THERMOELECTRIC FAN

[neverrude]

Does anyone have any experience with one of these or what are your thoughts on it?

No electricity needed,runs on heat
Up to 450 cfm,Industrial quality

http://www.aspensystems.com/self-powered-fans.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s9I03aB3uw

 

[Corey]

The idea has certainly been discussed around here. Check out 'heat wave fan', 'eco fan', 'freebreeze' etc.

http://www.northlineexpress.com/detail~PRODUCT_ID~5HW-HEATWAVE.asp
http://www.magma.ca/~barkhm5/ecofan.htm
http://www.moderntradingpost.com/freebreeze/index.html

The idea is relatively sound. Putting it into practice can bring up some issues. First the thermoelectric part usually doesn't generate a terribly large amount of power...unless you have lots of TEG cells. I'd be a little skeptical of the 'up to 450 CFM' claim. As that is going to take quite a bit of power. Second most of these devices have a range of temperature they like to work in...too cold and you don't get much output at all, too hot and you damage the device - so it may require a little care when firing the stove.

Overall, reviews seem to generally be positive. Though you are definitely seem to be more along the lines of a 'gentle breeze' wafting a bit of heat around the room as opposed to a full-on electric fan blasting heat 30' across the room.

 

[neverrude]

I have the 3 bladed eco fan on my Jotul but what’s different about this one is it doesn’t move the air across the top of the stove but pulls it from the ceiling down to the stove.

 

[EddyKilowatt]

450 cfm is a LOT of air, but that is a pretty big fan... not the EcoFan that most people here think of when they hear "thermoelectric fan". 450 cfm sounds about right for warming up a mess tent but might be a bit more than you'd want blowing around your living room... OTOH the fan probably doesn't run at that level much of the time. I've looked at 450 cfm fans for moving air around my house and they typically draw a couple hundred watts.

Could be interesting to give it a try though... does it have a Mil-Spec price?

Eddy

 

[neverrude]

$204. with shipping EK

 

[begreen]

This fan came up a month or so ago. It is really big - 14" in diameter. It wouldn't surprise me if at high temps it was pretty noisy too. I might consider one in a workshop or other large building, but not in a home.

 

[neverrude]

This fan came up a month or so ago. It is really big - 14" in diameter. It wouldn't surprise me if at high temps it was pretty noisy too. I might consider one in a workshop or other large building, but not in a home.

I’ll let you know how it works, just ordered one.

 

[karri0n]

Definitely update us when you get it.

 

[neverrude]

Definitely update us when you get it.

After running it for a few days I’m very happy with its performance.
It dropped the ceiling temp above the stove almost 10degrees and increased the air movement in the basement and up the stairway to family room much better than Ecofan I was using. I just sold my Ecofan on ebay.
I had few of my neighbors over who wanted to see how it would work and they agreed their was no comparison.
The noise was not bad at all

 

[begreen]

Cool! or maybe Hot! I can see how this would work better than an ecofan in a basement situation. Nothing like brute force to get the air moving. It's good to hear that it is fairly quiet.