# No blower fan wood insert?(or at least very quiet?)



## safetrip (Feb 8, 2011)

We are looking into getting either a wood stove or insert. We liked the look of an insert better but not too fond of fan noise when you are watching the fire right in front of it- my wife is quite sensitive to noise. So I'm wondering if there is any wood insert that doesn't use  blower and just rely on passive air convection like a stove. Or if there is any wood insert that known for super quiet operation.

Thank you in advance.


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## weezer4117 (Feb 8, 2011)

A blower is a option for most inserts/stoves. You dont have to have one, however, if you are wanting to heat the entire house I would suggest getting one. Anytime air is moved there is going to be some noise, most new blowers are fairly quite. The blower on my buck is no louder than a exhaust fan in a bathroom.


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## pen (Feb 8, 2011)

If you want to go w/out a blower I wouldn't consider an insert.  I'd get a freestanding stove.  W/ out the surround, it will allow more heat out than an insert w/out the blower on, then when you go out of the room and won't be annoyed you can turn it on and get the heat.

pen


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## Fsappo (Feb 8, 2011)

Having lived with inserts in tv rooms, I just turned the blower to the lowest setting when in the room.  If you buy a decent insert, ask to hear the fan before purchasing, you should be very happy about the noise level.


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## begreen (Feb 8, 2011)

Some inserts work reasonably well without the blower on. The Regency H2100 Hearth Heater is an example. Pacific Energy inserts are also designed to work convectively with the blower off. They also have a very quiet blower that is barely noticeable unless it is on high speed. The Lopi Revere and Freedom inserts project nicely onto the hearth and can be decent heaters with the blower off.


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## dafattkidd (Feb 8, 2011)

I'll chime in here.  I have an Osburn 2400, and had a Napoleon 1101 in a tv room.  Both fans on low settings are barely noticeable as far as hearing it while in the room watching tv.  We do use the Osburn at times without the fan and it puts out some good heat (of course not as much as with the fan on).  I think you and your wife should go to a stove shop or someone's house who has an insert and see for yourself.  

On low setting, both fans I've used are super quiet.  So quiet that people who don't know there's a fan, can't tell unless I tell them.  Hope that helps.  

I will add that on high my Osburn sounds like a box fan.  Which can be annoying, but we rarely use the high setting.


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## Adios Pantalones (Feb 8, 2011)

Turn the fan to low or off when you're sitting there for ambiance.  Turn it on high when you aren't or are going to bed etc. for efficiency.


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## WoodpileOCD (Feb 8, 2011)

The insert I replaced was a Black Bart circa 1980 and the fan was a big fan but mounted in the rear of the insert and being behind the stove and surround was very quiet.  The only sound was air movement sound and you could only really hear it on medium or higher.  The insert I have now like all of them it seems has a 'squirrel cage' fan that sits right in the front and is much noisier than I'd like even on low.  

Question for the electricians out there.  Even though it has a rheostat built in, I'm thinking of adding a second one upstream to be able to run the fan a little lower for when we are in the room and want it quieter but still have air moving.   Any considerations I should know about or be thinking about in a setup like this?


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## safetrip (Feb 8, 2011)

BeGreen said:
			
		

> Some inserts work reasonably well without the blower on. The Regency H2100 Hearth Heater is an example. Pacific Energy inserts are also designed to work convectively with the blower off. They also have a very quiet blower that is barely noticeable unless it is on high speed. The Lopi Revere and Freedom inserts project nicely onto the hearth and can be decent heaters with the blower off.



Thanks a lot for the info. I looked them all and especially liked Lopi Revere. It has a 10" cook top surface so we can almost use like a stove. BTW are Lopi and Avalon the same stoves? They look the same.


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## Chargerman (Feb 8, 2011)

I have a blower on my insert and it is in the TV room. My chair is very near the stove and on high, with the 600cfm fan, you do have to turn up the volume on the TV. On medium or low the fan is much quieter.  The humidifier across the room creates just as much nosie as the insert so I just deal with the "background" noise. If I did not use the fan the insert would not provide much in the way of radiant heat so that is not an option.


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## bambam (Feb 8, 2011)

I have a Quadr-Fire 4100 insert and don't really get much heat without the blower.  If I leave the blower off it seems to make the tile surrounding my insert and the mantle very hot and start to smell as though it is burning.  So I took the surround that inclosed the space between the insert and the original fireplace off and get a lot more heat out of the insert that way, it doesn't look as nice but I will put up with looks as long as the furnace doesn't run.


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## fredarm (Feb 8, 2011)

The blower on my PE Vista Insert is very quiet up to about medium speed.  We rearely run it higher than that anyway.


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## maverick06 (Feb 8, 2011)

without the blower, mine delivers 90% less heat... or there about.


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## FPX Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

Yea, I was really concerned about the noise as well.  One of the main reason's I went with FPX is the ability to remotely locate the blower, it's about 8 ft. away from air outlet, I don't hear any fan.  Only noise is of air blowing, no more than say when yer furnace is turned on.


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## maverick06 (Feb 8, 2011)

How does that work? I have the FPX33 and the blower is in the insert. I dont really care, I leave it running fulltime at fullpower! Yes, I bypassed the thermoswitch, I didnt like how it took an hour and a half to turn on the blower. I think something was wrong with the switch.


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## Renovation (Feb 8, 2011)

Hey Experts,

How about replacing the built-in tiny fan(s), with a larger, quieter external one?  

The larger a fan is, the quieter it is for a given flow rate.  It seems to me this could be fairly simple--remove the stock fan, and duct a larger external fan to the opening.  Then the fan could be far enough away to maintain combustibles clearances, yet much quieter.

It seems to me this could be done with a freestanding stove too.

Thoughts?


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## prescottonian (Feb 9, 2011)

I'm getting rid of my pellet stove because of loud fan noise. what makes it worse is there are 2 fans in a pellet stove . I can't hear myself think when it's running . It absolutely drives me insane


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## safetrip (Feb 9, 2011)

bambam said:
			
		

> I have a Quadr-Fire 4100 insert and don't really get much heat without the blower.  If I leave the blower off it seems to make the tile surrounding my insert and the mantle very hot and start to smell as though it is burning.  So I took the surround that inclosed the space between the insert and the original fireplace off and get a lot more heat out of the insert that way, it doesn't look as nice but I will put up with looks as long as the furnace doesn't run.



This just inspired me to design my ideal set up for quite but efficient insert. So an insert is basically a stove inside the fireplace except that the gap is sealed by surround, which prevent the heat from the back side of the stove to come into the room. That's why you need a blower fan. I was thinking that if those surrounds are decoratively perforated so that it looks good and let air through, you may be able to get rid of that small/high speed/noisy blower fan and install a big/low speed/quiet fan behind the stove that can blow air though those perforations.  Does such a thing exist?


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## begreen (Feb 9, 2011)

Just get an insert that heats well convectively, like one of those I mentioned earlier. No need to redesign, no need for the surround on some of them. It will be fine with a damper block off plate. Or, if there is room, just install a freestanding stove and skip the insert altogether.


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## FPX Dude (Feb 9, 2011)

maverick06 said:
			
		

> How does that work? I have the FPX33 and the blower is in the insert. I dont really care, I leave it running fulltime at fullpower! Yes, I bypassed the thermoswitch, I didnt like how it took an hour and a half to turn on the blower. I think something was wrong with the switch.



Check their website www.fireplacex.com, not sure if 33 has this option but 36+ does.  I think you can put it up to 25' away with 8" diameter, sez may diminish some effective flow, but still better than having those squirrel cages buzz'n in yer head.


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## flyingpig (Feb 9, 2011)

FPX Dude said:
			
		

> maverick06 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




You're correct. No OAK for FPX33.


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