BK Princess Insert - Is it ok to run without the fan

[tdibiasio]

Hi All

As we are clearly in the shoulder season here in New England - I am wondering if it is OK to run the BK princess insert with the fan unit turned off? The reason I ask this relatively simple question is that during normal winter operation I keep the fan running 24x7 to distribute and push as much heat from this stove into the house. However in the shoulder season it can get too hot too quickly if I keep the fans running even on low. During normal winter operation if I run with the fans off the cat temp can easily get into the 4:00 position or higher, but if I turn the fans on it will quickly drop into the more appropriate 12:00-1:00 range. So two questions for the group

Is it OK to run the stove without the fans - is it something you do regularly?
What is the max cat temp you would fee comfortable running with no fans (12:00 - 5:00???)

I guess it could be a balance between air intake and fan setting - however this stove runs so damn consistent that I rarely (some times for months at a time) change the tstat setting. I keep it set at 2.5 and dont bother adjusting it at all as I work out of my house and keep this thing running 24x7.

Should I just turn the air back even more (say 1.5) if I dont run the fans?

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can give me.

TomD

 

[kennyp2339]

Of course you can run the unit without the blower, you just need to be mindful of the cat probe and set you t-stat lower, I would say keep the cat probe in the 2 o'clock range, turn your air back, check on the setting to be sure you didn't stall the stove

 

[Blazing]

I run mine 95% of the heating season without the fan.

 

[Woody Stover]

What is the max cat temp you would fee comfortable running with no fans (12:00 - 5:00???)
I guess it could be a balance between air intake and fan setting

Some of these guys don't have any qualms about pinning the cat needle but I try to keep cat temp down a bit, as I have read that you want to keep it under 1800* to avoid cat damage. So I would run the blower and cut the thermostat to keep the output lower. I never like to see my cat glowing too brightly..

 

[Highbeam]

BKVP has stated that BK stoves are engineered to prevent catalyst temperatures above 1800. As in, it can't happen so don't worry about it. Assuming of course, that your stove is in good working order.

It won't hurt a thing to try and "run" your stove to keep catalyst temperatures in the normal range.

I am not certain about the BK insert but on the stoves, the cat probe meter readings are reduced when you have the fans on. The readings go back up when you shut off the fans. This is because the bimettalic spring that moves the needle is in the air path.