blower for the Homestead or Phoenix

[Southern Bess]

I'm a newbie at wood burning (besides a fireplace or in the yard) and doing lots of searching for a fireplace insert or wood stove to sit in the fireplace openning to warm the house (bout 1700 sq ft). Hubby gave me a few "requirement rules" while shopping and researching...

I love the stone stoves....the warmth it radiates, the large firebox, large glass door, material used for construction, etc.....


my question to the homestead/heritge/pheonix owners..is there a blower for the stove? The owners manual says a blower available only for rear shield installation. Since I want to back this stove up against my fireplace openning (I'll be able to leave 10-12" in the rear of wood stove since these stoves are really for the hearth, not fireplace openning)
can a fan not be used for this situation? Is it possible to install another type of blower on the wood stove?

Reading everyones comments has been extremely helpful in determining stoves to research further and which to cross off the list, THANKS to everyone that contributes

 

[Fsappo]

There are blowers for the Hearthstone stoves. They do requires the use of a rear heat shield. Even though you dont need the heat shields for clearances, they help guide the hot air up the back of the stove over the top. The blowers on the hearthstones do help, but not as much as they would on a true convection heater.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Yes a blower is available for the Homestead. Yes a heat shield is required. The blower sits just behind and under the stove, blowing up between the heat shield and stove back. If your stove is at least 10-12" from the back of the fireplace, you should be fine.

The heat shield on ours adds about 2" to the back of the stove, and we are about 10" from the heat shield to the back wall.

The manual says you should not use it in a hearth mount or with the surround... I can see the surround, because it (the surround) would block it. The hearth seems to me a bit relative, if you had a really tight fit I think you would have trouble reaching back to adjust blower speeds, but beyond that, I don't think mine has even been very warm when I have reached back there, but I do use caution not to lean my head against the side of the stove or anything dumb like that.. lol I am sure putting my forehead against that 400 degree rock is going to cause.. consternation.

 

[Southern Bess]

So I need to use the heat shield for the blower to install as a hearth mount in front of fireplace... corret?
the blower will assist blowing heat from the stove into the rooms/house...

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Yes, if using the stoves blower, a heat shield is needed, as it guides the air over the back of the stove and across the top, and into the room. A heat shield is often used for clearance reduction without a blower, also.

BUT... many a burner has been more than happy with no blower or heat shield, and just a box fan across the room (or house) to move air. A heat shield and blower can be added at anytime, and they are not cheap. I would try a box fan or something first before spending $250+ on the blower/heat shield combo. now.

On a side note, if you tell us more about your home/floor plan and what you want the stove to do, heat the room? assist with heating the house? heat the house? Someone may be able to help you choose a stove that will meet your needs. Our Homestead mostly heats our house. Down below 10 degrees or so it just can't quite keep up, but luckily, we don't see it that cold often. Between 10 and 20 or so it does fine, but needs to be reloaded twice a night if it's windy out, above that, it does fine, cruising about 300 stove top. It is "rated" for 1800sqft, we are heating 2100, over a full unfinished basement, so it's not the stoves fault. I think we may trade for a Mansfield in a couple years. We bought the Homestead because we *thought* we were going to have to go rear exit, and it is switchable. We over built our hearth in case of a switch in the future..

 

[Milton Findley]

I think Dakotas Dad has the right idea. Our Heritage is in a room with a ceiling fan, and we have a small fan in the living room blowing cooler house air into the room with the Hearthstone. This circulates the air throughout our 4 level home. I would not buy a blower initially, but every situation is different. You will also want to block that fireplace opening to avoid heating it with other than the heat from the flue. It makes the stove much more useful.

 

[Highbeam]

The Heritage would be the best of your options. I may be biased but here's why... The Phoenix is a nice looking stove but it uses a loose fabric pile of insulation above the baffle making cleaning difficult. The flue collar on teh phoenix is reversable but it is one of those hokey 45 degree deals and ends up being very tall. The side door is what makes these Hearthstones great, I don't think the phoenix has this key feature. I haven't opened my stove's front door yet this season since we started full time in mid October.

The heat shield is how you mount the blower. First you install the heat shield and to it you attach the blower. That's why you need both.

 

[Southern Bess]

Dakotas Dad I recall one of your thread notes says you were considering installing a fan/blower on your stove, whether to wait until stove installed before adding a blower....but I have not found a follow up note to your quest. Another metioned they use a vornado fan...where do they intall it? behind and under the stove to push warm air out?

Yes, I am trying to heat the main floor of the house, same situation as others, drafts, older windows n doors, insulation in the attic needs attention
main Floor plan.. main floor 33x25 (sq box), fireplace/stove rm is an addition room (rectangular) 29 x11 rm with cathedral ceiling ski-lights (yep, holes in the ceiling) and ceiling fan, 2 - 36" doorways from sq box rm into rectangular rm).

Trying to ensure we can move the heat from the rectangular room to the other open rooms of the main floor.
A good idea to install the surround to allow more heat dispursment

I know what you are thinking Highbeam, I looked long and hard at the Heritage but fraid I might not have enough hearth (non-combustable) area,

the gaval has not come down on decision yet.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Just to clarify, the heatshield is nothing more than a piece of sheetmetal which attaches to the rear of the stove. It runs top to bottom and has an inch or two clearance between it and the back of the stove. The blower is placed at the bottom of the heat shield and blows air from beneath the stove up between the heatshield and the back of the stove. It is open at the top rear of the stove, with the heatshield angled toward the front of the stove. The heated air moves up the back of the stove and out the top, toward the front. There is no penetration of the stove, so all you are doing is moving heat which would otherwise be radiated toward the back and redirecting it to the top front. The sides of the heatshield are angled in touching the back of the stove, so the airpath is "in at the bottom" and "out the top".

Because the moving air cools the back of the stove (more than still air would), the temperature measured on top of the stove drops when the blower comes on. That's why the blower doesn't come on as soon as you turn on the switch, unless the stove is already hot. You don't want to cool the stove until it has reached its normal operating temperature.

If you don't enclose your fireplace opening and/or install the rear heat shield on the stove (with or without the blower), a lot of your heat will be radiated back into the fireplace opening and up the chimney. Hope this helps you understand your options...

 

[Southern Bess]

Yes Dan, your explanation is clear, a very good explanation! The warm air is redirected back up and over the top.....
It doesn't make sense the manufactures built a beautiful stove and for the price, there should be a better venting system, perhaps continue to blow heat from the rear to front via the bottom...as insert firebox will do....

your explaination to install the surround or a rear heat shield to prevent loss of heat in the chimney is good thought
I did want to get away from a fireplace insert, I don't feel an insert is as efficient (only one face is radiating heat compared to 4 sides available to heat an area.)


Thanks for your assist

 

[begreen]

Insert fireboxes usually blow from the top, for the same reason a wood stove does, convection. Hot air rises. The fan assists natural convection. If the power goes out, you want a system that still convects naturally and is not at risk of cooking the fan.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Dakotas Dad I recall one of your thread notes says you were considering installing a fan/blower on your stove, whether to wait until stove installed before adding a blower....but I have not found a follow up note to your quest. Another metioned they use a vornado fan...where do they intall it? behind and under the stove to push warm air out?

I think maybe it was a thread where someone else was waiting, we installed from the get-go with the heat shield (needed for clearance issues) and the blower was "no brainer" to us at the time.. knowing what I know now.. in our install, we could do without. No harm done. That's why, if asked, I advise now to wait and see...

Our stove is in a 16 x 25 room, but with two doors that are 72" wide, so we get good air flow. We have a small stand fan on the far side of the dining room that blows air into the living/stove room, works great. Last night was 16°F with a wind chill below zero, was 68 downstairs this morning, 63 to 65 upstairs depending on which room you were in. Central and open staircase moves air upstairs pretty well. EDIT: I did reload the stove at 2:30

The vornado would be used like we use ours, outside the stove room, blowing cool air in I think, deffinately not on top the stove, as it's plastic...