Fireplace Inserts: Need Fan?

[thinkxingu]

Hello,
We'll be putting in a fireplace insert at some point (looking for one that looks like a fireplace) but I was wondering if the blower needs to be used. I like the silence of our stove in the downstairs reading room and I would like to keep the insert silent if possible. The downstairs stove would heat (obviously) the downstairs while the upstairs insert would heat the upstairs, which is fairly open.

Thanks!

SML

 

[Cearbhaill]

As all but one side of the insert is inside the fireplace, yes you do need the blower to get the heat out into the room.
As opposed to a freestanding stove which radiates heat from four sides, a top, and a bottom.

 

[LLigetfa]

My fireplace has a central heating centrifugal blower. While far from silent, I did take steps to reduce the noise. I mounted it in a plywood box on the concrete floor one level down from the fireplace. It sucks cold air from low on the floor across a prefilter and then blows it through a labyrinth of chambers (like a muffler) across a micron furnace filter and up through the floor to the base of the fireplace. It is wired to a speed control and even on high is not as loud as the furnace blower.

 

[wallis54806]

Buy the fan.
Even on a low setting the fan will help a lot, and I think you will be surprised how quiet it is.

 

[jbroich]

I have a Lopi Declaration. An insert will absolutely positively NOT work without a blower.

 

[LLigetfa]

My RSF Onyx will work without a fan but with the fan it heats the whole house. Sometimes we turn the fan down. Sometimes we turn it off.

 

[bfunk13]

The fan really takes the chill off fast.
Once the house is toasty, i usually turn mine down or off.
I am really glad mine came with a fan.

Brad

 

[Bubbavh]

I have a Lopi Declaration. An insert will absolutely positively NOT work without a blower.

Ditto!

Too much heat gets trapped without the fan on. I had a problem with my thermal disc not turning the blower on and it made my wood mantle (which does meet Manufacturer specs.) really hot! Hot enough that I pointed a fan at the stove to release some of the trapped heat.

Just keep it on real low.

 

[LLigetfa]

I had a problem with my thermal disc not turning the blower on...

I didn't like how long I had to wait for mine to turn on so I bypassed it. I'd rather the fan keep running after the fire dies out than take so long on startup. It is a low temp cutoff so not a safety hazard to bypass it.

 

[Bubbavh]

I had a problem with my thermal disc not turning the blower on...

I didn't like how long I had to wait for mine to turn on so I bypassed it. I'd rather the fan keep running after the fire dies out than take so long on startup. It is a low temp cutoff so not a safety hazard to bypass it.

I bypassed mine too until I got it fixed. My switch did the same thing before it went bad (450-500* for a few hours before it turned on). With the problem fixed it comes on at about 200* and stays on until it is almost totally burned out to no coals. You might be having the same "bad Disc" problem I had.

 

[Nice-N-Warm]

I have a Lopi Declaration insert and thought I'd throw my two cents in...

Our insert is in our family room/kitchen area where we hang out most, read, watch tv, etc... You can turn the blowers (there are 2 of them) down fairly low and it's not very noticeable at all... when heading out, or going to bed, I just crank up the fan to push as much warm air as possible... so far, so good and no complaints from anyone.

During power outages, I continue to burn, but with a definite loss in effective heating ability (some heat is better than none!). As mentioned by others, inserts are designed to operate with the blower(s) running.

If you have the space available and want a truly "silent" setup... a freestanding stove would probably be your best option.

Good luck and enjoy the warmth!

 

[dtrykow]

Morning Everyone:
I've been searching the web for information about my Lopi Declaration Insert when I came across this site. Great stove but my fan on/off has been eratic. Now I think it quit working altogether. A friend of mine has the same stove with the same problem. A couple of you guys have by-passed the "thermo disk". How did you do that? I would much rather have full control of my fan anyway. My Earth Stove, in the basement, has a manual fan and I love it. Thank you for the help. Dave T.

 

[andybaker]

I have a Kozy Heat Z42, although it is a zero clearance type insert and not the type of insert your talking about I find it interesting that everyone needs a blower. I have a blower but rarely ever use it. If the temps are above 15, maybe 20 if it's real windy, the blower would blast me out of that part of the house. I just burn a medium fire and the temps inside are well over 70 and the rest of the house is cooler but tolerable. I have channeled some warm air upstairs. If it gets colder out I'll put an extra log on and give it more air. Sometimes at night when I load it up and everyone is in bed I'll put the blower on to throw more heat. Last week I did this, kinda funny, I leave for work at 3:30 in the morning and I loaded it up as usual with as much as I can get in there. I think there were 6-7 logs cut shorter so they went in front to back. I turned the blower on, I thought it was colder out than it was, when my wife came down in the morning to get my son off to school it was over 80 in the back of the house.

I've often wondered about heat build up without a blower. Just how hot is it in there? The temp gauge on the door at it's hottest has never read much over 400 and usually is in the 250-350 range. The mantle does get hot but not to the point of ignition. I'm going to look in to it a bit more. By the way, my blower is wired in so I can run it manually. I thinking about putting a speed control on it too.