Fan behind stove

[jmichigan]

I was wondering if anyone has placed a fan behind their stove? We have our stove in a corner and have placed a fan behind it on a stand and have noticed that when we do this the temp. gage on the pipe goes down. Am I creating enough of a drop in the pipe that it will affect my draft or is it just maybe hitting the back or sides of the temp. magnet causing it to drop? Maybe we shouldn't have the fan at this level and it should be down at the floor?

Thanks in advance~ Jill

 

[Adabiviak]

I wouldn't think you could get the stove cold enough to change the airflow? I also think this infers that your fan is doing its job, since the stove is cooler, as the heat has been moved elsewhere into your house.

 

[Crabbypatty]

i would maintain at least 350*f surface temp......but i am no expert. I believe creosote forms below 300*f and as the flue gases rise they cool as they reach the top of the chimney. if they cool too much you get crosote and condensation. i have had good luck with placing a box fan on the floor and directing the cool air toward the stove, rather than trying to blow the hot air away, which rises anyway. just my $ 0.02

 

[jmichigan]

We have a box fan from MBR blowing toward the stove. Just thought that blowing another fan from behind the stove would also help move some of the hot air around. We aren't sure what the surface temp of the stove is, we only have the magnetic temp. gage on the pipe that is dropping when we blow the fan. We just want to make sure it is safe.

Jill

 

[dkf5]

I have a small tower fan behind my stove to help push the hot air out and away from the stove into the room. It is kind of at an angle not directly on the back of the stove. It works great.

 

[karl]

When the stove is burning well, I don't think you will be able to cool it off enough to hurt anything. However, with my insert, if I run the fan on high, once it gets to the coaling stage, I can cool it down enough that it leaves little chunks of charcoal instead of burning everything to a fine ash.

 

[Northern NH Mike]

This weekend I placed a small fan behind or stove; it is also sitting in a corner. I am waiting for the blower unit to be delivered. i was happy to see that the room temp rose much quicker at the 550-600 degree temp range with the help of the fan. The fan sits on the floor and is angled to blow off the flue collar.

 

[EddyKilowatt]

This weekend I placed a small fan behind or stove; it is also sitting in a corner. I am waiting for the blower unit to be delivered. i was happy to see that the room temp rose much quicker at the 550-600 degree temp range with the help of the fan. The fan sits on the floor and is angled to blow off the flue collar.

Same here... little 12" desk fan sitting in the fireplace, set on low, aimed up at about 30 degrees, at the flue collar on the stove rear panel. Don't notice much effect on the stove, though I guess the flue gas must be a few dozen degrees cooler. I do notice much better heat distribution around the room, and much less thermal stratification.

Eddy

 

[pen]

Try burning the stove with the fan off. Then, go up to your thermometer and blow on it with your mouth.

My bet is that the temp will drop (mine will)

The temp drop you are seeing is most likely from the air blowing over the thermometer and not allowing it to fully absorb the heat as intended. I truly doubt that the fan blowing on the exterior of the unit will cool it much.

That fan cooling your stove would be the equivelant of that fan cooling a v8 motor by blowing air over it.

pen

 

[akhilljack]

my stove is in a corner and i have a thermometer on the pipe and the stove. i have a 10-12 inch fan that i use after i get the stove hot. it keeps my whole house warm. i agree with the guy that said it only is going to cool the thermometer temp down and possibly the pipe around the fan but the gas inside the pipe wont change. i sweept my chimney the other day and after burning a mixture of dry and green wood since septmeber i had a little bit of soot at the top 2-3 feet of chimney and almost no creosote. i slid the brush up and down 3 times and it way clean as a whistle. plus you make better use out of what wood you do use and end up burning much shorter burns.