BeGreen said:
The Hearthstone Clydesdale allows the insert to be installed close to flush or extended out onto the hearth. By extending it out onto the hearth, a much greater portion of the convective grille is exposed. My question is how effectively does the stove convect? Is it possible to get good heating when the power or fan is off?
BeGreen:
Let's see...if x=Clydesdale fan speed, and y = comfortable heat throughout the house, then f(x) =y.
The short answer is that the fan is important in circulating air throughout the house. I have my Clydesdale in its "full-out" position; maximum stove exposed. When the fan is turned to it's very low position, the room that the Clydesdale is located in is very comfortable. But the back rooms in my house, a typical long ranch style, get cool - not cold mind you, but certainly much cooler than the stove room. On the other hand, when the fan is at mid-speed, the back rooms get warm. That tells me that radiation and natural convection do not provide enough heat when outside temperatures are below freezing.
How effective the Clydesdale is without the fan is certainly a function of house design. A two-story house having few partitions would be most desirable. A Buckminster Fuller, "Bucky Ball" type house would probably work best with no fan, while a ranch house like mine would be poorest. So it might be possible to use the Clydesdale w/o fan, if you had the right house design. But if you had a "Bucky Ball" house, you would probably install a masonry stove and not an insert - I would anyway.
Another factor involved here is if one can provide external circulation with auxiliary fans, etc. I had hoped that I could use my natural gas, forced-air, heat plant to just circulate air throughout the house w/o calling for heat. Nix on that idea. It's a cheap, "contractor" model and the fan cannot run without producing heat. When I get around to replacing that stinker with a modern unit, I will get one that will be able to circulate air throughout the house. I'm thinking about a heat pump, but I'm not convinced yet.
In a no-power emergency, the Clydesdale w/o fan would not be the best choice for wood-stove heat. That's why I have a back-up power generator to keep the fan going. I will say this about the Clydesdale, before I installed the unit and used the fireplace "as is," my back rooms would become very cold. The back thermostat would cause the furnace to run, overall resulting in a net heat loss. I could have a roaring fire in the fireplace, be warm if I was right in front of the fire, and freeze my keester in the back rooms. Now when I run the Clydesdale, even at low fan speeds, the thermostat never calls for heat. We usually keep it set about 68 degrees. That's why I get puzzled when I read from folks on this forum wanting to install an open fireplace. Man, those things are heat loosers!
