Great info. Thanks for sharing.I have the Ashford 30 (same guts as the sirocco).
Purchased without the fan kit.
It ran pretty good without, but on cold days I ran a box fan to even things out. Stove works without it, but the stove corner would get hot, and the walls would be wastefully hot.
The box fan was annoying (noisy and unsightly in the living room), and a little dangerous since it was always near the stove.
I DIY installed the fan kit for my second year, it was easy.
It's nice and quite on low, and tidies up my living room nicely.
Also, since it forces cold room air thru the rear heat shield gap, the back of the stove really cools off, things means you waste less heat radiating your wall behind the stove if it's an outside wall.
Most of the time the fan is off, but as it gets colder, I run the stove on low, then turn the fan on, then if it's not enough I bump the stove thermostat setting up a bit, if I still want more heat and the stove is pretty high, I speed the fan up a bit.
The air coming out of the outlets is literally hundreds of degrees so a little fan can really pull a lot of heat off the stove.
So if you're on the fence, I would hold off, and then install it if in the future.
New house & Sirocco 30
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I am using the Ashford for the last 3 winters. My summer outside temperatures are close to your winter temperatures. If you want to heat your whole house with this wood stove, I recommend running your furnace fan and the wood stove fan all the time. You will have a much better heat distribution inside the house. I recommend the fan kit designed for your wood stove because it blows air right above where the CAT dissipate most of the heat it produces. The first 2 years I had this woodstove I was using it most of the time without the fan but this year I am using it almost all the time with the fan even when it is slightly above freezing. Again I don’t know how relevant my comment applies to your situation because I have the same square footage that you but on 3 level. Finally if you decide not to install the fan kit you will still enjoy your woodstove but your setup will not be optimal. Also probably that a fan blowing at the wood stove would be a good compromise but it may not be as pretty.
wooduser
Minister of Fire
Usually there is nothing as effective in providing high quality heat to a home than a central heating system. Runing the fan on a forced air furnace helps replicate those advantages at low cost, except that you will probably use quite a lot more wood to provide that high quality heat to the whole house, rather than the spot heating a wood stove usually provides.
SuperJ
Feeling the Heat
In my house (1 story bungalow), I've noticed the furnace fan actually defeats the pretty powerful natural convection effect from the stove.
In my bungalow, without the furnace fan running, there is a lot of cold air coming back along the floor, and hot air going towards the bedrooms higher up. If I dangle a 3 foot piece of toilet paper in a door opening it's pretty obvious.
When I run the furnace fan, it basically forces cooler air (I think my return mostly is drawn from the basement and stove is on main floor) into the rooms. My basement runs warmer but bedrooms colder. So I keep the fan off (unless I need to get some heat into the basement).
In my bungalow, without the furnace fan running, there is a lot of cold air coming back along the floor, and hot air going towards the bedrooms higher up. If I dangle a 3 foot piece of toilet paper in a door opening it's pretty obvious.
When I run the furnace fan, it basically forces cooler air (I think my return mostly is drawn from the basement and stove is on main floor) into the rooms. My basement runs warmer but bedrooms colder. So I keep the fan off (unless I need to get some heat into the basement).
Yes, one solution doesn't fit all houses. Often central heating systems have exposed and uninsulated ductwork. That's sort of ok if moving 150º air of the furnace. The ducts will lose some heat to the basement, maybe 20º, but the air coming out of the registers should still be warm. However, when running just to recirc say 75º air from the stove room, it can mean cool air coming out the registers due to heat loss in the ducts.
Wow, there is a lot to this. There's a lot I haven't thought of.
Our ducts are hard pipe and insulated in the sealed crawlspace. Crawlspace will eventually be encapsulated and insulated and our ductwork has two dampers that I can open up to condition the crawlspace if I choose to do so.
Our ducts are hard pipe and insulated in the sealed crawlspace. Crawlspace will eventually be encapsulated and insulated and our ductwork has two dampers that I can open up to condition the crawlspace if I choose to do so.
This seems to be a good way to go. We have high humidity here in AL and this seemed to be a good way to try to control it.
For insulation in the crawlspace, I planned to line the walls with 1" green foam board(R5) from Lowes. This will stop about 3" from floor joists to allow pest control to do their inspecting. I'm debating whether to put the foam board under or over the 10 mil poly. I'm all ears to advice on this..... yep, I'm derailing my own thread.
Sirocco 30, fan kit, black door, pedestal and other items were delivered yesterday. I unboxed things and began figuring things out. This evening we had our first fire.... on the driveaway. 
I borrowed a pallet jack from work and I wheeled it out in front of the house. Wife and I sat out near it until after dark watching the fire. Kind of unusual considering it was mid 80's today.
I bought a Blazeking stove sight unseen. This was based 100% on what I read online. Yep, I've never even seen one in person. Very unlike me (who is very particular about things). I've been a machinist for 25 years and can weld. I'm impressed with the construction of the stove and am very happy with what I've seen so far. Very nice welds and finish.
One question so far; I purchased a DVL adapter and I can't see how I can attach any screws from the DVL to the stove collar. It does fit down in the stove collar nice and tight. The telescoping DVL will attach to it and I think I the rest figured out.
Picture of first fire. Got her up to the mid range of active but never left the bypass closed for very long. We mainly just wanted to burn off the paint smells. Small fire for about 2.5 hours. The top plate got up to over 300 degrees and I saw 350 at the collar.
I borrowed a pallet jack from work and I wheeled it out in front of the house. Wife and I sat out near it until after dark watching the fire. Kind of unusual considering it was mid 80's today. I bought a Blazeking stove sight unseen. This was based 100% on what I read online. Yep, I've never even seen one in person. Very unlike me (who is very particular about things). I've been a machinist for 25 years and can weld. I'm impressed with the construction of the stove and am very happy with what I've seen so far. Very nice welds and finish.
One question so far; I purchased a DVL adapter and I can't see how I can attach any screws from the DVL to the stove collar. It does fit down in the stove collar nice and tight. The telescoping DVL will attach to it and I think I the rest figured out.
Picture of first fire. Got her up to the mid range of active but never left the bypass closed for very long. We mainly just wanted to burn off the paint smells. Small fire for about 2.5 hours. The top plate got up to over 300 degrees and I saw 350 at the collar.
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AlbergSteve
Minister of Fire
Try attaching/installing the tele pipe without the adapter. If it's a tight fit, skip it. One less joint to cause problems.Sirocco 30, fan kit, black door, pedestal and other items were delivered yesterday. I unboxed things and began figuring things out. This evening we had our first fire.... on the driveaway.
I bought a Blazeking stove sight unseen. This was based 100% on what I read online. Yep, I've never even seen one in person. Very unlike me (who is very particular about things). I've been a machinist for 25 years and can weld. I'm impressed with the construction of the stove and am very happy with what I've seen so far. Very nice welds and finish.
One question so far; I purchased a DVL adapter and I can't see how I can attach any screws from the DVL to the stove collar. It does fit down in the stove collar nice and tight. The telescoping DVL will attach to it and I think I the rest figured out.
Picture of first fire. Got her up to the mid range of active but never left the bypass closed for very long. We mainly just wanted to burn off the paint smells. Small fire for about 2.5 hours. The top plate got up to over 300 degrees and I saw 350 at the collar.
Just paid $380 for my 30 fan kit with my Sirocco 30 last week. But I got a last years price. This years CDN price, is $440 ish So ya, a little over 300USD. AND, I live just about 3 hrs away from the BC Blaze King Factory. Shipping is a bit for you eastern folk.
BUT, I immediately notice a huge difference in heat output with the fans on low. I also run box fan in the house as the stove is at one end and have to get the heat down the hallway to the kitchen and second living room 65' away. Sometimes a chore at -20C This BK is soooooo much more controllable and efficient than out previous Regency. 3 small splits, fans on low, dial at 3:00 and getting 10hrs+ burn time
House is so much more even temp now too. Becasue the stove stays constant. Not the Hot/cold, relight, hot cold relight process of the crappy Regency we hadThe telescoping pipe I have is too big to go into the stove collar. The adapter fits into the stove collar very nicely though. I specifically asked the store about the adapter and they said I had to have it. Both parts are DuraVent.
Glad to hear that.Just paid $380 for my 30 fan kit with my Sirocco 30 last week. But I got a last years price. This years CDN price, is $440 ish So ya, a little over 300USD. AND, I live just about 3 hrs away from the BC Blaze King Factory. Shipping is a bit for you eastern folk.
BUT, I immediately notice a huge difference in heat output with the fans on low. I also run box fan in the house as the stove is at one end and have to get the heat down the hallway to the kitchen and second living room 65' away. Sometimes a chore at -20C This BK is soooooo much more controllable and efficient than out previous Regency. 3 small splits, fans on low, dial at 3:00 and getting 10hrs+ burn time
I added 4' to my chimney this evening in preparation for finishing the Sirocco 30 install. Total chimney above the stove is 18.5 feet(all double wall). I added two home made braces to help keep things stable. I got a little carried away and painted the flashing satin black when I painted the vent pipes and painted the flashing(I like the vent pipes but wish I didn't paint the flashing)
Stove has had 2nd fire last weekend and got the stove up to 500 to help cure the paint before moving it in the house. We hope to be bringing it in the setting it up withing the next few weeks.
Edit: I mainly added the 4' to satisfy the 3-2-10 rule. You cannot tell from the pictures but even at this height, I'm borderline compliant with the rule.
Stove has had 2nd fire last weekend and got the stove up to 500 to help cure the paint before moving it in the house. We hope to be bringing it in the setting it up withing the next few weeks.
Edit: I mainly added the 4' to satisfy the 3-2-10 rule. You cannot tell from the pictures but even at this height, I'm borderline compliant with the rule.
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FPX Dude
Feeling the Heat
It can. I have seen others here post that it made a huge difference. Others said it made a small difference
I haven't moved the stove in yet so I couldn't tell you. I added the 4' to satisfy the 3-2-10 rule but I believe the added section puts us in the range of what some consider an ideal chimney height. Hopefully we will be good.
It can help some especially when there isn't a big differential between indoor and outdoor temp and it might be more difficult to get a draft going.
Flat grey on the flashing instead of shiny black might stand out less with grey shingles.
It'll likely fade in time as well as not be seen from inside.
I agree. I thought the satin black would look better than flat, but now it does tend to stand out. It's not that noticeable from the ground unless you look up. Funny thing is that I haven't noticed it at all until I think to look up at it. Now that I see it, it's hard to "unsee" it, LOL. I like your idea of using a color that might blend in more.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
And you think that this barely meets the 2-10 rule? It looks really tall. Two feet above anything within ten feet. They do make short sections of class a if you only needed a foot.I agree. I thought the satin black would look better than flat, but now it does tend to stand out. It's not that noticeable from the ground unless you look up. Funny thing is that I haven't noticed it at all until I think to look up at it. Now that I see it, it's hard to "unsee" it, LOL. I like your idea of using a color that might blend in more.
It's the camera angle. Viewed from the side it looks more proper, though technically the brace should be at 5' above the roof.
It is the camera angle. On the left side in the picture from the side, you can see roof begins to angle up and the chimney is in fact 9 to 10 feet from the chimney pipe(two feed down). I wish I could get by with 1' less because the way it is, I think I will have to unbolt the brace and remove the top section to sweep the chimney. I'm only 5'7" and I can reach chimney cap to remove it but I don't know about working a rod.
Hmm, 5 feet above the roof; I suspect I'm 2' short of that. I was hoping to not be able to see the bracing from the front of the house. The chimney is pretty darn stout without the brace. I have a brace in the attic right below where it travels through the roof.
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