Heat loss via spiral staircase

I wonder if anyone can offer any advice to help me reduce heat loss via my spiral staircase: I have a finished basement beneath my first floor apartment that is accessible via a spiral staircase (see photo). I do not routinely heat the basement as I’m not using it very much at the moment but I do heat the apartment (gas forced air – not what I would have chosen but it’s what came with the apartment). I am concerned that I am losing heat down to the basement and am interested in blocking the flow of air up/down the spiral staircase. It is not obvious to me how to do this but these seem to be my options – crafting a wooden or Perspex ‘lid’ to sit at floor level over the staircase (though this will be complicated to construct around the railing uprights); hanging a heavy curtain around the spiral staircase in the basement; getting someone to create a canvas or insulated fabric cover to sit over the upper railings (like the covers that people put on boats or cars). Does anyone have any experience doing any of the above? Are there any better ways to minimize heat loss via this staircase? Thanks

mouster728

in Energy Efficiency 10 years and 1 month ago

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deanbh | 10 years and 1 month ago

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Hi Mouster, Just letting you know we have a duplex in a brownstone here……you needn’t worry about heat “falling”, basically all the cold “pools” at the bottom room falling down the stairs. Our bedroom is on the bottom floor which is great as we prefer it to be cooler there and its really surprised me the difference you can get between the two levels.

mouster728 | 10 years and 1 month ago

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OP here. Thanks everyone for your comments – much appreciated. One clarifications – the forced air heating does not extend to the basement, just the first floor apartment. I have baseboard electric heaters in the basement but I don’t use them unless I have guests staying in the basement. I guess it makes sense that the hot air upstairs will stay upstairs, and the colder air in the basement will stay down there, unless there is some force moving them (a draft). I had thought that things would try to reach an equilibrium but I must be misremembering my high school physics. Thanks again.

steam_man | 10 years and 1 month ago

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If you close some registers be aware that your remaining registers are going to become noisier.

no-permits | 10 years and 1 month ago

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Arkady | 10 years and 1 month ago

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Some ducts have diverters built in so you can direct the flow upstairs while blocking the ones in the basement. You can probably also retrofit those in your existing system.

daveinbedstuy | 10 years and 1 month ago

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What steam man and August said….heat rises so you are not “losing” any to the basement. On a different issue, if some of your ducts are the same that feed the basement, and all you did was close the registers, take the register covers off and stuff the opening with insulation or a towel (Don’t block the entire duct though as it leads upstairs). Those register louvers don’t completely shut off the flow. But that’s not what you were asking about.

Augustiner | 10 years and 1 month ago

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You’re not loosing heat down to the basement. As steam man mentioned heat goes up and cold stays down. If you have cold air coming up that means that you have a draft. In that case you should try to locate the source where air comes into the basement, and where it flows out on the main floor.

steam_man | 10 years and 1 month ago

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Heat rises. However it is more than likely you have ducts that serve the basement too, so that is why your basement is warm (if that is what you mean).

mouster728 | 10 years and 1 month ago

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Photo now attached