Ceiling fan or stove fan?

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GrumpyDad

Minister of Fire
Feb 23, 2022
1,232
Champion, PA
I'm planning to add a ceiling fan to the stove room. The ceiling fan would be 12' from the stove which sits along an outside wall. The room has a cathedral ceiling and is joined to an older building with a 4'w x 8'h opening that I have a fan blowing into from the old space.

The ceiling fan would be on a pole hanging about 40" from the ceiling center to avoid beams going across. Im wondering if I should set the fan to blow down or up during the winter with the fan being 40" from the peak of the room.

Im also wondering if there is any value in adding a stove fan at that point?
 
Yes, there is benefits to adding a stove fan.

As to ceiling fan direction, from a heat movement point of view, I don't think it makes a difference. From a comfort perspective I like to pull the cold air up to the ceiling in the winter.
 
Does your stove have a blower on it already? I don't know if a stove fan would add much (but it might) if you do. My living room and dining room are one large space, and the dining room has a ceiling fan. I've found that regardless of direction I have the fan in, it simply does not distribute heat the way I anticipated and I find simply leaving it off and having the blower on heats the house much better. With cathedral ceilings things may be different, but my wife and I ran daily home tests (we have thermometers in each room) with the fan on and off, and we decided after a week or two of testing at various speeds and directions that having the ceiling fan off actually heated and distributed heat the best. The kitchen was 3 degrees warmer on average in the next room, and my daughters room which is the hardest room in the house to heat was about 2 degrees warmer.

YMMV of course!
 
I found using my ceiling fan blowing towards the ceiling moves air better in my living room. My cathedral ceiling isnt real steep but my theory is it pushes the warm air down the pitch and along the walls towards the floor. I know it works better than the opposite. If you read what the industry says it would tell you to have the fan blowing at the floor. The ceiling fan does make difference in addition to a wood stove fan. I can warm my living room way faster by using the ceiling fan plus the wood stove fan than just the wood stove fan alone. Especially if I speed up the ceiling fan.
 
I've had a ceiling fan for decades in the stove room, if the stove is lit the fan is on. Try it both directions and see what works for you.