Woodstove Fans--The 10 Best....

[ApS]

They're not expensive, but how efficient can a heat-powered fan be?

https://forestry.com/reviews/10-best...ove-fans-2023/

Giving some thought to buying a woodstove fan. Has anyone here had experience with one--or more?

Not just woodstoves, but the above fans are self-powered by any heat source of more than 120°F.
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On a related subject, I'm thinking about replacing my otherwise-excellent Trinity III woodstove with a much larger wood-fired "cookstove". I've just been told they use more firewood, but my mid-teens "Down-East" experience with a monster cookstove is much different.

For weeks at a time, breakfasts around here need more than one cooking surface besides our 70-years-old electric range.

[thinkxingu]

I didn't know that was even a thing.

Any idea how that compares in overall effectiveness/efficiency to blowing cold air towards the stove?

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

[upthesaukee]

I have used these for years. First started with an Ecofan, cost was around $125 or so. First one lasted about 5 years. I read that I could just replace the "Sterling Engine", cutting the wires and using small wire nuts to connect new engine. I replaced the fan about four or five years ago with a new Ecofan. Then I saw similar fans for less than $50. I decided to try one and it worked just fine.

So now I have two fans, one cheaper and one more expensive. Both work fine. I had one pointing toward the Woodstove where my wife sat. It doesn't blast you out of the house, rather it "moves" the air around. I also have a ceiling fan that in the wintertime, I have blowing upwards to circulate the air gently up and around.

I recommend using them. Just get a model with at least 100 cfm or higher speed.

Dave

[SAB1]

I've got one. Overall I think they do help but if your paying 100 or better not worth it. I'd do like above and try the 50 dollar one

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by ApS

On a related subject, I'm thinking about replacing my otherwise-excellent Trinity III woodstove with a much larger wood-fired "cookstove". I've just been told they use more firewood, but my mid-teens "Down-East" experience with a monster cookstove is much different.

For weeks at a time, breakfasts around here need more than one cooking surface besides our 70-years-old electric range.

It all comes down to how you run the stove. Depending on the "CookStove", the wood load my be more than what you would put in the "woodstove".... and if your looking to keep the stove at a high temperature all the time, it likely would consume more wood.

However do you need to keep the unit at peak temperature all the time. Likely not, if you keep a bed of coals going, and stoke it when your cooking, it likely wouldn't be to bad...

I find that most people that talk about certain wood fired stoves being fuel hogs, really don't understand what metrics to look at. What they see is that the initial fire consume more wood, and that every time they stoke it they add more wood, then what they where used to. What you need to look at is that does it take to keep the stove running effectively and efficiently.... I have a Yotel Series 8.... when I decided to use it, the initially fire, and getting the coals built up takes 6-10 peices of wood.....once I have a nice bed of coals, if I add 2 or 3 pieces of wood, a couple of times a day things run along smooth for several days, until enough ash is build up that I need to clean things out.... If I could change one thing about my stove, it would be that it have way for ash to drop down into an ash box, so that the ash wouldn't build up as much.

[dippasan]

My son uses one and loves it. I would consider getting one but I have a "top load" Vermont Castings Encore wood stove and I don't want to have to move the fan every time I load the stove.
I've used a simple 3 speed electric oscillating fan behind a chair near the stove for years. I keep it on low all the time and it does a fantastic job distributing the heat. I take it apart and clean the blades 1/year to keep it quiet.

[brk-lnt]

A cheap ~$20 110V 3 speed mini fan, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HT-...dp/B001R1Q2C6/ uses about 2 cents of electricity per day at the low to mid speed setting. (2 cents, based on 5W power draw and .18cent/KwH total power cost). Or, less than $5 for about a years worth of operating during heating season (and that is being super conservative, it's probably less than that).


The fancy $50 and $100 woodstove fans are neat, but they are not really that cost effective.

[retired]

We've been heating our house for 40 years with wood. One stove in the basement to heat our 3,700 square foot home. I keep a small electric fan behind the Avalon woodstove to blow air across the top of the stove. You can feel the difference in heat coming off. I don't have any data but think it works just fine. I never heard of these woodstove fans that sit on top and work by convection. Maybe I'll try one when the electric fan finally dies.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

I didn't know that was even a thing.

Any idea how that compares in overall effectiveness/efficiency to blowing cold air towards the stove?

1) I can only suspect that even a small electric fan, directed at any part of a woodstove's vertical surfaces, would be far more cost-effective than a $50 heat-powered fan. (As others have previously opined).

2) As for a wood-fired cookstove, there are quite a few for sale nearby via FB. Some are finished in a beautiful copper-trimmed theme. ("Beautiful" in the eye of this observer).

I think it will throw off the same amount of heat as a woodstove, but less intensively. When not being used as a cooking surface, it's more than just furniture, but a wide, flat surface to lay out today's project.

[Hillcountry]

But they look really cool! 😊 doesn’t move “much” air…
The blower on my propane “woodstove” quit recently and I’m not paying $200 + labor for a new one. A nice little 110v fan screwed to the stair rail behind the stove will work wonders at moving heat!

[John Mercier]

Woodstove do move some heat through vertical convection, if they didn't the stove pipe wouldn't be worth a damn.
But for the most part they radiate heat.

People put various cement based heat shields behind the wood stoves.
But I found a reflective one to be the best. That is unless you are trying to add heat to the wall behind the stove.

The fans are supposed to work like an electric convection fan would. The electric convection fan heats the air, and fan blows it across the room.
These fans can make a cold room feel warmer much more quickly than a radiating one would.

We have corner door fans that are supposed to move warm air from one room to another... regardless of the actual heat source and style.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ApS

They're not expensive, but how efficient can a heat-powered fan be?

https://forestry.com/reviews/10-best...ove-fans-2023/

Giving some thought to buying a woodstove fan. Has anyone here had experience with one--or more?

Not just woodstoves, but the above fans are self-powered by any heat source of more than 120°F.
____________________

On a related subject, I'm thinking about replacing my otherwise-excellent Trinity III woodstove with a much larger wood-fired "cookstove". I've just been told they use more firewood, but my mid-teens "Down-East" experience with a monster cookstove is much different.

For weeks at a time, breakfasts around here need more than one cooking surface besides our 70-years-old electric range.

I researched them and thought I was getting a good one. Waste of money. You can put you hand in front of it and feel no breeze