Efficiency When Running A Small Flush Insert Without Fan

[dafattkidd]

I'm burning my insert right now with the fan off. It's not very cold tonight (38* as a low) and the house is really warm from the fire, so I turned the fan off. I find I get way longer heat from the coals, and keep the coals longer if I turn the fan off during the end of a burn cycle. In mild temps I will have the fan on to heat the house to the desired temp, then turn the fan off. My insert comes out 8-9" and weighs like 500 lbs so it has a lot of mass in the room that pours the heat in the room even without the fan. But on colder days there is no doubt I have the fan on 24/7 practically.

So to sum up:

Mild days: Fan on to bring house temps up, then fan off to hold the temps, and give me a longer coaling stage so longer periods of time between reloads.
Cold days: Fan is running almost constantly.

Also worth noting:
-With fan off the insert holds hotter temps for longer, but not because I have the draft open. I close my draft down fully practically every burn regardless of fan usage.
-I only run the fan on high to bring house temps up in a hurry. Besides that if the fan is on, it's on low. Huge decrease in burn times with fan on high, but it really throws the heat.

 

[velvetfoot]

I had my fan running on low last night and there were more coals than usual in the AM.
(Of course there was a big chunk in there too, so not a fair test.)

My last insert in a zero clearance fireplace at the old house was a Quad 2100i. That one stuck out onto the hearth like yours and you could even load the wood from front to back. The store I got it from said a fan was optional, so we didn't get one. It worked fine. The mantle got a tad warm, however. I'd have gotten another one for the current house and put a fan in it, but that model was discontinued, with the flush 2700i taking its place. Sure, it doesn't take up any floor space, but I'd have sacrificed that.