Anyone have a VC NC encore with the optional fan? i am thinking about investing in one, but i am not sure if it is a good idea. are there any on line sources for one? any advice will be appreciated
To Fan or Not to Fan?
- Thread starter Crabbypatty
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Crabbypatty, why not just try a small fan by the stove or by a doorway blowing the cooler air towards the stove?
As for getting more heat from the stove, no. The stove will produce the same heat with or without a fan. All you can do is circulate the air better to even out the temperature.
btw, we once had a stove which would take a fan so we bought one. It was one that blew the air out at the front of the stove at floor level. It seemed nice for a while but did not last long and was noisy. A pedestal fan works just as well.
As for getting more heat from the stove, no. The stove will produce the same heat with or without a fan. All you can do is circulate the air better to even out the temperature.
btw, we once had a stove which would take a fan so we bought one. It was one that blew the air out at the front of the stove at floor level. It seemed nice for a while but did not last long and was noisy. A pedestal fan works just as well.
Mine is on order and hoping to have it in a week or two. Be happy to let you know one/off list how it works.
Backwwods, i have a 24" box fan blowing across my stove right to left and it seems to help move the heat, somewhat. i was just looking at my options.
Mike, i would appreciate your feedback, when you get it installed and working. may i ask where did you order the fan kit and approx how much did it cost?
Mike, i would appreciate your feedback, when you get it installed and working. may i ask where did you order the fan kit and approx how much did it cost?
Try moving the box fan to a cooler part of the house that still has a relatively straight shot to the stove. Put the fan on the floor and point it towards the stove. Run it on low speed and see how quickly the cooler part of the house warms up. Often this is as effective as a fan on the stove.
Crabbypatty said:
I ordered it through my local VC dealer in Littleton, NH. I believe she quoted me a price of $285.
hummm........i could buy quite a few box fans for $285...and aim them all over the house! Still, if you could, let me know if it is worth it once you get her installedNorthern NH Mike said:
You might look at Northern or some company like that for a cage fan that will fit. It would be alot safer. I have one I pulled out of an old over head range vent that I'm going to mount on my friends Century. It looks like it will be a perfect fit.
As for more heat. The answer is yes. A stove radiates heat. It travels through the air, warms the air a little bit, then when it hits an object, it warms that object alot. If the object is you, then you're fine. If the object is a wall, then the wall gets hot. Try the box fan idea and you'll see what I mean. We want to warm the air so we feel warm through out the house.
As for more heat. The answer is yes. A stove radiates heat. It travels through the air, warms the air a little bit, then when it hits an object, it warms that object alot. If the object is you, then you're fine. If the object is a wall, then the wall gets hot. Try the box fan idea and you'll see what I mean. We want to warm the air so we feel warm through out the house.
I had hoped not to use a blower for the simple reason that the energy consumption defeated some of the purpose of using the stove in the first place. I'm finding that the fans move air around, but at such a slow rate that I wonder if the blower will do the job quicker and more efficiently.
i agree with the energy consumption theory, however i would llike to maximize the heat put out as well.
I am using two Honeywell fans (which cost about $9.50 a piece) to move air from my insert to the rest of the main floor. Without moving air THROUGH the insert, the insert wouldn't heat the room to 65 degrees on a 20 degree day. By moving air through the insert I am able to get the room to 80 degrees pretty easy and heat the rest of the house. Without the fans, it wouldn't be worth using the stove at all. I have a unique situation with the insert, but fans should be used by anyone who isn't satisfied with the heat output of their stove.
The energy consumption argument is really a null point. Here is why:
Each fan runs at 26 watts which is .026 kWh. In Wyoming, I'm billed at $0.0833 for a kilowatt. 0.026 kWh x 8 cents is .208 cents ($0.00208) per hour. With two fans running at this rate, it costs me .416 cents per hour. I can run THESE TWO FANS for 2 hours and 24 minutes on a penny. If I run them 24 hours a day, that's 10 cents a day. That's under $40 a year.
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The energy consumption argument is really a null point. Here is why:
Each fan runs at 26 watts which is .026 kWh. In Wyoming, I'm billed at $0.0833 for a kilowatt. 0.026 kWh x 8 cents is .208 cents ($0.00208) per hour. With two fans running at this rate, it costs me .416 cents per hour. I can run THESE TWO FANS for 2 hours and 24 minutes on a penny. If I run them 24 hours a day, that's 10 cents a day. That's under $40 a year.
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Nice! i noticed you use a kill a watt to monitor use. i am gonna grab one next time i go to harbor freight
Crabbypatty said:
After weeks of waiting for the fan to come in from my local dealer I called around NH and Vt and found one in stock at Stove and Flag works of Williston and Montpelier VT. (Well stocked store and excellent customer service) The kit installed very easily. The fan is a bit noisy on full speed, but don't need it at the level for very long. The room heats up much more quickly and the air coming out the sides is much hotter than that being blown from a fan behind the stove. My only complaint is that the fan does not turn on until the stove reaches 110 on the bottom left corner where a thermostat is attached. Usually about an hour into the burn when starting cold. I think it is worth it for this space.
I have a free standing stove in the garage and at first I tried a box fan, but it didn't seem to work very well. I then tried a little Vornado fan and it was like night and day. It's kind of like the fan that WYO posted a pic of. It really concentrates a lot of air into a small area. With the fan, I can get the garage up to about 70 on a 30 degree day and it's a 2 car garage.
For an experiment I placed a fire fan, a big floor fan with a cage, aimed at the side of my stove when trying to heat the house up. I have a thermometer in the stove room and with the fan on low speed the temp in the room climbed at a much much higher rate than with no fan at all. Fans are noisy, expensive if stove mounted, a trip hazard, a mess, geeky, etc. but if you want to accelerate the rate that your stove heats the air in your house you really can't beat air flow over the hot surface. After shutting the fan off, the room temp stayed up and continued to increase at the normal no-fan rate. I feel that a stove fan offers superior heat transfer to the room air but the expense and noise aren't wnough to justify it.
If you need a fan then you maybe should have bought a bigger stove. Inserts are totally different and just need a fan to make up for being in a box.
If you need a fan then you maybe should have bought a bigger stove. Inserts are totally different and just need a fan to make up for being in a box.
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