Blower fan modification?

[Nort'Woods]

Hello,
The fan on my Drolet Savannah went caput (well, something popped on the chip--maybe a resistor? Might look into replacing that...) and I was curious about using a blower fan with a high CFM, even up to say 300 cfm and running a small duct to the back of the stove from the room on the other side of a wall directly behind the stove. I believe some of the blowers I am looking at are for forced air furnaces. I'm just curious if this would be overkill or if anyone has done something like this. It is appealing because it would be quieter since the fan would be on the other side of a wall (still only about 12 inches from the stove) and I could up the CFM quite a bit with a fan like this. Our house is roughly 1200 sq ft. The stove has the heat shield on the back and an inlet opening--I would just need to construct a small bit of ductwork, cut a hole in the wall for that and wire a switch to the fan on the other side of the wall. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[begreen]

The stove is not a furnace. Page 2 of the manual clearly says this is prohibited.

DO NOT CONNECT TO ANY AIR DISTRIBUTION DUCT OR SYSTEM.

 

[Nort'Woods]

I understand. I wouldn't be adding any air distribution system, just a 12 inch length of duct to connect to the back of the stove so I can put a fan on the other side of a wall. And to be honest, everyone's stove IS acting as a furnace on some level. I guess I'm asking for any issues one can see with this setup not just a reinforcement of the rule book. No offense intended, I do appreciate your comment and will think about that more Also, any modification I make will be modular and easily deconstructed.
Another part of the problem is that the OEM fans are not in production, but they do plan to be back by early March...but we need something now. I am using a box fan, which is working OK but not nearly as well.

 

[Mech e]

Not sure what you mean by "chip", but fixing the existing unit may not be that big a problem. A popping sound could be something as simple as a fuse.

 

[Nort'Woods]

Not sure what you mean by "chip", but fixing the existing unit may not be that big a problem. A popping sound could be something as simple as a fuse.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, poor wording--its the small circuit board connected to the switch control for the unit. Here are a few pics. I can't see fuses anywhere...but it looks like a small piece (a resistor?) burned out and you can see the black marking there. I took a pic of that little piece too. Perhaps I should just look into rewiring a new switch onto the fan. I haven't done that before but looks easy enough--not sure if there are any electrical requirements I should be aware of for that either.

 

[Highbeam]

You can physically do this. It was one of my ideas too but I planned on using a 6” duct booster fan to blow into the back of my nc30. I ended up fitting an aftermarket stove blower fan from Amazon with high flow for like 60$.

People, including me, will not recommend that you do something to your stove contrary to the manual even if it is physically possible. All of my blower mods are for testing purposes only in a lab.

 

[Nort'Woods]

You can physically do this. It was one of my ideas too but I planned on using a 6” duct booster fan to blow into the back of my nc30. I ended up fitting an aftermarket stove blower fan from Amazon with high flow for like 60$.

People, including me, will not recommend that you do something to your stove contrary to the manual even if it is physically possible. All of my blower mods are for testing purposes only in a lab.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I have looked around on Amazon and may end up going that route too--it always seems like a bit of a crapshoot with aftermarket items through Amazon, especially when you start reading negative reviews...lol, it can get discouraging pretty quick. I do like the idea of getting a high flow and minimizing noise, but its not everything. Our furnace fan is ridiculously loud so anything quieter than that is a plus.

 

[begreen]

connecting a duct and/or hood with a blower to the stove is an air distribution system.

 

[Nort'Woods]

connecting a duct and/or hood with a blower to the stove is an air distribution system.

Got it, thanks.

 

[Nort'Woods]

You can physically do this. It was one of my ideas too but I planned on using a 6” duct booster fan to blow into the back of my nc30. I ended up fitting an aftermarket stove blower fan from Amazon with high flow for like 60$.

People, including me, will not recommend that you do something to your stove contrary to the manual even if it is physically possible. All of my blower mods are for testing purposes only in a lab.

I'm curious what CFM your high flow fan was?

 

[Highbeam]

I'm curious what CFM your high flow fan was?

I remember it being way higher than the factory optional big blower for my stove. Says 0.93 amps.

 

[begreen]

Looks to be about a 160 cfm unit.

 

[Highbeam]

I think there’s only so much heat that can realistically be stripped from a stove top with forced room air. A 300 cfm fan run at 50% speed might be much quieter than a 150 cfm fan at full blast. You can buy speed controls for these things too.