Thoughts on blowers?

[Campcook]

Anyone have an opinion on stoves with electric blowers? To me it seems silly to be reliant on electricity to distribute heat, especially of you live in an area where you loose power frequently.

 

[jetsam]

Why turn your nose up at a tool that's useful a lot of the time? You (presumably) don't light your house with torches to avoid being reliant on electric light because sometimes there are power outages.

You don't have to have a blower to heat with a stove, but in many cases it's a valuable tool most of the time.

 

[madison]

My opinion based experience as well as knowledge of basic heat exchange principles - if you want to have the flexibility to control and maximize heat output in a decent sized multi roomed home - get a blower.

If you live in an off the grid single roomed cabin/yurt etc - maybe not

 

[saewoody]

My insert is much more useful with the blower than without. I like the idea, though, that I can still heat my house even if the electricity does go out. I have pretty much guaranteed that the power won’t go out again since I bought a generator about six years ago after two major power outages. Haven’t lost power since! And those outages did influence the decision to buy the wood stove.


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[firefighterjake]

I may be going out on a limb here . . . but wood inserts with blowers seem to work much better than wood inserts without blowers.

Wood stoves (not inserts) are more of a mixed bag . . . some folks use them and like them, others find they work OK and others don't use them at all. In my case I considered the optional blower as a way of moving the hot air, but the salesperson recommended I try running the stove without a blower and see if I needed to add it later . . . or not. I opted to not add it . . . and have been moving the heat with a cheap floor fan since 2008.

Incidentally, when I lose power I also lose the ability (unless I hook up the generator) to move the hot air more efficiently . . .

 

[Jason721]

This is my first year using a blower on my stove...to be honest im not sure about it yet...it works fine.. hooked up to a thermostat..stays it on low most of the time. But I think my ceiling fans to the best job in moving the heat throughout my small home.

 

[SuperJ]

I didn't get the fan kit. It seemed kind of overpriced at $300, but I think I'm going to crack and buy it. Anything to help me move the heat around.
I can turn the stove down and keep my living room comfortable, or I can overheat the living room to get the rest of the house warm. Hoping a blower helps even things out a bit. I already have a couple fans sitting on the floor blowing cold air back towards the stove which made a big difference.
It makes sense that a fan will help you move the same amount of heat at lower stove temps, or more heat at the same stove/flue temps. This means that the fan will likely improve the efficiency a bit (unless your already at minimum fire and overheating without a fan).
I looked at the test report for my stove and noticed they ran the fan during the EPA testing (which likely means it helps the numbers are they wouldn't bother).

 

[cahaak]

I think the blowers help with heat distribution. That being said, I wish SBI / Drolet would spend $5 more and make a better blower (AC02050). It's just a couple more dollars in bearing and sleeves to make something that runs quieter and lasts much longer. Squirrel cage units are inexpensive to begin with, so just fix the quality so they last, especially for those folks who burn 24/7 and more or less run the blower continuously.

 

[Highbeam]

The blower is usually optional and if you buy it then you again have an option to turn it on or not. In my home I use the blower about 1% of the time.

 

[WES999]

I have the blower on my Ashford 20, it is set up to run when the stove top is over 675.
The BK blows the air between the cast iron jacket and the steel stove top, when you stand in front of
the stove with blower on you can really feel the heat, it make a big difference. When the blower turns on
you can see the temp in the room rise quickly. I also have fans on the floor to move the heat to the far end of the house.

 

[blacktail]

I have pretty much guaranteed that the power won’t go out again since I bought a generator about six years ago after two major power outages.

Me too! My neighbor and I both bought generators after a couple of serious outages and haven't needed them since.
If my insert was centrally located it might do ok without the blower. But being in a back corner of the house makes the blower more important.

 

[Northern NH Mike]

Buy the blower. It definitely enhances the flexibility of the stove.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I think the blowers help with heat distribution. That being said, I wish SBI / Drolet would spend $5 more and make a better blower (AC02050). It's just a couple more dollars in bearing and sleeves to make something that runs quieter and lasts much longer. Squirrel cage units are inexpensive to begin with, so just fix the quality so they last, especially for those folks who burn 24/7 and more or less run the blower continuously.

Have you upgraded your SBI blower? If so, what'd you get?

 

[Beer Belly]

Our Blower, albeit noisy, was a great addition.

 

[cahaak]

Yesterday morning when the stove was cold, I took out the blower(SBI / Drolet). When I got home last night, I stripped down the blower completely, including disassembling the motor. I lubed up the components with a JT6 (Mystic) high temp bearing grease and the actual ball bearings (there are two) with some good 10W30 oil. I also greased the end of the rubber insert where the drive shaft goes into the squirrel cage fan part. Basically, a complete R&R.

Happy to say that the blower is much quieter now and seems to be working quite well. I'm running it at maybe 1/2 to 3/4 speed. At full, it is too loud for me simply due to the air flow noise. When I reassembled it, I also used some vibration isolation tape adhesives and one for where it mounts against the stove. It appears that the unit does not come properly lubricated from the factory. I'm guessing that this is a once a year thing to redo for the blower. So, it seems to be working much better now. It only takes about 15-30 minutes to tear it down and put it back together as it is a pretty simple unit.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Yesterday morning when the stove was cold, I took out the blower(SBI / Drolet). When I got home last night, I stripped down the blower completely, including disassembling the motor. I lubed up the components with a JT6 (Mystic) high temp bearing grease and the actual ball bearings (there are two) with some good 10W30 oil. I also greased the end of the rubber insert where the drive shaft goes into the squirrel cage fan part. Basically, a complete R&R.

Happy to say that the blower is much quieter now and seems to be working quite well. I'm running it at maybe 1/2 to 3/4 speed. At full, it is too loud for me simply due to the air flow noise. When I reassembled it, I also used some vibration isolation tape adhesives and one for where it mounts against the stove. It appears that the unit does not come properly lubricated from the factory. I'm guessing that this is a once a year thing to redo for the blower. So, it seems to be working much better now. It only takes about 15-30 minutes to tear it down and put it back together as it is a pretty simple unit.

I really like this post. Thank you.

I've found that a good lube job fixes many of the problems that arise.

Now, if I could just find a warm stretch. Even though the lube job only takes 30-60 minutes, probably need to let the stove cool down first.

 

[cahaak]

Well, I got kind of lucky / timed it. It got all the way up to 14 yesterday, so I had a couple of opportunities to get it out and in. It will drop below 0 here this evening and then probably won't get above 0 until sometime on Tuesday - we are ready to hunker down for the weekend and New Years eve.

 

[Sailrmike]

I believe that a blower is a necessity on a wood stove. Love the Woodstock's, but without blowers or any kind of convection system, they're useless to me. When it's below 20F and blowing 20mph or more, my blower runs continuously at 90%. It evens out the heat in my home by having the blower running. With purely radiant stoves, the heat is very intense close by the stove

 

[Mark8]

I hate the noise of the blower on my insert it's to loud and annoying and ruins the ambience of having a fireplace. Wish there was a noiseless fan.

 

[Squisher]

I have a blower on my insert and my shop stove. But my inside freestanding stove doesn't have one and I don't know that I'll ever bother adding it. Every situation is going to be unique so there is no black or white answer.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I hate the noise of the blower on my insert it's to loud and annoying and ruins the ambience of having a fireplace. Wish there was a noiseless fan.

Try giving it a lube job (see cahaak's post above), and run at a bit lower speed.

But, generally I agree. I don't like it, but no choice here. Doesn't ruin the ambiance, just knocks it down a peg or two.