adding a part time combustion blower

[48hf74]

I take outside air in thru a 4 inch dryer tube. It goes in a hole in the bottom back of the pedestal. I would like to add a small, low wattage combustion blower
,maybe 30 watts, to help get the fire going and revive the common dead smoky fire. I would put it on a little hand timer just to get things going, 5-25 minutes max.
There may be someone here who has done this. Should I put a Y in the intake tube and attach there..???As long as the angle is steep towards the stove ,I thought
it would work and avoid the bad scenario of causing a secondary air flow back up the 4 inch tube towards the outside. This could be dangerous if any embers
got going the wrong way. Any engineers on the board who have ideas and have done this,..??? thanks

 

[fossil]

Your appliance is designed, built, tested, certified, and warranted as being just what it is...a natural convection burner. If you have adequate draft, you need no mechanical inducement for it. If your draft is a problem, then you need to look at the installation, and/or your maintenance routine, and/or your operating habits. I'm a Mechanical Engineer, and I wouldn't even think of installing such a modification. It's a woodburning space heater...not a forge. Just my thoughts on the subject. Rick

 

[begreen]

If the stove requires this kind of adaptation it would likely be easier and more safely fixed by adding more flue and/or burning drier wood.

 

[fossil]

you are pressurizing the firebox & may get smoke leaking from the stove & or chimney but if not, the pressurization should result in better heat transfer from the stove i think. adding excess air may only flush heat from the firebox also
a pressure cooker uses pressure to cook the meat via less energy/time as it pressures the heat into the meat & i can consider it a probable analogy....good luck

A pressure cooker works because as the interior of the closed vessel rises above atmoshperic pressure, the boiling temperature of water increases along with it, so that you're cooking at a higher temperature. It's the temperature elevation that makes it work...the pressure simply causes the temperature elevation. It's got absolutely nothing to do with "pressuring the heat into the meat".

A woodburning appliance is by no means a closed vessel. You're not going to significantly increase the pressure in the firebox (nor do you want to) by adding a blower to the air intake unless your flue is tortuous or clogged...in which case you may well get smoke/fumes out the secondary air intake...and most probably out an open door, in any case. Rick

 

[48hf74]

that may be true... so why are there combustion blowers available from the manufacturers..??

 

[fossil]

that may be true... so why are there combustion blowers available from the manufacturers..??

If you're talking about a woodburning stove or insert, there are no such combustion blowers available from the manufacturers. What sort of appliance are you talking about here, anway? Rick

 

[48hf74]

I guess its just for furnaces