thermal fans

[relax]

This has most likely been covered,but Im back to burning wood after 16 years.Just purchased a heritage hearthstone and was wondering how the THERMAL ENGINE heat fans work...Are they worth buying..The salesman talked me out of buying a fan ( electric ) that is made for that stove...Said I should not need it...saved me some $$$ :coolsmile: ..any info from anyone using them...ZZZim

 

[begreen]

It depends on the house and floorplan. I have an Ecofan and for our house, it works out fine. We have an open floorplan and it's all I need to get even warmth circulating all the way to the kitchen pantry. During the 7 day power outage a couple years ago it really helped keep us comfortable in all rooms. The fan is very quiet, yet moves a steady 100 to 150 cfm of air. I also like it because it gives me a visual indication of the stove temp. Saves me from having to get up and check the thermometer. It's a great conversation piece. People often notice it before they notice the stove. There's also a sterling engine fan that looks pretty neat.

However, I can think of several situations where this type of fan wouldn't be a great solution for heat circulation. In those cases it might be a waste of money.

 

[burntime]

BeGreen, at what temps do they start spinning? On the top shelf of my insert it only gets 250-300. Is this enought to get it moving? Will it add much to the blower? Obviously with the blower off it would be much warmer...

 

[d.n.f.]

Temps are too low for this one (I am looking at it for a buy do to the higher temps it will go to):
http://www.thermalengines.com/
Ecofan says it will spin at 65C (150 F) but operates at 300.
(broken link removed to http://www.caframo.com/ecofanfaq.htm)

 

[BurningIsLove]

I found the blower kit (on my DW) to be largely superfluous. Due to the nature of how well (hot) air moves throughout the house, the times when I want the blower moving hot air the most is when the house (stove) is cold. But the rheostat wont engage the blower until the stove has been running for about an hour, at which point the room its in is already toasty warm and natural convection currents in the house have already begun their work. I can count on one hand the number of times I've used it.

That said, each house's dynamics are different and you may find it useful.

 

[begreen]

The fan starts blowing gently at about 200 degrees. By 350 to 400 it is spinning pretty well.

An ecofan would not be great for the insert burntime. The built-in blower is a much better alternative in this case.

 

[Heat Miser]

I owned an eco fan and now a thermal engine fan. I bought them mainly because I like gadgets. Honestly, they don't move much air in my situation. I have a Hearthstone Mansfield and that stove puts out so much heat it simply overwhelms the tiny fan blades in terms of what effect they actually have.

I think they are fun to watch and as others have said they provide a visual indicator of stove temp without having to look at a thermometer though. For me, I enjoy stirling engines so that's why I have one. Now that I went from a cast iron stove to a soapstone stove I'll need the lower temp version of the thermal engines fan. Lastly, I'd be really careful about putting one directly on a soapstone stove. The material scratches very easily and I could see how a vibrating fan moving for many hours a day could damage the surface unless it was on something.

 

[BurningIsLove]

The fan starts blowing gently at about 200 degrees. By 350 to 400 it is spinning pretty well.

An ecofan would not be great for the insert burntime. The built-in blower is a much better alternative in this case.

Right...unfortunately on the Dutchwest, the rheostat is tied to the reburner temp, not the firebox temp. So under a cold start condition, I cannot engage my reburner for at least an hour, so the rheostat doesnt warm up significantly until it's engaged. If your rheostat is tired to the firebox temp and not the reburner, then it would be a better solution I would think. I could probably rewire it differently with some effort.

 

[begreen]

Separate topic, this is about thermal fans that are self powered by the heat of the stove. I was answering burntime's questions. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[relax]

I have a 1500 sq ft ranch..wont be heating the basement...I think ill get one from the thermal corp.they e-mailed me on the one i need...also any differance burning a say a 6'' dia log or a 6'' split chunk..wich one would last longer....still learning.....what a great site..on the farm ZZZim