After-market alternative blowers (particularly 30NC)?

[GordonShumway]

I was wondering before i bought a blower for the 30nc stove if there were any after market alternatives available. I have looked and looked and ultimately my plan is to set up a vent system attached to the blower on the stove. What I mean is, cut floor registers on exterior walls of separate rooms in house and run duct work to a center location in basement and from there attach the duct to the intake of the blower of wood stove on main floor. But from what I have seen there are no blowers with a duct connection on the intake side of the blower. To me this seems like best option for heat distribution (suck cold air from exterior walls of rooms, feed that air to stove that is located in center of house, therefore air being replaced with warm air from stove). If i can't find a blower that will fit, I can also just install an inline duct fan and custom build a "plenum" that attaches to rear of stove where the blower would attach. Any thoughts other then using box fans?

 

[laynes69]

If your home currently has ductwork and a central furnace I would go with a wood furnace before modifying a wood stove. I dont see any insurance company approving something like this, and in the event of a fire they may not cover anything. On a woodfurnace, the pressures of the air entering and leaving the air jacket are neutral to the firebox. Trying to build a plenum around a stove could cause negative pressure on the firebox. This could put combustion products into the home via ductwork. Also alot of heat could be generated in the ductwork, there's safety concerns here also. I would stick with the factory blower for the stove. With your description of the home as a wiffle ball, I would slowly improve the home. This will help performance of the stove and increase comfort.

 

[GordonShumway]

Thanks for your info Laynes. I am unsure how it would cause any negative pressure on the fire box tho. The only thing I would be modifying would be instead of the blower using air behind the stove it would be pulling the cold air from separate rooms to blow over the top of the stove, from what I can tell tell it would have nothing to do with the air used for combustion of the stove. But that could just be me not seeing something. As for the ducts, due to the fact that they would be on the floor the farthest from the stove possible I would be highly surprised to see any air enter those ducts with a temp higher then 65. The "plenum" (probably not the best word for it) I speak of would be in the basement directly below the stove where all the ducts meet, and from there a single duct would come up through floor and hook to the back where the blower cutout is. The house had a wood furnace, but the blower went out on it, and because of the fact it is in the basement (which is no where near air tight nor livable) I never bothered to repair due to the enormous amount of heat loss. I have thought about the fire situation and have concluded that I could wire the thermostat for the blower to a kill switch hooked to the smoke alarms if they should ever go off. The house is a work in process, everything being gutted, and it will be at least 2 years before the main floor sees any insulation. Right now the roof is tore off and the upstairs completely gutted to the studs. So I am just looking for ways to move cold and warm air around the house better, but with out the look of box fans in every door (tho that is the set up now and it does work).

 

[laynes69]

If my house was gutted, box fans would be the least of my concern. If your current setup is working I would leave it and keep things factory. Better safe than sorry. It sounds like your on the right track with the home and when your done it will pay off. One word while you have the walls gutted and that's airsealing! I've gutted and remodeled room after room here and there's been a large improvement every time.