I'm having a hard time deciding where to locate a freestanding flued gas heater
(Envirogas 828, by Sherwood Industries, Canada, with a maximum heat output of
almost 8 kw, if that's relevant). The house is two-storied. Most living
happens upstairs, where the big kitchen-dining-living room is. For a
combination aesthetic and practical reasons, we're not keen about locating the
heater (with its ceramic logs) in the living room, and I'm considering the idea
of putting it in the big bedroom that is beneath the kitchen-dining 2/3 of the
upstairs room. This would be an easier installation, with simpler flue
arrangements. The part I'm uncertain about is the effectiveness of the bedroom
location in providing heat to the upstairs. The bedroom door opens into the big
space with lower and upper hallways and the staircase, so warm air escaping the
bedroom would easily move upstairs, and this would be advantageous as far as
heating the overall house is concerned. (This is quite a big house, with an
office and two bedrooms downstairs, and three bedrooms upstairs.) It isn't
clear how much heat would be transmitted upwards through the ceiling and floor,
and I'm not sure how to estimate this. This is in Auckland, NZ, where the
winters are not very severe - a few frosts a year. Perhaps someone has had
experience with this sort of thing.