Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 50 total)
  • Stove fans – worth it? Recommend me one.
  • dickie
    Free Member

    Fans to sit on stoves – powered by the heat from the stove.
    Cheapest I’ve seen is about £65 – but are they worth it?
    Can you recommend me one?

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    Not going to recomend a brand but i have one …a child recently broke it …..missed it while it was being fixed

    Its like night and day. Stove plus fan keeps house warm enough ….stove minus fan looks pretty and keeps the living room warmish

    flatfish
    Free Member

    Have to concur with Trail_rat.
    Think our was about £90 but it’s worth it.
    Makes a massive difference.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    johndoh
    Free Member

    Worth it for less fuel costs or better room heating?

    granny_ring
    Full Member

    Watches with interest……

    Not sure we would benefit from one of these as we have a separate sitting room and dining room and I’m guessing would be of more use with open plan?

    Stoner
    Free Member

    Im a tightarse so I built my own.
    It doesnt work very well, so one day I might bite the bullet and get a proper one 😉
    But it was nice to work out how they go together
    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsE4YtzXZe8&feature=g-upl[/video]

    dickie
    Free Member

    Thanks for the replies – the stove in the living room is about 3m from the door to the hall way, so with the door open will the fan circulate the heat into the hall & heat upstairs?

    flatfish
    Free Member

    To a certain extent, yes.
    We have quite a long lounge and when we got the stove initially fired up I was disappointed with it. We had to close the door to the hall to keep the heat in that room.
    Now, I keep the door open to let the heat out and subsequently heat more of the house.
    Good for both fuel bill AND better heating.

    Drac
    Full Member

    Keep contemplating one myself but our has no problem heating the house as it is, it may help even the heat around the living room though.

    stratobiker
    Free Member

    Not all stove fans are the same! shocker!!!!!

    There are different ways to get the heat from the stove to drive the fan.

    The best ones to get are the ones with a ‘stirling’ engine. There is a max temp for some designs and they have to be removed. The ‘stirling’ engined ones don’t have an upper limit.

    My wife did loads of research on these, and used to sell them here in France.

    They work very well, and are more interesting to watch than the TV! 🙂

    Stoner
    Free Member

    Ha! Id forgotten about Mrs Strat’s sideline.

    *goes off to eBay sterling STIRLING engine hunting…*

    WEJ
    Full Member

    Are the Stirling engines noisier than the other type (Thermocouple?)

    cudubh
    Full Member

    we got an ecofan and it made a noticeable difference. Cost something like £80 odd. I searched around on the internet before buying it as prices do vary quite considerably. The people we bought the stove from had one running in their showroom which was where we got the idea. They were selling it for over £100 but that was a bit pricey. The £80 or so was more palateable.

    mt
    Free Member

    Stoner – You need a wider impeller blades.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    I know, but not sure how much torque that little motor has or where to get the blades from. Might try and make my own, but I dont have any thin ally sheet. That was all I could find on eBay at the time

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    how much you pay for the blade >? you can get the genuine eco fan blade for 15 quid ….

    the parts for eco fans are SERIOUSLY cheap…..

    i bought a motor direct for 10 quid , the blades are 15 and you can get a thermocouple from ebay for about 15 quid also(they wont sell you a genuine one) its the heat sink and cooling fin bodys that are expensive

    im tempted to build my self a second as you hgave done stoner – with a three blade fan.

    the stirling engine one is right up my street(v8 stirling engine !) shame you have to start them by hand 🙁

    gratutitous stove shot.



    i trust you have seen this ? with and without fan

    Stoner
    Free Member

    I think I paid 45p 😉

    I wonder what spec the motor is – because my thermocouple I doubt will put out much power

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    i have an old motor with bent shaft….. ill have a look tonight see if there are any markings.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    not seen that pic. That chair looks very uncomfortable.

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    Are the Stirling engines noisier than the other type

    Quieter I’d imagine.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    not according to a quick youtube of stirling engines….

    i can vouch for the ecofans being as damn near silent as your going to get…..

    If the room is silent then you can hear the blades cutting through the air.

    kcal
    Full Member

    definitely. ours used to sit in my shed / study – got nicked for the ‘family’ room, works great, subtle increase in warm air circulation — as you say not cheap but mate I spoke to reckoned it was possibly worth a kW onto the stove rating – feasible, and they look great too – just for the “how does that work” factor..

    Stoner
    Free Member

    as you say not cheap but mate I spoke to reckoned it was possibly worth a kW onto the stove rating

    so at wood fuel costs of about 4p/kWh it would need to be running for 2,000 hours for pay back. Our stove is on for maybe 4-5hrs per evening for 4-5 months of the year = 600hrs.

    So 3+ years to pay back….

    Closer to ten years if you only use your fire every other evening in winter.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    Ah yes but then subtract your aux heatin source

    If i dont have the fan on i need to use the oil ch to heat the other downstairs rooms.Upstairs isnt so bad as the heat transfers through the floor

    uphillcursing
    Free Member

    Stoner. If you want a larger diameter prop than that you will need to speak to a model shop that deals with electric flight.
    Prop adapter and a selection of props from either giantcod or brc hobbies will come in under a tenner. Trial and error to find the best size then. Would imagine you would need what is called a “slyfly” prop to move plenty of air at relativly low rpms.

    ski
    Free Member

    I have a Caframo Ecofan, well I say I have one, I lent it to a mate who took the piss out of mine and could not see the point of having one!

    He is now converted 😉

    The do make a difference, it makes the heat output from a log stove feel more even in a room, less of a hot spot, that and its great fun watching the fan start up as your stove warms up, look kids no batteries, so how does that work Dad 😉

    Edit – Stoner, nice work

    Stoner
    Free Member

    I shall google slyfly uphillcursing, cheers.

    so how does that work Dad

    cant beat a bit of witchcraft. Static electricity comes under magic too.

    ski
    Free Member

    If you could make one that oscillates too and market it for under £50?

    You could make a killing.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    slowfly stoner – slowfly.

    how was your resin prop with the heat ?

    Stoner
    Free Member

    slowfly it is then…

    plastic prop doesnt mind, it’s not too hot up there above the stove top and of course its whistling around…

    mst
    Free Member

    I’ve got a cassette type stove set into the fireplace. Could I put a fan on the fire surround ?

    Stoner
    Free Member
    Stoner
    Free Member

    mst – the base of the fan must heat up and so be in contact with the stove top surface.

    alanf
    Free Member

    Similar to MST – but I have a cowl on top of the stove which sticks out by about 2 inches.
    I’m guessing though the fan wouldn’t be supported on this and possibly wouldn’t get hot enough to make it work

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    dvd 1.5 to 4.5 V Dvd motoris the motor on ecofan what ever that means to you ….

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    alanF

    we tried my genuine ecofan on my parents cassette stove cowl

    no dice – not that we expected there to be but we tried anyway

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    what about a fan blade from a small fan ?

    im thinking the USB fan in lidl or aldi at the moment might be good for canibalising for motor plus fan blade ?

    Flaperon
    Full Member

    My parents have a peltier type and have been very impressed – night and day difference, apparently.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    too high a voltage trail_rat.

    IIRC I have a 3.5v motor. I have a 12v PC case fan in my drawer I could try but at 3.6W/12v Im pretty sure my peltier is not going to move it.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 50 total)

The topic ‘Stove fans – worth it? Recommend me one.’ is closed to new replies.