Hearthstone shelburne fan

[vixster]

I'm thinking about getting the fan that mounts on the heatshield for the Hearthstone Shelburne. Does anyone have experience with this. The reason I am pondering this is to circulate the air more around the stove, which then perhaps will move the air more out of the room. It's kind of in a corner.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I'm thinking about getting the fan that mounts on the heatshield for the Hearthstone Shelburne. Does anyone have experience with this. The reason I am pondering this is to circulate the air more around the stove, which then perhaps will move the air more out of the room. It's kind of in a corner.

From what I understand, it is a good idea to put a fan on the Shelburne and the Bennington as they are both convection stoves.

 

[DanCorcoran]

I have the fan on my Shelburne...it's quiet, goes on and off automatically, and the speed is adjustable. It definitely moves the heat out into the room (mine's in a corner, too). I have an 18-foot ceiling, though, so my next project is a ceiling van. You'll also need a fan at floor level, blowing cold air into the stove room, if you want more warm air in the other rooms.

 

[Fsappo]

The Bennington is convection stove, the Shelburne radiant. The Shelburne will still benefit somewhat from the blower. To me its an option thats worth the money 100% on the Bennington..so/so on the Shelburne.

 

[vixster]

The Bennington is convection stove, the Shelburne radiant. The Shelburne will still benefit somewhat from the blower. To me its an option thats worth the money 100% on the Bennington..so/so on the Shelburne.

Would you please explain this a litter further for me. I didn't realize there was convection vs radiant. thanks

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

The Bennington is convection stove, the Shelburne radiant. The Shelburne will still benefit somewhat from the blower. To me its an option thats worth the money 100% on the Bennington..so/so on the Shelburne.

Would you please explain this a litter further for me. I didn't realize there was convection vs radiant. thanks

Franks is right.

the shelburne doesn't have a convective jacket. when you add the rear heat shield you create one, so it only blows across the back of the appliance

 

[VTHC]

I've contemplated getting one for my stove as well, but i don't have the rear heat shield installed and I'm not sure it's worth the $$.

Franks is right the Shelburne is a radiant stove... whereas the Bennington has a built-in convection chamber integrated with the rear heat shield (allows air to circulate through a chamber where it gets warmed by the firebox). With the heat shield installed on the Shelburne it does form somewhat of convective chamber at the back of the stove, but the Shelburne is designed primarily as a radiant heater (heat radiates from the stove walls).

Try moving cooler air towards the stove. This will make room for warmer air to fill in behind the moved air. I have had fairly good results to this in raising temperature in other parts of the house. I also have a ceiling fan in my stove room that "mixes" the air decreasing temperature stratification. Next on the list is to install a vent through the ceiling into to the upstairs bedroom to increase heat on the second floor (bedrooms).

 

[Fsappo]

The Bennington is convection stove, the Shelburne radiant. The Shelburne will still benefit somewhat from the blower. To me its an option thats worth the money 100% on the Bennington..so/so on the Shelburne.

Would you please explain this a litter further for me. I didn't realize there was convection vs radiant. thanks

The easiest way I can explain it..radiant heat works like the sun. It is a hot thing that heats other objects that can "see" it. So, just as with the sun, if you stand in the shade, the radiant heat diminishes, because the heat waves are reflected, so it is with a radiant wood stove. This makes moving radiant heat around corners and up stairs more of a challenge. (You arent really moving the radiant heat, but the convection heat created by the radiant heat warming things up.

Convection heat means the heater is creating hot air. Like on a furnace. A box within a box, so to speak. The inside box gets hot, and the air flowing between the inner and outer boxes gets hot and is discharged into the room. Hot air is something that can be moved around corners and up stairs easier than the radiant heated air (hot air rises, etc).

I'm sure I'll get stomped on for this, but thats about the most basic way I can explain it.

 

[vixster]

VTHC: are you using a box fan? What is the distance do you have between fan and Shelburne? I believe you must have heatshield to add on fan. Do you think if one purchases the fan one should still put fan cooler air to the stove?

Franks: Nice.. I never realized there were choices when I made the purchase. Now I feel like "DUH!"

 

[Fsappo]

Dont feel like that. It is the job of the person selling you the stove to make sure you know the difference between radiant, convection, cast, steel, cat, not cat etc. It is our job to make sure the customer buys the stove that works best for them.

 

[VTHC]

VTHC: are you using a box fan? What is the distance do you have between fan and Shelburne? I believe you must have heatshield to add on fan. Do you think if one purchases the fan one should still put fan cooler air to the stove?

Vixster - we've tried a couple things. First we tried one of those doorway corner fans to pull the warm air from the room the stove is in into a hallway/stairwell to get heat to the upstairs. This worked marginally (we still use the door way fan on occasion). Next we tried using a small(ish) fan like this: http://www.vornado.com/ on the floor in the door way to push the cold air to the wood stove room. This seemed to work much better, as you could feel the colder air cascading down the stairs. The stove is roughly 10-12 ft from the doorway leading to the hall/stairway.

I'm hoping the vent we install in the ceiling will allow warm air to circulate better to the upstairs (whether it acts as a cold air return or a warm air vent remains to be seen - either way i think it will help). Right now the stairwell acts as a cold air return - as you walk up the stairs you can feel the temperature stratification (and cold air spilling down the stairs). We like our bedroom cooler anyway, just concerned about our 2 year old being warm enough (on really cold nights we use an oil filled electric radiator in his room).

Needless to say, our Shelburne does a great job heating our main floor. With temps in the 70-80s (80 in stove room, 70s in the room off of the stove room). Only on the REALLY cold nights (negative to single digit temps) does the stove struggle a bit to keep up. We have a 1900sf farm house that we had the walls insulated, and added an R-30 layer of insulation in the attic. I think once we get the windows upgraded the stove won't struggle as much.

 

[unhdsm]

VTHC,
Our setups sound almost identical. I do have the the wall plate on the Shelburne for clearance purposes. Without the fan I can tell you that it shifts the heat forward a few inches. I don't know how it would change things with the fan though. I have a 1900sf cape and the temps you report in your house are the same as I get. I noticed at zero degrees and below (last week) that the stove starts to struggle to keep up. I also find at those temps I have to add wood every 4.5 hours. I wish it could go a little longer but the stove really needs a full load of wood to get the surface temps over 400 degrees. Is that what you guys are seeing?

 

[DanCorcoran]

I think the main thing the fan does on my Shelburne is to increase rate at which the heat is output from the stove. Without a fan, you have a certain amount of radiation in, say, an hour. With the fan you have increased the rate at which the heat is being exchanged into the room. Thus, I probably have to reload sooner than I would without the fan, but the room gets warmer faster. Once the room/cabin is warm, I turn off the fan and use the air intake lever to reduce the burn rate, so the stove then just keeps the room on more or less an even keel.

That's my assessment of what's happening, anyway...

 

[vixster]

So perhaps I have been doing it wrong. I have put a fan at the top of the stairs to push up the warmth upwards. Tonight is my 4 night with the stove. I have been getting it up to 400-500 without a full load. But I do admit, I suck at starting up the fires. It seems to take a good hour or two before I have a significant fire. Perhaps I am not using enough kindling and wood. How do you start a fire your Shelburne? Also, I seem to be going through a lot of wood, so I must be doing something wrong. Or as I have been reading, I might not have great longterm burning wood. I must be going through 10-12 splits per night

As to the fans, I will try putting a fan outside the room blowing in AND a fan near the stove blowing towards it. I have a much smaller house , aprox 1200sqf, 500 on main floor, 500 2nd level and 200 in living attic space.

 

[VTHC]

Vixster: definitely try the fan blowing cold air TO your stove. Cold air is more dense so it accumulates lower to the floor. If you move that cold air (because it is denser it is easier to move) out of a room, the warm air then has space to fill in behind it. Seems counter intuitive at first, but you will see some better results. I will admit that i have used a small fan behind my stove blowing on it to get a quick warm up in the room once the stove is going hard (550-600*F) - much like the heat shield fan would work, but i have only done this when starting the stove when the house is dead cold. I'm usually burning 24/7 so i generally don't need the extra umph.

Not really sure how your chimney setup and wood seasoning is, but I have about 15' of insulated flex liner (8") inside my existing masonry chimney and 4' double wall stove pipe to the pass-thru/thimble. Make sure your wood is seasoned to less than 20% moisture. A cheap moisture meter works fine, but measure from the center of a freshly split piece of wood. I found that the Shelburne is not a big fan of the the marginally seasoned wood and subsequent fire will suffer. The wood i'm using has been cut/split/stacked since last winter and i'm still getting some occasional sizzlers (burning standing dead Elm, Ash, and Sugar Maple with some occasional Cherry). With all that said, I can get my stove (easily) to 650-700*F if i'm not careful on a full load (over 650* i would consider an over-fire situation). I normally load on a good bed of coals and let er' rip with the door cracked open until everything is blazing/charred (surface temp around 400*) and then shut the door with the air open full. I wait for the surface temps to hit about 500* and then back off the air to about 1/2. This is usually when the secondaries start blasting. From there i keep turning down the air in increments based on the stove top temp and flames in the firebox. Can usually have the air shut down completely within 45 minutes of reload with good secondaries, and the stove cruising around 550-600*F. Depending on the outside temps, and how full i've packed the firebox (and what type of wood), I will usually have decent enough coals to easily start a fire in the morning (bedtime around 10p and wake up around 5:30a). I usually pack it as full as i can... like a puzzle all the way up to the secondary tubes.

Dan has a crazy amount of straight up chimney on his setup... I'm sure he can get his Shelburne cranking too! Ive actually had to block my secondary air intake a couple times in the past month to avoid a runaway fire - stove top temps hit 700* while i was stuffing my welding gloves into the secondary air hole on the back of the stove. This would probably have been difficult with the rear heat shield!

 

[VTHC]

I noticed at zero degrees and below (last week) that the stove starts to struggle to keep up. I also find at those temps I have to add wood every 4.5 hours. I wish it could go a little longer but the stove really needs a full load of wood to get the surface temps over 400 degrees. Is that what you guys are seeing?

Unhdsm: Good to see another Vermont Shelburne user! Was feeling a little lonely!

Usually on the weekends when i'm around to tend the fire more i chug along throwing in 3-4 smaller splits or rounds throughout the day and get the stove top temps to 500 or so. Usually have to cut back the air to about 1/2 to keep around that temp. On overnight burns i STUFF it as full as i can and try to cut back the air completely (over a 45 minute period) before i go to bed. I try to get the stove top to cruise at 550 or so, but it tends to want to cruise at 600* or slightly over that. With mostly Sugar Maple on the overnight loads (large splits and rounds) i have enough coals to start the fire in the morning -- BUT, that cold snap we just had the furnace kicked on in the mornings and i struggled to get the fire going in the without using kindling. I get the sense that our stove really likes to get worked hard... It seems to want to burn hot. Wish the fire box was a little larger - would make overnight burns a little easier.
Last night got down to the low teens and the house was 66-68* this morning at 6:30 (i slept in a bit). Easily got a full load burning while i showered, and stove was cruising at 600*F with air completely shut down when i left for work at 7:30a. Bedroom temp was a balmy 63* when i got up (brrrr!). Hard to get out from under the down comforter, but gets you moving into the shower real quick! Tonight should be another chilly evening... Where you at UNHDSM? I'm up in Franklin county near the lake so our temps are moderated a bit being in the Champlain Valley.

 

[unhdsm]

I'll try and keep this Shelburne related so I don't hijack the thread.
I am curious where you are measuring the temp. I tested my stovetop thermometer to be accurate and measure the top-middle, a bit toward the back of the stove. I really cannot get my stove beyond 550 degrees no matter what I do, which is fine because after 500 degrees I can shut it down and just the secondaries are burning, but the stove then cruises at 400-450 degrees for an 1.5 hours, then slowly settles to 300 degrees. At 550 stovetop temps my flue temp 18 inches away is 900 degrees. I have the same gripe about the stove. I wish it had a bigger firebox. When you get a good layer of ash, there is just not enough room for splits, especially because you have to be careful not to damage the delicate baffle up top. Another cold one tonight!

We definitely have similar cycles (both stove and behavior around the stove). I live between St. Johnsbury and WRJ.

I noticed at zero degrees and below (last week) that the stove starts to struggle to keep up. I also find at those temps I have to add wood every 4.5 hours. I wish it could go a little longer but the stove really needs a full load of wood to get the surface temps over 400 degrees. Is that what you guys are seeing?

Unhdsm: Good to see another Vermont Shelburne user! Was feeling a little lonely!

Usually on the weekends when i'm around to tend the fire more i chug along throwing in 3-4 smaller splits or rounds throughout the day and get the stove top temps to 500 or so. Usually have to cut back the air to about 1/2 to keep around that temp. On overnight burns i STUFF it as full as i can and try to cut back the air completely (over a 45 minute period) before i go to bed. I try to get the stove top to cruise at 550 or so, but it tends to want to cruise at 600* or slightly over that. With mostly Sugar Maple on the overnight loads (large splits and rounds) i have enough coals to start the fire in the morning -- BUT, that cold snap we just had the furnace kicked on in the mornings and i struggled to get the fire going in the without using kindling. I get the sense that our stove really likes to get worked hard... It seems to want to burn hot. Wish the fire box was a little larger - would make overnight burns a little easier.
Last night got down to the low teens and the house was 66-68* this morning at 6:30 (i slept in a bit). Easily got a full load burning while i showered, and stove was cruising at 600*F with air completely shut down when i left for work at 7:30a. Bedroom temp was a balmy 63* when i got up (brrrr!). Hard to get out from under the down comforter, but gets you moving into the shower real quick! Tonight should be another chilly evening... Where you at UNHDSM? I'm up in Franklin county near the lake so our temps are moderated a bit being in the Champlain Valley.

 

[vixster]

So, I have decided to track my feeding and temperatures for the Shelburne via a spread sheet. I am roughly getting the same, on a good bed of coals, putting in roughly 4 splits, I get up to 500, or 550, then I shut down roughly 1/4, then another 1/2 or so 30mins later..I will let you know how long this burn will last. Do you add wood when it's just coals or when there are still lasting flames on the last dying load. I'm still playing around with air flow, experimenting for the best solution. I don't have a flue thermo yet. To keep the flue clean, how long should we be burning at 500* for? I wanted to let you know I find this tread very helpful, thank you! Oh, also, how forgiving it it when hitting the upper baffle, I know I have waked it a few times, because I am not use to it being there.

 

[unhdsm]

My stove seems to have the same behavior as yours. I reload when there are coals, but the once or twice I reloaded when there were still flames, but toward the end of the cycle, it was fine. FYI, I rarely look at the flue temps now. I am glad I have it, but the stove top temp tells me so much more. The flue temps bounce around but never stray from the safe zone.
I don't know for sure how brittle the baffle is, but I just barely touched it with a firebrick during install and there was a tiny nick left, so I tread lightly now
Thanks for the primary research. I am interested in seeing the results. If you can, get some measures on the size and type of the splits you load.

So, I have decided to track my feeding and temperatures for the Shelburne via a spread sheet. I am roughly getting the same, on a good bed of coals, putting in roughly 4 splits, I get up to 500, or 550, then I shut down roughly 1/4, then another 1/2 or so 30mins later..I will let you know how long this burn will last. Do you add wood when it's just coals or when there are still lasting flames on the last dying load. I'm still playing around with air flow, experimenting for the best solution. I don't have a flue thermo yet. To keep the flue clean, how long should we be burning at 500* for? I wanted to let you know I find this tread very helpful, thank you! Oh, also, how forgiving it it when hitting the upper baffle, I know I have waked it a few times, because I am not use to it being there.

 

[VTHC]

I have my thermometer in the middle of the top towards the back - about 3 or 4 inches from the flue collar. My thermo may be a bit off, but i checked against my IR thermo and it was within 50*. I have a probe thermo on my pipe, but i don't really use it... i think it maybe off anyhow. I have problems getting the temp over 600*F before my stove top temp is indicating nuclear meltdown. I wonder if it has anything to do with it being higher than 18" up?

I've been pretty careful around the baffle material after nicking it a few times. Still hit it occasionally when packing stove full for overnights.

It is currently 5*F as i type this... and 70*F in my living room, and my furnace has not been on today!

 

[unhdsm]

I have my thermometer in the middle of the top towards the back - about 3 or 4 inches from the flue collar. My thermo may be a bit off, but i checked against my IR thermo and it was within 50*. I have a probe thermo on my pipe, but i don't really use it... i think it maybe off anyhow. I have problems getting the temp over 600*F before my stove top temp is indicating nuclear meltdown. I wonder if it has anything to do with it being higher than 18" up?

I've been pretty careful around the baffle material after nicking it a few times. Still hit it occasionally when packing stove full for overnights.

It is currently 5*F as i type this... and 70*F in my living room, and my furnace has not been on today!

I agree about the probe meter. I have not verified mine yet but before I close the stove for the night it is not unusual to see 900*F. The probe is brand new, and appears to accurate relative to what I would expect to see.