As noted on another thread The Icepocalypse hit the Philly suburbs Wednesday morning, spectacular ice formations, but life threatening road conditions with thousands of downed and snagged trees, more than half the county was without power. It was soon apparent that while my Lopi insert would keep us warm enough even without power to the blower, that it wasn't putting out anything like the heat it did when the blower was available.
For my old smoke dragon, I had a housing made for a PC fan but the Lopi air inlet was a different shape and needed a different housing, and I had never got around to it. So with no TV to watch, I took my tin snips, riveter and the remnant sheet steel from my block off plate.
If necessary, two of those 6V lantern batteries could be wired in series to give the 12V needed for the fan for best airflow, but I thought I would see how long and how well 6V would work before the outside temperatures got too extreme. The results were great, the heat output was noticeably better, the stovetop stayed slightly cooler, and a single fresh new battery lasted more than 24 hours before the power came back this morning.
It's not the neatest job, but it works and it's cheap.
TE
For my old smoke dragon, I had a housing made for a PC fan but the Lopi air inlet was a different shape and needed a different housing, and I had never got around to it. So with no TV to watch, I took my tin snips, riveter and the remnant sheet steel from my block off plate.
If necessary, two of those 6V lantern batteries could be wired in series to give the 12V needed for the fan for best airflow, but I thought I would see how long and how well 6V would work before the outside temperatures got too extreme. The results were great, the heat output was noticeably better, the stovetop stayed slightly cooler, and a single fresh new battery lasted more than 24 hours before the power came back this morning.
It's not the neatest job, but it works and it's cheap.
TE
