PE Summit Insert Fan Operation

[Nelson]

I was reading the Summit manual today and came across the section about the blower. Their recommendation is as follows.

When the air control is at L or lower (all the way to the right), you should run the fan on low.
When the air control is at L or higher, you can run the fan on whatever setting you want.

So, this got me thinking, What is the science, if any, around running the fan on low when you are burning at L or lower? Does it have to do with longer burn times? More even heating throughout the burn?

I ask because I have been running the fan at about medium-high with air at L or lower. I've been getting great burn times so far (albeit, only being burning in the stove for about 2 weeks) but I'm wondering what benefit I might get with running the fan at a lower speed.

 

[2PistolPacker]

I read that too and my only thoughts on this would be, running the fan on high with the air on low might cool the stove into a low temp range. Sounds like nonsense to me, I run my fans at 100% all the time. The only advantage to running the fans at a lower speed is you don't hear them as much. ha

 

[Hogwildz]

Run the fan where it suites you best. A manual can in no way predict the best operation for each separate set up.
I run mine on high 24/7, only cutting to low at time of reload, then back up to temp, back up to high.
Loading every 12 hrs with plenty of coals for reload.
Experiment and find what works best for you.

I tried to experiment with low and medium, and it just don't push out the heat here on those, like it does on high.
It may cool down some, but I would rather have heat being distributed better, than a stove a few degrees hotter, and that heated air being more concentrated to a smaller area.
For me fan on high = higher overall house temp, fan on low= lower overall house temp. Not a crapload of degrees difference mind ya, but sometimes a couple degrees feels a world different at times, others not so much.

 

[Nelson]

Run the fan where it suites you best. A manual can in no way predict the best operation for each separate set up.
I run mine on high 24/7, only cutting to low at time of reload, then back up to temp, back up to high.
Loading every 12 hrs with plenty of coals for reload.
Experiment and find what works best for you.

I tried to experiment with low and medium, and it just don't push out the heat here on those, like it does on high.
It may cool down some, but I would rather have heat being distributed better, than a stove a few degrees hotter, and that heated air being more concentrated to a smaller area.
For me fan on high = higher overall house temp, fan on low= lower overall house temp. Not a crapload of degrees difference mind ya, but sometimes a couple degrees feels a world different at times, others not so much.

Good advice. I played a little bit with running it at low speed but I had the same outcome of not heating up the house as much as I would like.

Now, I just have to get my burn practices down. Only burning nights and weekends and I'm struggling with the weeknights. I want to load her up right away but that doesn't leave me any room to refill before bed as I'm averaging a good 8-9 hours of good burn time. I took others comments around how long it takes to adjust to a new stove for granted.

 

[Hogwildz]

I loaded every 8 hours when I first installed the Summit, now I load every 12 hours for several years now.
Its nice to know I have plenty of coals to reload on even after a long day on the road.
You'll hone your skills several times over the next several years.

 

[Nelson]

I definitely think I can get to every 12 hours I'm easily getting usable coals still in the box after 12 hours. I think it's actually harder to do nights and weekends than it would be to do 24x7! I think if I could get to a 6am-ish/6pm-ish type load schedule, that would be perfect. I just haven't gotten to a point where I feel comfortable with getting loaded up in 30 minutes and feeling good about where the fire is. All in good time!