Blower or NO blower on the NC -30 Englander

Seasoned Oak said:

Perhaps my draft is different because theres no way could operate with the air at 50% . Once the fire is established my air is usually all the way down of at about 5-10% open. My stovetop temp goes UP when i turn down the air and wood get consumed slower. I run 700 deg stovetop as well with a box fan blowing across the top of the stove on anywhere from 0 to 10% primary air. Also more air will send flames up the flue pipe.

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I have 10 feet of single wall above the stove and honestly burn my less desirable wood out there that doesn't make the cut for the cat stove so sometimes wet (but seasoned) wood and often junky uglies. With all of that single wall in the cold shop air I believe that my overall installation is at minimum spec. 9 feet of class A above that, everything vertical.

I had pretty good luck with a box fan on high blowing over the top of the stove. I set the box fan high enough to also steal heat from the single wall flue. The box fan is really loud on high.

Here's some more:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/your-nc30-needs-a-convection-deck.139491/

begreen said:

Now I see the concern. The box fan is far away from the stove. I was thinking much closer and behind the stove and running on low or medium speed. A pedestal fan would also work there.

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Not too far away, maybe 6 feet. The box fan works well on high to blow a wave of heated air from the stove. Just not as well as the blower.

The entire back of the stove is covered in a cold heat shield. Plus within the clearance to combustibles, I don't want to pile a bunch of plastic. No real heat behind the stove. The stove top is where the heat is at.

You'll notice the box fan is still in place. It is there for when I am willing to tolerate having both fans blowing at once. Kind of a three step deal, or maybe four.

No fans, ceiling fan only, ceiling fan plus blower, ceiling fan plus blower plus box fan.

I haven't used my blower much this season, (first season with a 30) but lately I've been using it in the morning for a few hours while the coals burn down. I also sometimes place an 8" fan blower under the front of the stove towards the back.
The blower does a good job of warming the house, but not as good as what the fan does.
My install is inside a large fireplace opening, so that might be why the fan does much better.
The thing I hate about the 30's blower is how loud it is, I rarely run it on high for that reason. If I were to purchase a blower for the 30, knowing what I know, I'd seek out a better aftermarket blower and retrofit it.

If I had my druthers, I fit an ECM motor to my insert blower. It's on just about all winter, so there'd be energy savings, and it'd be infinitely speed variable too.

I would get the fan! I use mine in the mornings to get my house back up to temp after an all night burn, plus I think you'll find times when you can use it, such as coming in after being away. The best thing is, when you don't need it, don't turn it on.

I have a brand new AC-16 blower that I will never use, I'd let ya have it for $50 + Shipping CT to PA, if you wanna give it a shot and not spend a bunch of $$.

Seasoned Oak said:

I may just do that.

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Just let me know!

Highbeam said:

The assumption you're making is that the stove with no blower is making enough heat. If so, then no blower is needed. If not, then a blower extracts (not creates) more heat from the stove and the user or the thermostat must increase the burn rate to maintain stove top temp.

Bottom line is that a proper blower system will increase the possible btu output of a stove by allowing a higher burn rate while operating under the max allowable stove top temp.

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Yes, I would agree with that... the blower will 'allow' more wood to be burned without overheating the stove, and 'extract' more btu's for a given amount of wood burned in the stove.

I took the original quote as indicating the blower would 'require' burning twice as much wood for any given heat output, which I have not known to be the case.

Corey said:

Yes, I would agree with that... the blower will 'allow' more wood to be burned without overheating the stove, and 'extract' more btu's for a given amount of wood burned in the stove.

I took the original quote as indicating the blower would 'require' burning twice as much wood for any given heat output, which I have not known to be the case.

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We're on the same page. Another supposed benefit of blowers is that they make more heated air which can travel away from the stove to farther corners of the home. This can occur even with relatively cooler stove temps so no increase in burn rate is required.

Seasoned Oak said:

I went with the BIG blower for the 30 . I do have another 30 so ill think about the Ac-16 for that one. I wonder what the CFM difference is.

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AC16 is supposed to be 65 cfm. AC30 is supposed to be 100 CFM. A normal blower for a gas fireplace is 160cfm.

The AC 16 is very noisy for what little air it makes. Quite a large motor too.