My new Hearthstone Morgan...blower?

[SaratogaJJ]

Hello all...long time form reader, first time poster. I've learned a lot just by reading the forums here, mostly while doing my research this past spring for the new wood burning insert we installed in our home.

So I bought a Hearthstone Morgan from a local, long-time dealer with a pretty good reputation. So far, it seems to be working well, and I am 95% happy with it...except for one thing.

The blower performance seems to be very anemic. Once the stove reaches a sufficient operating temperature, the thermostat trips and the blower starts up. I have the rheostat for the blower set to its highest level, in order to push hot air around the downstairs, which has a fairly open floor plan.

Problem is, if I put my hand near the gap between the stove body and the decorative surround piece, I barely feel any air flow at all. So, I take a butane lighter (the kind with the long tube that the flame comes out of at the end) and place it down near where the air intake is, down at the base of the stove assembly.

The flame from the lighter definitely pulls toward the grate, indicating to me that the blower is pulling air in.

But I don't feel any warm air blowing out, at least to any significant degree, on the sides or at the top of the stove body. I'm familiar with pellet stoves, where you really feel the air being pushed out by the blower, and this stove seems, as I said, very anemic by comparison.

So. I'm going to call the vendor/installer today, but I'm wondering if all the much more experienced folks here can give me any feedback?

Thanks to everyone, for all their help in advance.

 

[Jags]

Most stove fans are designed for moderate volume, and by no means are meant to blow the hat off of your head. Part of the reason is so that the fans don't do TOO good of a job and cool the stove too much, the other part is just getting the heat away from the stove and not creating a wind tunnel, or localized stove cooling patterns (cooling one area of the stove more than another).

Have you done and incense test (or match test), to see the flow pattern of the air? I know the fan on my stove doesn't seem to move much air by holding my hand out, but if you look at the total volume of the flow, its pretty darn good.

And the other fact is: some fans ARE anemic. Its just one of those things. :smirk:

 

[ClydesdaleBurner]

I have the Clydesdale, Morgan's big brother, and you should definitely feel some air flow on high. I leave mine on medium and I can still feel a pretty good flow of air. Call your dealer and have them come take a look.

 

[bokehman]

The idea of the blower is to reclaim the heat from around the back of the insert, rather than distribute air around the house. If the airflow were greater it would end up quenching the firebox and lowering efficiency. I've got an Hergóm C4. If I turn on the fan and the stove is cold the airflow is only mildly detectable, but I know it shifting some volume of air because if the unit is hot I can feel the hot air quite a distance away.