Insert Blower Question

The more air you blow past your insert, the more the heat will convect into the house. There has been a lot of discussion on this board about if that will cool your stove down enough to reduce efficiency of the burn in the stove itself, but my personal feeling is that as long as your stove is still getting up into the proper burn temperature (and it should with dry wood), then there would be no problem. If your stove is having trouble getting as hot as it should, even with your blower on full, then likely you have some other problem. (eg. unseasoned wood)

We leave ours on low, or even off, if we are staying in the stove room (living room), and put it on high at night, or anytime we want to move warm air to the upper level rooms.....I would imagine it would effect the stove temps, but I can't see it being much.

When I need quick heat in the house I put a lot of small splits and run the blower on HIGH. The small splits burn fast and hot, the high blower moves a lot of heat into the room and keeps the stove at a reasonable temperature. During normal steady state burns with larger splits, I keep the blower at medium to low depending on outside temps. Keeps the room comfortable, stove temps within range, and appears to promote an extended secondary burn.

KaptJaq

Lumber-Jack said:

The more air you blow past your insert, the more the heat will convect into the house. There has been a lot of discussion on this board about if that will cool your stove down enough to reduce efficiency of the burn in the stove itself, but my personal feeling is that as long as your stove is still getting up into the proper burn temperature (and it should with dry wood), then there would be no problem. If your stove is having trouble getting as hot as it should, even with your blower on full, then likely you have some other problem. (eg. unseasoned wood)

Click to expand...

From my experience, Lumber Jack has nailed exactly. My blower actually is 3 speed, thermostatically controlled. The hotter the box, the higher the fan speed. Never found that it affected the burn efficiency.

tfdchief said:

From my experience, Lumber Jack has nailed exactly. My blower actually is 3 speed, thermostatically controlled. The hotter the box, the higher the fan speed. Never found that it affected the burn efficiency.

Click to expand...

If the fan is on high with an already cool box it may reduce the box temps enough to reduce or kill the secondary burn. Most stoves do not have thermostatically controlled fan speeds, just a snap disk for on/off. The user has to adjust the speed.

KaptJaq

KaptJaq said:

If the fan is on high with an already cool box it may reduce the box temps enough to reduce or kill the secondary burn. Most stoves do not have thermostatically controlled fan speeds, just a snap disk for on/off. The user has to adjust the speed.

KaptJaq

Click to expand...

I understand. I was just relating my experience with my stove, which would not be on high if the stove was cold since it is thermostatically controlled.

Blower on high reduces the burn time by 1/2 on my insert. My house isn't very well insulated at this point so I need the heat to keep the room to temp. Fan on 1/3 will give me 15-20 hrs and on high I get around 7 max. I spoke to the manufacturer and he verified this.

I have a an odd layout for the part of the house my insert is in. The only way to get heat to the rooms behind the unit without a fan out in the open is to run the blower on high. Once I get everything up to a comfortable temp, I bump down to low. I haven't really paid much attention to relative burn times with the fan on high or low. I burned without the fan on for a few days after Sandy and didn't notice any burn time improvements, though I wasn't really paying that close of attention. Unless I'm burning a single species (and I'm not right now), I don't see how I could make that assertion with any reasonable confidence. I am curious now however. I do adhere to what the manual says...keep the blower off for at least 10 minutes following the reload to let the box get back up to temp.

The PE is very rarely ever on anything but "lowest" (rotary dial, no settings). If I pack it, I can get an 8 hour burn, but it's gotta be packed right.

I get more heat thru the house by a ceiling fan on "down" in the second story extension and/or a $5 fan placed on the floor moving air.

Always seems like when the insert fan is set higher, I blow thru more firewood. So NOT the goal.

KaptJaq said:

If the fan is on high with an already cool box it may reduce the box temps enough to reduce or kill the secondary burn. Most stoves do not have thermostatically controlled fan speeds, just a snap disk for on/off. The user has to adjust the speed.

KaptJaq

Click to expand...

There is only secondary burn when the gases are burning off, which here is usually the first 1/3 to 1/2 stage of the burn in my Summit. A cool box is not going to have secondary burn going on, as it is well past that stage of burn.
My fan stays on high full time, except when I am reloading or not burning. I get same secondary burn as I do without the blower on(during power outages).
Secondary burn is about firebox/baffle feed air temps and the volatile gases that are igniting, causing such secondary burn, and I have yet to see my blower reduce internal fire box temps to come anywhere near the point of killing secondary burn. Does it cool the insert down? I am sure it does, but not enough to affect the secondaries, nor have I seen any drastic reduction in burn time.
Loading every 12 hours with the 2600 sf home heated just fine with fan blowing on high.
The blower should be used to regulate/distribute heat as needed for ones comfort level.
I myself would much rather have the warmth I want, then try to squeeze an hour or two extra heat time out at the expense of a cooler home.
There are X amount of BTU's out out from a load. I see distribution of this heat in a more house wide manor and temps for my comfort, much more efficient then taking less heat off the stove to be distributed around the home.
Every set up and home is different, so what works for me, may not work for others &Vise Versa.
To state a general blanket statement for all instances just does not hold water.

Each stove is different. I know my fan is very effective at removing heat from the firebox. A lot of stoves have a snap disk to prevent the fan from going on too soon or instructions in the manual not to start the fan for up to 30 minutes. If the fan goes on before the stove is hot enough to maintain a secondary burn it may delay or prevent the secondaries. If the stove is just barely supporting secondaries the fan can kill them... On my stove the secondary air supply is heated right next to the passage that heats the convection air. If the secondary does not get hot enough due to the convection air cooling it, no secondary burn.

KaptJaq