"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 8 Jan 2015 13:42:37 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

.....................
My neighbors with similar houses and basement stoves need
circulating
fans to keep happy, but I've added enough extra north wall, ceiling,
door and window insulation that the stratification isn't bad with
only
natural circulation up the stairwell. My basement is normally about
10F warmer, theirs was closer to 20F without the fans.

I don't see how a bit of insulation would destratify stagnant hot
air.
In fact, the lack of heat loss would tend to stratify it more,
reducing the natural circulation of the air being cooled due to the
lack of insulation. I've missed your point here.


Right now an infrared thermometer shows about 4 degrees difference
between the top and bottom of interior door frames. A fine wire
thermocouple reads a 6 degree spread between the ceiling and desktop
air, with the stove running hotter than usual to turn off the
thermostat SOON.

You must have a bit of circulation in your house to prevent much
strat.

Instead of theorizing you can make the air flow visible by ballasting
a Mylar helium balloon to neutral buoyancy and watching where it
travels, being careful to keep it off exposed hot bulbs and the wood
stove. Added insulation and sealing leaks reduces the "stratification"
by reducing the amount of cooled air flowing down the outside walls
and across the floor.

Latex balloons lose helium rapidly enough that you have to ballast
them with paper dampened with water or rubbing alcohol to keep the
buoyancy close to neutral for a useful length of time.

I bypassed the anticipator heater when I installed the current coil
so
it needs the full on/off differential to develop the energy to snap
off. I think the anticipator would compensate for much of the
differential.

Are you saying that you think the anticipator would de-stratify your
air better? I can't see how.

The switch in a line voltage thermostat has to snap open rapidly and
far enough to break the arc, and the compressed spring energy this
requires comes from a differential of several degrees between the
turn-on and turn-off points.

Say the difference is 5 degrees. If the anticipator heats the
thermostat by 4 degrees while the contacts are closed, the air
temperature has to rise by only 1 degree to shut off the heat.

-jsw