So here it is....my wood burning stove insert is in my kitchen and has built in fans. I also have a ceiling fan in the kitchen. My bedrooms are at the opposite side of the house (ranch). 2 of 3 bedrooms also have ceiling fans. My gas forced hot air return is in the den between the kitchen and bedrooms. During the winter with my stove on and all fans going my kitchen could be at 78, den at 72 and bedrooms at 62! How to I get the hot air from the kitchen to the bedrooms?... I tried keeping the hot air furnace fan on but the return is not near the stove therefore I am not pulling the hotest air into the return. I also put a thru the wall fan (200 cfm) between the den and hallway to the bedrooms. That is not powerfull enough. Here are a few ideas I have (easiest/cheapest case senario first). Let me know what you think or if you have a better idea. 1) Put a more powerfull thru the wall fan (400+ cfm) between the den and bedroom hallway. 2) Put a return over fireplace. Run 15' of 8" insulated flex duct from the fireplace return to the furnace return. Additionaly add an inline fan with a toggle switch to control the amount of fireplace hot air being directed into the furnace return. Keep the furnance fan on all times to circulate air to all registers throught the house. 3) Put a return over fireplace. Run 30' of 8" insulated flex duct from the fireplace return to a 3 way spliter. Off each split would be about 8' of reduced 4" or 6" insulated flex duct going to registers in the ceiling of each of the bedrooms. Additionaly the 8" duct will have an inline fan with a toggle switch to control the fireplace hot air being directed into the bedroom registers. *no need to keep furnace fan on* If any of this sounds good or bad please let me know. Thanks.

1960's house. 2 story colonial. Forced air A/C and gas heat. The basement is half finished (old painted wood paneling, glued on ceiling tiles, newer carpet etc) and half unfinished (mechanicals, storage). Thus some of what I am telling is not exactly clear to me as I can't see all of the work. These are the return air ducts: -Living Room (on slab) at floor connecting to rest of house with basement -Kitchen (near garage) at floor, with visible paper that implies fiberglass insulation rolls (not blocking duct) but the paper of the insulation is visible in stud space above the duct inside the grill -Dining Room near Kitchen (middle of house) - this is above the finished part of the basement. Can't see anything in particular here. The Grill is painted on and I would have to cut it to look in. -Bedroom #1 (seems right above Dining room in center of house) -- can't see anything here, also painted on. -Bedroom #2 -- at exterior wall, behind grill is some reflective paper, with paint over it, and a couple pink wisps of what looks like fiberglass insulation roll. This probably goes straight down the stud space to the unfinished part of the basement. When I opened a panel in the duct in the basement, I noticed fiberglass rolls insulation occluding the duct going up the stud space. I don't know how much air goes through there, as closer to the furnace, the wide open Living Room vent enters on the way. -Bedroom #3 -- at exterior wall, same situation as Bedroom 2, with I presume stud space with fiberglass insulation likely behind a taped over duct behind the grill. But this probably goes straight down probably in exterior wall stud space of Dining Room and into finished part of basement and likely in ceiling of basement back to unfinished part of basement at last moment before hitting the furnace. The furnace has a pleated filter that is supposed to be excellent against allergens. I had a HVAC over to discuss the whole situation and he says that this is common and nothing to worry about. I have had the ducts "cleaned" twice. Obviously they probably didn't get anything from those occluded ducts, and also probably almost zero from the ducts in the finished part of the basement. (The return air ducts that go through the finished part of the basement tie in to the ones that go through the unfinished part at nearly the last moment before the furnace). Here are my questions: Do I need to do anything? Is this a safe situation? In the unfinished part of the basement,should I seal off the stud space return duct from Bedroom #2, to isolate it? Should I rip open the wall (which is an exterior wall) to get the insulation out? Should I do nothing? In the finished part of the basement, what do I do? Nothing? Seal off right at where Bedroom 3's occluded air duct enters the unfinished part of the basement, leaving a large area of duct in the ceiling and wall that is isolated and not ventilated? Rip apart the whole basement, removing all the ceiling tiles and wood paneling to clean that duct in the ceiling (which I think is the duct from dining room, Bedroom #2 (interior duct) and also from the stud space Bedroom #3 duct), and isolate the stud space Bedroom #3 duct? I'm concerned that insulation is in the potential air return space, but the HVAC guy that came over said that that's common, and probably they didn't want all the cold air from the exterior wall entering the system, and that the pleated filter is probably fiberglass also, and not to worry about. What do you all think? Thanks