Another blower question (generics, ho-made, etc.)

[rhetoric]

I borrowed a squirrel blower from a pal, jammed it under the stove w/ a coal rake and a split of ash and I can say you're right -- a fan is going to make a big difference in the heat output of my stove.

But I'm as tight as... as tight as... well, as tight as the bark on a tree and I just don't feel good about plunking down 250 clams for a Lopi specific blower. A Regency generic is going to run $110 clams or so. Some of the long gas/fireplace fans look like they'd work with a bit of modification. I've checked surplus center and electricmotorwarehouse and the I know for some of you the hassle's not worth the savings, but others of you would get peace and lasting satisfaction knowing you helped another tightwad.

I was all excited about at surpluscenter double squirrel blower for $18.00 till I realized the housing was plastic. It might not even matter since my Lopi is mobile home rated and you can touch the bottom of the stove without burning your hand. But I'm not taking my chances.

Anyway, I'd just like to hear some of the expertise from fellow tightwads. How many CFM's does the Lopi (and most Avalons) generate? Are they quiet? Anybody found a good alternative? Can you get specific about what you found?

 

[karl]

I'm with you on saving money and on how much blowers help. I have a Summit insert and the blower makes a huge difference. It can be a bit noisy on the higher settings though. I'm planning on adding a second blower after this heating season. The insert practically set up for one and I'm hoping that two on low will quieter than one on high and still move the same air.

I would not use anything plastic near the stove even if it appears to be a cool surface.

 

[eernest4]

#1 rule, nothing plastic near a stove. They melt real quick, usually the first time you try to use them.

My stove has two blowers, one is a all metal squirl cage blower that I adapted the mountings to fit my particular installation . I had two single speed blowers, one is 1725rpm & the other is
3450 rpm & while the 3450 rpm gives 30% to 40% (estimated) increased air flow, it was only on the stove for one load of wood. I din't care for the extra noise & so I have been using the 1725 rpm for the last two years.

If your going to do a el cheapo micky mouse add on install, like i did, (broken link removed)
sells single,dual & variable speed blowers, starting at $60.oo

The name of the company is (w.w. Grainger) do a ask.com search for the proper internet address. The shortcut was in my old computer, gone to the dump, now.

The second blower for my stove is meerly a 24 inch 3 speed plastic box fan, which never gets closer than 10 ft from the stove. I just point it at the stove, set it on high & it moves a room full of heat in about 4 minutes.

I'm just as likely to turn that fan around and point it at the stairwell, after it has moved the heat away from the stove towards the bottom of the stairs & use it to blow the heat upstairs.

I assist that flow with a cold air fan, upstairs, blowing cold air downstairs, so I get cold air comming down at foot level and hot air going up at head level, when standing on the
stairway.

You can make hot air go up, what is tough is to make hot air go down.

Anyway for a room air circulator, you can use anything metal that you can manage to mount,
or even point; depending upon how lazy you want to be about it.

Good luck.

 

[rhetoric]

So Grainger has a "transflow" blower in which the squirrel cage runs the length of the opening -- about 12 inches. It's an open fan w/o a shroud like the one from Lopi/Avalon, but it could be adapted fairly easily. part #4C745 (edit -- I switched some numbers originally -- this is the correct part number. Thanks, Brother.).

So here's the rub -- the spec says for woodstove and etc., but it has a 104 degree ambient temperature shut off. Now my stove is the Endeavor, rated for mobile homes w/ 4 1/2 inches to combustibles -- the brick behind it barely gets warm, but I'm wondering if the temp is an issue. I can touch the bottom of the stove w/o killing myself and I would GUESS that there on the bottom of the stove (that's where it mounts) it would be plenty cool. But if you have experience with these fans and know they're a bust, speak now or forever hold your peace! It comes tomorrow.

Anybody tried these blowers? It's $84 bucks vs the $250 for the store brand.

 

[BrotherBart]

So Grainger has a "transflow" blower in which the squirrel cage runs the length of the opening -- about 12 inches. It's an open fan w/o a shroud like the one from Lopi/Avalon, but it could be adapted fairly easily. part #4C475

So here's the rub -- the spec says for woodstove and etc., but it has a 104 degree ambient temperature shut off. Now my stove is the Endeavor, rated for mobile homes w/ 4 1/2 inches to combustibles -- the brick behind it barely gets warm, but I'm wondering if the temp is an issue. I can touch the bottom of the stove w/o killing myself and I would GUESS that there on the bottom of the stove (that's where it mounts) it would be plenty cool. But if you have experience with these fans and know they're a bust, speak now or forever hold your peace! It comes tomorrow.

Anybody tried these blowers? It's $84 bucks vs the $250 for the store brand.

That part number is just an eight inch aluminum fan blade. I think you want 4C745.

 

[rhetoric]

Doh! You're right about the number. I wrote it down right, typed it in wrong. I have slysdexia.

So, Brother Bart, do you think the fan will be ok?

 

[MrBigLog]

are you going to put this blower where it belongs or somewhere near the stove?

 

[BrotherBart]

So, Brother Bart, do you think the fan will be ok?

No clue because I don't know anything about what would be needed to mount it to your stove. I do know that modifying ANYTHING on the stove will probably kill it's UL listing.

 

[MrBigLog]

if you have the room( behind the freestanding stove) try a small box fan that you probably allready have , but i always end up with the proper accesiories after i have spent more money than it would have cost me in the first place to get the proper part

 

[rhetoric]

The fan isn't going to do anything the Lopi fan wouldn't do. Bolt on and blow. It's not going to melt. My only question is about the durability of the motor on that stove -- thought somebody might have done this. Again, one of the applications listed is "wood stove," so it doesn't seem unreasonable, I just was hoping for some first hand testimony. I have all sorts of non OEM things in my world that are working just fine.

 

[MrBigLog]

the only thing i see wrong with making a fan set up is....If something ever happened because of a homemade fan, the question would be was the fan a listed peice from lopi?

 

[mheller]

I like your idea. I just purchased lopi republic 1750 and declined the blower at $245. what about the 4c825? I'm picking stove up on saturday, so keep this one going. let us know if you go generic. also, there has been recent post about lopi fan going dead. so i was thinking of trying stove w/o blower, but you have me thinking....

 

[rhetoric]

Well, w/o the blower the stove is an ornament. Above 30 it's ok, below 25 it's anemic below 20 it actually makes the house colder (and my home is reasonably well insulated, though large). Anyway, I borrowed an old squirrel cage blower, rammed it up under one of the inlets and it produces a noticable difference in comfort. That chamber built around the stove is designed to have air forced through it. So I'm confident a fan that actually covers the entire 12inch inlet will produce considerably more heat. It won't have the heat sensor, but I can add a rheostat (sp?) to regulate the speed.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[pearsall]

Pleas update us. I am in the same boat. 1750 without a blower, but thinking hard about one.
Thanks!

 

[mheller]

i just p/up the rep 1750 yesterdayand got it in house. didn't get it going yet hopefully this weekend. i didn't do anything about a blower yet. i was wondering also if poster went the generic route. how's your 1750 burning? any overnighters?

 

[pearsall]

Yes. Mine pretty much runs 24/7. The top of the firebox is a bit low, so I would suggest emptying out the ashes at least once a week (with a metal bucket!). I like the stove a lot. I seem to get more consistent and longer burns with the splits stacked side to side, rather than front to back. Make sure the it is really going before you damp it down for long burns. It took me a few weeks to figure out the the nuances of the stove so don't get discouraged if it isn't running the way you want right off.

 

[rhetoric]

(I posted this on the Dayton blower thread, too, but here's my update)

Well, I think you're in luck -- I've been your guinea pig. Once you go generic, you'll never go back.

I'm cheap. I wasn't about to pay $250 clams for a OEM blower that some of you say craps out too fast, so I finally went to Grainger and bought a 4C745 single speed by Dayton (listed on your website). It's a "transflow." It is a really well built fan. I don't know anything about evaluating the quality of electrical components, but a buddy who teaches at RIT said it seems like a really good one. Extruded aluminum casing, built in fan to cool the motor -- they even balanced the blades (making a very small cut out one one of the blades to even it up). You'll have to wire a plug to it.

I liked the enclosed nature of the dual type blowers, but mounting didn't seem as easy. My blower opening is on the bottom and is almost exactly 12 inches long (about an inch or so wide). The Dayton is a little smaller than the hole (a 1/2 inch on either side) but I guessed that that might be a bit less noisy than a blower that was a little bigger than the hole (avoiding the turbulance of blowing on the stove instead of in the stove). I still look to "plug" the openings on the side w/ a magnetic plate or some such. The holes on the fan line up perfectly w/ two of the predrilled holes so it only took two metal deck straps to hang the fan under the stove. Couldn't have been easier.

As it happens, I hung the fan just a hair under the stove so except for the straps which are bolted tightly, there is no vibration on the stove. I might be getting a bit of turbulance noise, I suppose, but I haven't gotten around to redoing the straps so it can hang closer to the stove. I, too, was worried that the contact between the blower and stove might amplify the vibrations. My straps are also a bit thin -- the blower hangs at an angle because the straps have a slight flex. It's a very slight angle, but the housing is not touching the stove. It's not the prettiest fan, but bolted underneath the stove you have to be on the floor to see it.

Performance? Whoa! I have been ready to give up on the Lopi. Just wasn't warming the house in bitter cold weather. But our stoves were DESIGNED to use blowers. With all those chambers around the stove if you don't use a blower it's like heating inside an insulated box. I saw enough testimony on this site that it made a difference, so I decided to spend some loot.
The fan really pumps out the heat. W/ the blower on low, we have massive hot air and the whole house is now comfortable. I still haven't tested it in bitter cold.

Noise? Not bad. Short of putting the fan in the basement and "ducting" it somehow, I think fans and noise just go together. However, I am using a variable speed plug-in rheostat so I can lower speed and noise. If the house is cold (in the am) I build a hot fire, turn up the fan, warm the house fast, then back the fan off to a whisper. Once at temp, the stove/fan doesn't need to work nearly so hard so I can turn the fan down. I think the Dayton specs at 300cfm, but I'm sure I haven't used it on full blast yet. In any case, while there is a bit of noise, turned to where I need it it doesn't mask conversations. I might have to run it a bit higher in the bitter cold, but it's not nearly as noisy as some fans I've heard.

Most importantly, I'm only out $100 clams total and I had the satisfaction of tinkering.

 

[pearsall]

Thanks so much for the info. Can I trouble you for a pic if you have a chance? Happy new year!