usual heat generating guff in the kitchen, the kitchen overheats before the rest of the house heats up, opening the kitchen door doesn't cut it.
I would like to be able to shift some of this heat elsewhere, most likely the downstairs hallway.

Is MVHR a sensible option or would I be better off just using a thermostatically controlled fan to move air via insulated ducting from one room to another?

 

[Rockingit]

Your best option mechanically might be to get a run-off loop installed by a wet pants. Thing is, wood burners are great but so indiscriminate - ours in our lounge goes from cold to sauna in about an hour no matter how low I set it, and that’s a nearly 10mx10m sized room

 

[snowhead]

My Son lived in New Zealand for a while a few years ago in a modern newish rented 4 bed house, the only heating that had was a log burner in the lounge / kitchen / diner and a fan mounted within the ceiling with ductwork to the 3 bedrooms and a bathroom above.
No boiler on the burner, hot water was by Immersion heater.
It had double glazing all around but in aluminium frames, very common over there and the windows were like Niagra falls every morning.
The ceiling fan was controlled by a switch on the wall, no stat at all, when the room got hot they turned the fan on and dumped the heat upstairs.

 

[ferg]

As a heating system it works very well. The radiators get nice and hot, mains pressure hot water.
The 3 x 3Kw back up elements don't get used much ATM though.

The main issue is the fact that it's in the kitchen along with a washer, dryer, dishwasher, cooker, fridges, freezer etc.
All producing heat which makes the kitchen overheat.

My inner Scot gets jittery when Mrs Ferg opens windows to balance the temperatures. My self preservation instincts have kicked in and I've decided to look for a better solution rather than mention the open windows again.

Funnily enough it was just fine until I insulated the place to within an inch of it's life.

I was hoping that someone with more experience with this sort of thing would have suggestions before I start experimenting. Learn from other peoples mistakes first and all that.

I also have some concerns around extracting large amounts of air from a room with a solid fuel burner, again my lack of knowledge is showing.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I assume you have CO alarms in the kitchen and adjacent rooms?

Have you looked at the heat operated fans that sit on top of a wood burner, no electrical connections and operate very well.

 

[mainline]

As a heating system it works very well. The radiators get nice and hot, mains pressure hot water.
The 3 x 3Kw back up elements don't get used much ATM though.

The main issue is the fact that it's in the kitchen along with a washer, dryer, dishwasher, cooker, fridges, freezer etc.
All producing heat which makes the kitchen overheat.

My inner Scot gets jittery when Mrs Ferg opens windows to balance the temperatures. My self preservation instincts have kicked in and I've decided to look for a better solution rather than mention the open windows again.

Funnily enough it was just fine until I insulated the place to within an inch of it's life.

I was hoping that someone with more experience with this sort of thing would have suggestions before I start experimenting. Learn from other peoples mistakes first and all that.

I also have some concerns around extracting large amounts of air from a room with a solid fuel burner, again my lack of knowledge is showing.

Do you really want to recirculate all those smells etc around the rest of the house rather than vent the kitchen to the outside world.

 

[ferg]

Do you really want to recirculate all those smells etc around the rest of the house rather than vent the kitchen to the outside world.

I had considered this and kind of jumped to the conclusion that the heat recovery manufacturers had too.
In fairness It's mostly the appliances ( Tumble drier, washer, dishwasher fridges etc.) and stove that generate the heat. When cooking the hood with grease and carbon filters is going.
It just seems wasteful to extract the hot air outside.

 

[ferg]

I assume you have CO alarms in the kitchen and adjacent rooms?

Have you looked at the heat operated fans that sit on top of a wood burner, no electrical connections and operate very well.

I have a CO alarm in the kitchen, Heat CO combi head. but not in the adjacent hallway.
The heat operated fan would, as you say work well at circulating the hot air but only within the room that is already overheating.

 

[mainline]

I had considered this and kind of jumped to the conclusion that the heat recovery manufacturers had too.
In fairness It's mostly the appliances ( Tumble drier, washer, dishwasher fridges etc.) and stove that generate the heat. When cooking the hood with grease and carbon filters is going.
It just seems wasteful to extract the hot air outside.

Ideally, you would want to collect that heat and via a heat exchanger recirculate it to wherever it's needed in the house.

You may also have to consider the pushing humid warm air into colder parts of the house.