newbie blower question

[clearblue16]

so i have yet another question for the seasoned veterns...i have the hampton hi200 small wood insert....i have been turning the blower on high and leaving it run forever as soon as it turns on in "auto" mode....does the blower keep the insert cooler in any way? is it better to cycle it on and off? i want to maximize my heat output! thanks!

 

[Birdman1]

my blower is manual, i get the box up to about 550, run the blower on high untill i get to about 350 and by then the everything is toasty warm
but i am pretty new at this and this seems to be workin so far,the blower does drop the temp of the stove in a big way so once i drop to 350 or so
i turn it off to keep the stove hot. after that i will turn it on when the stove heats up again.

 

[Hogwildz]

I run mine 24/7 in manual mode, only lowering it when i reload.

 

[jadm]

I keep our blower on manual. I don't turn it on until insert top is about 400* - 500*. I turn it on full blast while room is heating up and then cut back once room hits comfortable temp. I turn it down when we go out. I guess for the most part I just play it by ear depending on what's going on and how much noise I want to compete with at any given time. I find in the evening I like it quieter so it gets turned lower despite room temp. Somehow at night things seem warmer than during the day so I don't mind having the blower on low.

In our old insert turning the blower on did make the temp. go down. That does not happen with this insert but it is built much differently and weighs almost 3 times as much as our old one did. I assume that all of that mass somehow insulates it from the blower air.

I have tried to determine if blower speed effects burn times - ie. lower blower speeds resulting in longer burn times and higher blower speeds resulting in shorter burn times. I really can't see a correlation between the two which surprises me. I am still checking this out and will continue experimenting next winter.

The only thing that I have concluded with certainty is that with lower blower speeds less heat is transmitted into the room and room temp. drops....a conclusion that I didn't even have to test out to know what would happen - a 'no brainer'.

;-P

 

[North of 60]

so i have yet another question for the seasoned veterns...i have the hampton hi200 small wood insert....i have been turning the blower on high and leaving it run forever as soon as it turns on in "auto" mode....does the blower keep the insert cooler in any way? is it better to cycle it on and off? i want to maximize my heat output! thanks!

Yes it makes your stove/insert run cooler if it is an efficient set up. Since my stove has a t-stat I can notice by burn times are shortened by a couple of hours as my combustion air damper will open up to maintain that temp with the extra load put on it.
On a manual draft leaver stove it should lower your stove temp in a measurable way as you are removing heat from that mass more rapidly. It shouldnt effect your burn time. Maybe increase it as your box will run cooler and slow down the burn rate. Just a hypothetical thought.

 

[raybonz]

so i have yet another question for the seasoned veterns...i have the hampton hi200 small wood insert....i have been turning the blower on high and leaving it run forever as soon as it turns on in "auto" mode....does the blower keep the insert cooler in any way? is it better to cycle it on and off? i want to maximize my heat output! thanks!

I run mine 24/7 unless the stove is not burning mainly because I can't stand radiant heat.. Radiant heat warms objects such as myself and everything else.. With a blower you still get some radiant heat but it is much less intense.. Convection for me is much more comfortable plus it moves the heat better in my opinion..

Ray

 

[CrappieKeith]

Taking too much heat from it may cause creosote.
Not likely with that small of a heat exchanger though.
A power consumption may be more the issue.

 

[raybonz]

Taking too much heat from it may cause creosote.
Not likely with that small of a heat exchanger though.
A power consumption may be more the issue.

The only real creosote I get is inside the stove which burns off and doesn't hurt anything.. The blower does not use much power I feel it increases heat transfer efficiency..

Ray

 

[burntime]

I have its big brother, run the blower, if you have the snap disc set right to put it to auto just leave it on auto. I may use manual to get heat a little early... It is an insert made to run with the blower... Without it you are not going to realize a lot of heat.

 

[clearblue16]

thanks! it looks like to me that the blower on high uses roughly the same power as a light blub to keep on! 115 volts, 60hZ, 0.6 amps...

 

[burntime]

Using your numbers Volts x Amps = Watts... You have a 69 watt power eating monster there ;-) Yep, I would run it 24/7 and not lose any sleep.

 

[milner351]

I use the auto setting on my PE summit on high 24/7.

With a ceiling fan in the room with the stove blowing down - it distributes the heat through the house pretty well, an electric blanket in the bedrooms upstairs is only required on the coldest of nights.