BK Ashford - Better to turn up tstat or to put a fan on stove?

[Calentarse]

I've noticed that running the BK on anything over 2 noticeably uses more wood (of course). Yet, I can't say I get that much more heat in the house from it. I use a ceiling fan in the room on winter mode to keep floor/ceiling temps equal, but am wondering if I shouldn't just put a box fan near the stove on low for these cold nights? I know this will reduce my burn times.

I'm having a couple nights in the teens finally tonight and tomorrow night. I'll need to turn the stove up from a 1.5 to a 2. Do you think it's smarter to put it on 2.5 and need to reload after 10 hours or should I leave it on a 2 and use a fan on the stove?

I do not have the blower kit because for most every week out of the winter I never need it. I'm just wondering which has proven to use less wood and work the best for you guys in colder climates...

Opinions and experiences, please.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the aliens pack up their technology when it gets cold.

More likely the problem is that the house has some heat loss issues that get worse then. Is there a lot of glass?

 

[Poindexter]

I use both the fan kit on the stove and a box fan way down the hall to push cold air towards the stove.

I find I can keep the back bedrooms "warm" using both fans even with the Tsat on "one" or "low".

So it could be you might have been burning less wood all along if you were using both fan options and a lower Tstat setting to maintain whatever temp in the house.

I have tried using just the fan kit on the stove, and also tried using just the box fan down the hall blowing cold air along the floor. I don't bother anymore. If I am running one, I run both.

My stove/ my floorplan/ YMMV.

 

[Highbeam]

Low stat with fan could make the same output as high stat with no fan. I find that I prefer the first option because flue temps are lower which should mean efficiency is higher.

I would recommend adding the fans. They are cheaper and more effective than the blowers sold with other brands.

 

[Calentarse]

Sounds like the aliens pack up their technology when it gets cold.

More likely the problem is that the house has some heat loss issues that get worse then. Is there a lot of glass?

No, I don't think so. The windows are smaller too I feel compared to people with newer homes. I just don't see where all the heat's going when it's turned up. Definitely seem to get more relative to use of wood when on low. I understand that with higher home temps the speed at which I lose heat increases so that's playing a role too...

 

[Calentarse]

Low stat with fan could make the same output as high stat with no fan. I find that I prefer the first option because flue temps are lower which should mean efficiency is higher.

I would recommend adding the fans. They are cheaper and more effective than the blowers sold with other brands.

Yea, I may look into the fans for those cold nights. Are they angled at all or do they only blow straight forward?

 

[Calentarse]

I use both the fan kit on the stove and a box fan way down the hall to push cold air towards the stove.

I find I can keep the back bedrooms "warm" using both fans even with the Tsat on "one" or "low".

So it could be you might have been burning less wood all along if you were using both fan options and a lower Tstat setting to maintain whatever temp in the house.

I have tried using just the fan kit on the stove, and also tried using just the box fan down the hall blowing cold air along the floor. I don't bother anymore. If I am running one, I run both.

My stove/ my floorplan/ YMMV.

I normally have the stove on its lowest setting daily and never need to move any air. If it's in the 30s at night I might bump it up .5 a setting and run the ceiling fan and we're comfy. With teens and wind though like tonight, I just need a little something extra so I was just wondering which was best. Sounds like running it on low is still my best option but try to push the cold air towards the stove since I don't have the fan kit. I have a humidifier that has a nice blower on it. May set that up near the stove to circulate some air around it...otherwise, I'm not convecting as much heat away from it as I could, right?

 

[blueguy]

My Sirocco is the same internally, and I am getting a solid 12 hours on a setting of a little over 2.5 with only 6 larger splits and heating from the basement. Of course, it's using twice the amount of wood as I do with it set on 2 and a full box getting 24 hr burns. I would suggest playing with the stove and box fan a little to see what works best for you, in your house. The first season I had my Sirocco, I tried different combinations of wood and stat settings and recorded the outside temps and results after 12 hours to come up with useable stat settings and number of splits that allows me to stay on time for 12 hr reloads. I tried playing with box fans and even the blowers, and to be honest, the only time I use the blowers is when the outdoor temps really drop and I am burning down the coals waiting on a reload.

 

[Highbeam]

Yea, I may look into the fans for those cold nights. Are they angled at all or do they only blow straight forward?

On my princess only straight forward but it's not like a directional blast. It's just a hot breeze. Very noticeable increase in output, temperatures start rising in the room quickly even though the stat setting is unchanged.

 

[Poindexter]

I normally have the stove on its lowest setting daily and never need to move any air. If it's in the 30s at night I might bump it up .5 a setting and run the ceiling fan and we're comfy. With teens and wind though like tonight, I just need a little something extra so I was just wondering which was best. Sounds like running it on low is still my best option but try to push the cold air towards the stove since I don't have the fan kit. I have a humidifier that has a nice blower on it. May set that up near the stove to circulate some air around it...otherwise, I'm not convecting as much heat away from it as I could, right?

Well, we probably have different floor plans and I don't have a ceiling fan in the mix. All other things being equal if I could either keep the box fan on the floor or the fan kit on the stove, I would keep the fan kit on the stove. Without the fan kit the Ashford is just another radiant stove, like any of dozens of other models from a slew of manufacturers. With the fan kit, the Ashford becomes a convection stove and it's a beautiful thing.

Don't bother with an ecofan. I had one left over from my last stove, it doesn't really get to spinning until the Tstat is up to 2.5. I am keeping mine because I run settings that high a lot, sounds like it would be a waste of money for you.

In find the fan on the floor with the fan kit turned off only helps a tiny little bit. The fan kit on and the box fan off helps more. Running both is best for me, but I don't know your floor plan.

 

[Poindexter]

I've noticed that running the BK on anything over 2 noticeably uses more wood (of course). Yet, I can't say I get that much more heat in the house from it.

Opinions and experiences, please.

Factory fan kit. I find without the fan kit the stove makes a ball of radiant heat and cold air pushed intot he radiant ball just bounces off intot he kitchen.

 

[Calentarse]

Great, thanks for everyone's advice. I may end up ordering the fan kit for those cold nights, and it sounds like it'd be useful for me anyway so that I can run it on low and leave the stove on low when i would otherwise have to turn the stat up.

Last night, I was using ceiling fans in kitchen, living room (stove room) and blowing a humidifier fan nearby and the house went from 75-70 overnight with it dropping from 25 at 9pm to 15 at 7am. It's only a 1200 square foot rancher and the stove ate an entire load of seasoned, 3 yr old red oak. I had it set on 2.75 overnight. I'm thinking I could have gotten more heat from it had I been moving air through it with the fan kit. The humidifier fan just isn't meant to move air across the stove so it does very little.

On a side note, those of you who followed my story know of my troubles. It is, of course, so nice not having to smell smoke anymore. But another huge effect this has had on me is with my allergies. I've noticed that the air quality must be better in the house because since the stove was fixed my allergies haven't bothered me in the least. I've even come off my claritin!

 

[webby3650]

The fans on this particular stove make a big difference. There's a lot of trapped heat under that iron top!

 

[drz1050]

Subscribing.. I've also been thinking about getting the fans. Ceiling fan above the stove wouldn't do the same thing though?

 

[Heftiger]

It was a little warmer yesterday afternoon. So I turned off the fan kit, and just left the fan that we have in front of the stove to circulate air. It was 71 in the house when I did this. I got home later in the evening and even though there was plenty of fuel, and the stove was still very active, the temp had dropped to 68 and the central heat had been on 4 times in the afternoon. I would argue that the fan kit is essential if you want to get any real heat out into the rooms.

 

[Calentarse]

One of the many main reasons I love the stove is for this ability...being able to contain the radiant heat and use it to keep the cat warm and have a nice low temp, slow burning fire. It helps people with a small house and a small stove room to still be able to use wood to heat their home comfortably. After having the VC, I learned this the hard way. That stove was so unavoidably hot all the time....made for a lot of hot and cracked drywall, and dangerous temperature extremes on the part of the stove and my home.

The flip side is that when I actually need to get the heat out of the BK, how is it best done? I've been trying all your suggestions and last night there was a new development thanks to POINDEXTER's suggestion. I put a small fan at the end of our "bedroom hall" on high on the floor throwing air toward the living room (stove room) at the other end of the hall. Before bed standing in the living room, it was 74 and I could feel the cool air from the back of the house pouring in the room at the floor. Back in the bedroom at the time, it was 65. Once this air hit the living room, the ceiling fan (on winter mode, medium speed) pulls this air up and throws it out across the ceiling, heating it. Problem solved. It was 15 last night again, and my bedroom was 67 this morning using this method. Stove was set on 2.25 with hickory, apple and oak (my best wood). This method basically forces the hot air along the ceiling into the bedrooms. I also ran my bedroom fan in winter mode on low last night and that really helps mix the air too so it isn't all trapped in the ceiling.

So now I'm a big believer in the fan in the hallway at night when temps drop in the teens. Otherwise, the bedrooms are just cooler, not cold, and tolerable. But when it gets really cold, without the fan kit, I've learned that I must take other recourse! I think I'll hold off on the fan kit for now since I've made this work with equipment I already have. If I was more northerly, I can see definitely installing it though...

With the tstat, I've also learned in this experience that at settings beyond 2, only radiant heat is increased; this equates to more heat in the stove room and not really that much more heat anywhere else. At that point, it's more a question of how you're able to move air around the house, not a question of how much heat the stove is producing. At a setting of 2, there's plenty of heat to be had, it's just how you get it out Where would we all be without the challenges of wood burning?Lost and lonely souls

 

[Calentarse]

Subscribing.. I've also been thinking about getting the fans. Ceiling fan above the stove wouldn't do the same thing though?

Cool pic for the site. If I were you, I'd have those fans! Less burn time but definitely more heat from what everyone's saying. No, the ceiling fan does very little to circulate air THROUGH THE STOVE. It is able to mix air in the room pretty well which makes it warmer down lower, but I don't think it moves air through the stove adequately. The small humidifier I have behind the stove doesn't even really move enough air through it. The air has got to go through the jacket I think to get any real difference in your home. Concentrated air, you know?

 

[Heftiger]

The fan we added in front of the stove makes a huge difference. I just pointed it straight up. It increased temps throughout the house by 3-4 degrees. One day it was 70 degrees in the house; I took my IR thermometer and pointed it at the ceiling, and at the floor. Ceiling was 85 degrees, and floor was 60 degrees. That sold me on the fact that we weren't doing enough to circulate the air. Now with the fan, there is only a 5-10 degree difference between the ceiling and the floor.

 

[begreen]

It depends on the room and house floorplan and stove location. In some cases almost anything one does to improve convection will have a positive effect. In others, not so much. Our house and stove location convect naturally very well. The stove blower doesn't make a huge difference because the floorplan is very open. However on very cold days it does help a bit to improve getting air around the corner to the pantry area. I can achieve an ever quicker effect by putting a small fan on the floor in the kitchen area pointing toward the stove in the living room.

Experiment with a 10-12" table fan first. It's inexpensive and portable so that you can try options temporarily before deciding what works best for your house. Low speed is usually fine.