Heritage Stove/blower/heat shield advice

[Dottie]

I bought my first wood stove ever last year and overall had a good experience with it, especially after I got such good advice from members of this forum and bought a thermometer and learned to get the stove temp high enough for it to burn correctly, and also learned to do something about the drafts caused by some air leaks. My house isn't huge, just about 700 sq ft on two floors, hallway, LR, DR, kitchen downstairs, 3 BRs and a bath upstairs.

I have been thinking about air circulation and the stove. While it put out heat, especially in the living room where the stove is set up and heated my upstairs bedroom which is located at the top of the stairs, it didn't heat the kitchen, dining room, downstairs hallway and I kept the other bedrooms shut upstairs.

I looked up the air blower, and also the heat shield that the Hearthstone people say must be used with the stove and blower and together the cost would be close to $600. This seems like a lot and they don't give any information on their site that describes how both things are set up, so I don't know if I can do it myself, and it also didn't explain why a heat shield would be necessary, since it's not necessary for just the stove.

Would the blower really make a great difference? Does anyone know what brand blower they sell? How difficult is the setup, could I do it myself or would I need to have the chimney guy set it up. Are there any other solutions (cheaper blower, for instance)? Why would I need a heat shield if the stove is properly installed on the fireplace hearth? Would a ceiling fan help with the circulation and also help me avoid the cost?

Thank you for your advice in advance.

Dottie

 

[Todd]

Before spending the money on a blower and heat shield try a ordinary fan or look for a doorway fan to help circulate the heat. Try and push the cooler air towards the stove. I think the Hearthstone blowers connect to the rear heat shield, that is why it is required.

 

[AndyD1480]

I have the Hearthstone Heritage and was looking into the blower as well.

Question, have you tried just running a fan over the top of the stove? I noticed if you get a cheapy fan and blow it over top it really helps to circulate some of the warm air out into the room.

 

[burntime]

Then just think what the fan will do. A couple hundred on a fan is gouging of course but its payback is fast.

 

[thechimneysweep]

The rear heat shield attaches to the back of the stove with standoffs, to create an airspace between the back of the stove and the shield. The shield reflects radiant energy back toward the stove, causing the air in between to superheat. This heated air flows out of the top of the airspace naturally, quite hot but at low velocity. The blower attaches at the bottom of the heat shield and blows air upward through the airspace, increasing the airflow to 160 cfm, which speeds the "mix" of heated air with room air. A deflector at the top of the shield directs the stream of heated air forward across the hot stovetop. After awhile, this stream of moving air creates larger convection currents which help distribute the heat throughout the room and beyond. If the goal is to move heat out of the immediate area, this transformation of radiant energy into heated air can really be helpful.

 

[Highbeam]

I have the heat shield but not the blower. I have gone so far as to set a regular fan on the floor behind the blower directed up into the heatshield with so-so success. The HS fan is likely much better at sending the air through the system.

600$$! I think something is wrong there. Check chimneysweep's site and you'll find:

400$ for the blower AND heatshield or 125$ for the heatshield alone. So the blower is 275$ for 160 CFM.

Heating 700 SF with the heritage must be a challenge. Tough not to overheat the stove room since the stove is making so much heat. 400$ buys a lot of fans.

 

[Dottie]

Thank you all for your helpful replies. Has anyone found that a ceiling fan in the same room to be helpful at all? When you are speaking of a fan, do you mean a box fan in the same room or a kind that sits on top, in front, or behind the stove, or some other another kind?

Thanks.

Dottie

 

[Highbeam]

I have a ceiling fan in the stove room and find that it does a great job of making that entire room the same temperature. I am not convinced that it does anything really great for moving the hot air into other rooms. It is very comfortable to have the stove room be one temperature from floor to ceiling though and that alone makes it worth it. The fan can run on low to accomplish this which is only 6 watts for my Estar rated fan.

 

[Dottie]

Thanks. I'm almost over spending 10 hours putting in my "5-Minute Fan"!! If it will help, I'll give it a go. I put a box fan on the floor blowing toward the stove last year, but I don't think it did anything that I could tell.

Dottie