Using Computer Muffin Fan to Push Hot Air

[HawkinsHollow]

I am looking to get a little more airflow from my stove without using the noisy fan that came with it. My plan is to use a computer muffin fan either 92mm or 120mm to push air through the stove. The CFM ratings of these fans run in the 36-60 CFMrange. In your opinion is it worth having ~50cfm oozing through the stove pushing that heat into the surrounding room? I think that it is better than nothing! I don't need a ton of extra heat, just trying to extract a little more out of the stove and add it to the surrounding room.

The reason I want to go with the smaller fans is because I want the noise to be minimal and I want to build a little housing behind the stove to keep it hidden.

 

[Steveb123321]

I am looking to get a little more airflow from my stove without using the noisy fan that came with it. My plan is to use a computer muffin fan either 92mm or 120mm to push air through the stove. The CFM ratings of these fans run in the 36-60 CFMrange. In your opinion is it worth having ~50cfm oozing through the stove pushing that heat into the surrounding room? I think that it is better than nothing! I don't need a ton of extra heat, just trying to extract a little more out of the stove and add it to the surrounding room.

The reason I want to go with the smaller fans is because I want the noise to be minimal and I want to build a little housing behind the stove to keep it hidden.

I bought the fan for my stove and ended up not using it for same reason (noise). IMO the fan doesn’t really make any difference, at least not for my stove. Convection is going to move air around anyway.

 

[Murray01]

What’s the CFM rating on the fan that came with the stove?

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I am not sure. It moves a pretty good amount of air though. It is good for when you want to really warm up the room quick. But a little overkill to just get a little more hot air out of the stove. My thought process here is that this 50 CFM would just pull a little extra heat into the room.

Here is the long story if you have a second. I reinstalled my stove and Englander 17-VL into my new additions living room, 20x15 with vaulted ceilings and a15x8 opening into the kitchen and rest of the house. In doing so I used double wall stove pipe. I thought this was a good idea because the stove in it's old location was overwhelming at times, TOO HOT!! I thought the double wall would give me better control of how much of the heat gets into the room. Well there were a few times last winter where it had a hard time keeping the room in the high 70's. Mind you I am in SE TN, so it is not like we are talking about -20 deg temps here. Maybe teens or heaven forbid single digits.

I feel like this fan set-up would extract just enough extra heat from the stove to increase temps in that room and hopefully allow a bit more warm air to infiltrate the rest of the house a little bit. Regardless of what you guys say I am going to give it a try, these fans are only $15. Not much to lose here. I am going to 3d print a shroud that allows the fan to adapt to a 2" duct that I need to attach to the stove. I will report my findings.

 

[stovelark]

The blower that came with the stove is not adjustable? You could put a rheostat in line to vary the speed, but sometimes the blowers don't do well with slower speeds either... sometimes a small floor fan pushing cool air back to the stove promotes more warm air to be moved away from the stove into the adjacent rooms... hope whatever you do works out for you.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

The blower that came with the stove is not adjustable? You could put a rheostat in line to vary the speed, but sometimes the blowers don't do well with slower speeds either... sometimes a small floor fan pushing cool air back to the stove promotes more warm air to be moved away from the stove into the adjacent rooms... hope whatever you do works out for you.

I think it has 2 speeds, both overkill and too loud for my application.

 

[kborndale]

I think it has 2 speeds, both overkill and too loud for my application.

You can get a fan speed controller on Amazon for less than $20, here is a link to one.

Amazon.com

 

[Whitenuckler]

I have a small honeywell 3 speed fan behind my pellet stove. Circulates the air in the room. I just leave it on all the time on low as it's in the basement and I run a dehumidifer. I only need the stove room blower on for serious heating. I still have the combustion blower though.

 

[begreen]

It depends on where the fan is located. I used a 100 cfm muffin fan many years ago. It was modestly effective and pretty quiet. IIRC it was a Pabst 5" , 120vac model.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Amazon.ca

Amazon.ca

Here is a blower and power supply I am using on my radon system. I am running it at 7 VCDC right now. The noise really goes down when you kill the speed. I'd look for a "blower" rather than a fan. A blower is meant to mount next the air inlet. If you can get variable speed DC that is good.

 

[jalmondale]

I have a small desk fan (Vornado) that's pretty quiet and very effective, but it moves a few hundred CFM even on low. If you're looking for really quiet and don't mind a low CFM, a thermoelectric fan might be the best option.

You can also set up the fan to blow cold air at the stove, which lets you put the fan somewhere other than right next to the stove - that could give you some options to limit noise in your living space.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I guess I should clarify a little. This fan attaches to the stove and blows air through the innards of the stove. So this air, however small a volume, will be the same temp as the stove when it leave the front of the stove. This is why I feel however small the volume of the air the fan pushes it will increase the amount of heat being extracted from the stove, adding it to the room.

I am trying to figure out a way to get more CFM pushing through it without making a huge, ugly, noisy, obtrusive fan setup around my stove. That is the goal, decent CFM pushing heat out (~100CFM) in the smallest most unobtrusive package possible.

As far as heat exchange with the other half of the house, that is something else I am brainstorming right now. I thought it would migrate that way better. We do have 2 ceiling fans in that room. I might keep the one on the kitchen side blowing down instead of up to start to see if that helps. Last year was the first year we reinstalled our wood stove after our addition that almost doubled the size of our house. Still trying to figure out our system.

 

[brenndatomu]

I am trying to figure out a way to get more CFM pushing through it without making a huge, ugly, noisy, obtrusive fan setup around my stove. That is the goal, decent CFM pushing heat out (~100CFM) in the smallest most unobtrusive package possible.

Have you pulled the blower out to clean it lately?
Many people don't, and the blower wheel is actually plugged up with dust/dirt.
I had a couple computer fans blowing cold air into the fireplace under the stove, to push more hot air out (just a stove, not an insert with built in blower) it did help, but I found them to be noisy too.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

It is clean, still noisy and too high of a volume. Yeah, I know the higher CFM muffin fans are still pretty noisy. I plan on hiding it behind the stove and 3d print some shrouds that hopefully cut down on some of the noise. We will see.

 

[Whitenuckler]

It is clean, still noisy and too high of a volume. Yeah, I know the higher CFM muffin fans are still pretty noisy. I plan on hiding it behind the stove and 3d print some shrouds that hopefully cut down on some of the noise. We will see.

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