Blower noise

[Geoff]

The only stoves or inserts with blowers that I've had experience with have been VC stuff (a wood insert, a gas insert, a gas stove). I've found them all to be a bit loud, to the extent that you couldn't have a normal conversation while sitting around the wood insert.

Any comments on the audible offenses of blowers for other stove brands?

 

[wg_bent]

In general my Osburn isn't too bad. If it's a quite movie passage, the TV might have to be turned up a little, or if I'm loading and right on top of it I might not hear someone in the other room talk, but once I'm away from it maybe 3 or 4 ft, it's not a problem.

 

[Rhone]

I like the person who said they're like an AC on medium. That's about what mine is, but also on max. Turning the speed down 25% cuts the noise down in nearly half. When company comes, or we watch a movie, that's what I do. At night, I turn it at max and my wife and I just love it, we sleep so good hearing it run (I have a ranch and a Hearthstone Clydesdale).

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

the best bet is to run your blowers on the lowest setting, then use a celing fan to circulate the heat. the blower is there to exchange heat from the back of the unit. Not to circulate the room. On low they should hardly be heard.
All blowers are noisy on high in my opinion.

 

[Corey]

MountainStoveGuy

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on the blowers. To my thinking, maximum efficiency would come from running the blowers on high. This gets as much heat out of the stove as possible. Same theory as a car radiator...it will radiate some heat, but if you really want to get the heat out, blow air across it. If you're not blowing cool air across the stove, then it is staying hotter and more heat is going up the stack. This can be a good thing if the stove is drawing poorly, but not when trying to squeeze maximum heat out.

To the OP - If you are shopping for stoves, I would look for the biggest blower spinning slowly which will probably be quieter than a small blower spinning fast. Also beware of stoves with dual fans...sometimes dual fans in close quarters can cause a "droning" effect as the various frequencies come in and out of phase. If you are replacing a blower, same theory applies, but search around as some mfr's list the dB output of the fan. For my stove I went with a 12" fan spinning at about 1200 RPM. It's good for about 300CFM and you don't really hear the fan, just a gentle "wooshhhh" of air.

Corey

 

[Curtis Koble]

I have a Regency i2400 and the blower on high does not sound bad at all. I do work in a large printing house so I'm half deaf anyway. With the blower on high it heats my whole house. Back room only a couple deg cooler. On low the back room is 8 to 10 deg cooler. On low I can't hear it at all.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

There are many opinins out there on the effectiveness of blowers, if you have a old inefficient fireplace there wonderfull, if you have a ultra high efficient insert, they can actually cool the box down and not make as efficient combustion. So i would agree with your dissagreement, but there is a time and a place for blowers, they dont work as well in some situations, and beautifully in others. The same goes for high effiencey gas appliances. But you know what opinions are like......

I sense a possible hijack.. we should start a new theread if we want to continue this topic this direction. :zip:

 

[wg_bent]

I like the person who said they're like an AC on medium. That's about what mine is, but also on max. Turning the speed down 25% cuts the noise down in nearly half. When company comes, or we watch a movie, that's what I do. At night, I turn it at max and my wife and I just love it, we sleep so good hearing it run (I have a ranch and a Hearthstone Clydesdale).

That person was a genious... What a great way to describe it...uhh well, that was me!

 

[Sandor]

I had two different Regency freestandings, both had blowers. It was not that the blower itself was noisy, but both of them would develop a sheet metal buzz or rattle. I would be craming small pieces of metal around the unit to stop the buzz. Very aggravating to say the least.

 

[Chuck Pearson]

BIS Ulitima blower was fairly noisy. I installed an aftermarket rheostat and isolated the blowers with vibration absorbing foam and it made a big difference. I considered installed plastic electronic cooling fans and still might. The people designing the inserts don't seem to care much about NVH.

 

[ERPARKER]

The Lopi Declaration that we use is a flush insert so the blower must be on to get any heat from it. If the thermostat one room away is telling the truth, we get the most heat (with the most noise) when the blower is on high. If I'm in the living room with the stove, I turn the blower down to reduce the noise but turn it back to "high" anytime I leave. The stove may be burning less efficiently when the blower is on high, but I don't see any difference. I think the efficiency difference is negligible.

Regarding power failures, I'm planning on sizing out an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for my blower. We're relatively urban so even we do lose power, it usually isn't for more than a few hours at most. Even when Isabelle came through Northern Virginia in 2003 we were only without power for two or three hours.