Fisher Blower :)

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Bone1099

Member
Jan 5, 2009
165
Northwest GA
I ve been fooling around with different types of fans ideas and blowers for the last 5-6 years. Well Pretty much since i bought this Fisher insert. I just love it not sure why when a newer smaller stove would probably do a better job on less wood but cmon who wouldnt love to have an old grand wagoneer yes with the big engine oversize tires and 4wd. So instead of taking a logical step toward replacing with something newer better faster more efficient. I decided to come up with a real blower instead of just sitting some fan or swirl cage blower on a box or stool in front of my stove. My parents recently got rid of an over the stove microwave cause it just never really drafted right and well nevermind they just replaced it. Naturally as we were loading it on the truck for the dumpster my dad said so you think you need this for anything. No i dont i said but we can unload it at my house anyway cuz i might need it for something. so a year later im moving things around in the barn and start looking at this old microwave and get to thinking man this thing has a nice kinda compact low noise dual swirl cage fan or squirell cage fan which ever you prefer. so i started cutting and breaking and what not and finally emerged with one really nasty greasy but useable fan. Wired it up and it worked nicely hi and lo. Low side actually is very quiet and moves a decent amount of air. so i get to thinkin how is the best way to attach this to my insert after many beers and ideas i came up with the best and easiet way to affix this thing to my stove and make it look somewhat presentable. BTW I have some deeply engrained fear of actually cutting or permanently modifying my stove. Beats me why. so I cut out a square of aluminum .060" thick round up the corners bend it 90 degrees and drill to match mounting holes in fan assy. then cut a couple strips 3/4" wide about 2"long and bent past 90 deg the mashed on down flat over a doubled piece of this .060" screwed em on as clips to hook into the bottom of the ash lip and dang i had a removable 2 speed blower that didnt look half bad. criused down to pep boys and bought a $5 three position toggle. yeah i too thought it was overpriced but the toggle was all i had to purchase. all this and got it installed just before 2am this morning. So for just over $5 ive got myself a nice blower and a pretty good buzz. Ill try to get some pics posted tomorrow before and after i paint it if anyone is interested.

A man should be proud sometimes when he can reflect upon his accomplishments and smile. But also be humble as he counts the failures that add up to each success.
Thanks for reading:)
 
Post away, I'd like to see it.

Here's a manly kind of blower;
 

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Ok and now for my first pic post.
If it works just goes to prove anyone can read.
 

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Perfect, except for the electric splice outside a junction box. You can always hide that later.
I used to install gas logs in fireplaces and liked to add little fans like in computers in those masonry air vents you've got too. I used a thermo disc snap type fan switch to control them and it made a big difference from the gravity convection air movement out of the masonry. It doesn't take much to move that air out of there.
Here's a big ugly factory type, and a smaller one. You did good. Probably blows more air since it's straight in and back.
 

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The other type was mounted over slots in the enclosure panel. Both sides were slotted for double blowers.
 

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The slots are right along side the stove that go into the outer jacket as you can see from the side.
 

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Makes you feel good when figure out different blower systems. When stove haven't got one as an option. I did mine with 2 bath room fans one is in the front room where stove is and the other one is in the back part of the house, piped in an unfinished basement to the front one. Have snap disk auto, manual over ride front or rear or both on. must work have changed it in 15 years. I even installed washable filters in the fans.
 
Mine kinda hangs out front but its not really a problem because it just hangs inside the ash lip it can be unplugged and removed in under a minute. as for that splice its temporary and after i find a better color cord ill splice with crimped terminals and have em tied in behind the sheet metal cover. no thermal switch at the moment Im just using a piggyback timer to let it run every other hour during the night and if that proves to not be enough i can run it continuously. Ill mess around till i come up with a satisfactory soultuion.

Those all are some nice blowers but by far the best i have seen is the guy i bought my stove from had it in a fireplace with a really long hearth he had a blower buried somewhere in the hearth that pulled heat from the slot on bottom and blew it out of four registers down on the front face of the hearth probably 3- 4 feet apart. But i had seen it several years before i bought the stove. when i went to buy it he had it already removed and it was sitting in an old chicken house. but lucky for me it was all there and for $250 i snatched it up.
 
Coaly, I like the looks of that smaller blower in your picture there. Where can someone find one like that? Currently we use a box fan at the end of the hallway to blow cool air into the living room. Its kind of effective, but I think a blower would help move even more air.
 
Short of finding one with an Insert, (yes, I've bought entire stoves for just the feet) one can appear on ebay, but you have to watch closely. People won't always know what it is, so an automatic search watching for you won't pick it up if keywords like Fisher, Insert, Blower, or Fan are not used in the auction. That one was posted on ebay last January (2011) by Finest Fishers on this forum. (candlewick16lwc on ebay) I think it went 150 or 170 ? It was new, never used. None like it have been posted since.
Here's some more pictures of the same fan;
 

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Short of finding one with an Insert, (yes, I've bought entire stoves for just the feet) one can appear on ebay, but you have to watch closely. People won't always know what it is, so an automatic search watching for you won't pick it up if keywords like Fisher, Insert, Blower, or Fan are not used in the auction. That one was posted on ebay last January (2011) by Finest Fishers on this forum. (candlewick16lwc on ebay) I think it went 150 or 170 ? It was new, never used. None like it have been posted since.
Here's some more pictures of the same fan;
I have a Fisher insert with the slots on both sides. It I put one on each side is there any need to put a fan under the coal tray?
 
I wouldn't think you'd need one underneath, if you had the two outer ones. My Fisher insert has the slots, too. Currently I'm planning how to make a housing that looks right. If I can do that, I'll make two- one for each side. I don't really have the room between the hearth and the ash lip for one underneath the front.The ductwork could carry the air to the front, but I like the "funky" look of the two side mounted ones.
Air is going to naturally flow in the bottom and out the top, with a fire going.
I gotta get the time to work on this project. If it ever quits raining here, it's sure to get cold! (This old house has got me bowed up)
 
I wouldn't think you'd need one underneath, if you had the two outer ones. My Fisher insert has the slots, too. Currently I'm planning how to make a housing that looks right. If I can do that, I'll make two- one for each side. I don't really have the room between the hearth and the ash lip for one underneath the front.The ductwork could carry the air to the front, but I like the "funky" look of the two side mounted ones.
Air is going to naturally flow in the bottom and out the top, with a fire going.
I gotta get the time to work on this project. If it ever quits raining here, it's sure to get cold! (This old house has got me bowed up)
I got a believe if you pull air from the two sides of the pool from underneath because they all go out the same spot on the top so if you come up with Cy blowers and dimensions if you could share that where you get the products in the cage that would be great. also I understand that you can hook a thermostat control to this that will kick them on and off.
 
A simple fan switch "snap disc" type above Insert breaks current. A fan switch will have a F and number for degrees f. that it turns ON with temperature rise. A switch that looks the same with L (limit) will have a degree number that turns OFF with temperature rise to control burners.
You can normally mount the switch on a piece of metal like an arm to bend it closer or farther from the heat source to adjust when it comes on. Main thing is heat resistant wiring near the source.
 
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