Blaze King Fan unit--to buy or not to buy

[nellraq]

I have a BK Chinook 30 which is on the end wall of the basement. The house is approx 1200 square feet on each level.

The basement walls are now completely insulated...this made a distinct difference in how much heat I got upstairs. At this time of year, the upper level stays at approx. 72 degrees..cooling off a bit overnight.

When it starts getting colder...ie. 32 degrees and less, it is much less comfortable than I would like... 65 - 70.

I would like to hear from bk burners who have a similiar set up...who have the BK fans. Do they actually help to move more heat upstairs?

I have tried blowing fans at the stove, from behind the stove, and even on top of the stove--the stove room gets warmer, but there is very little difference upstairs.

The chinook has the convection deck on it. The fans would be blowing air directly over the stove top.

I Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Highbeam]

Yes on the fans. More heat will be produced and moved into the basement with the fans than from a fanless stove. The ability of that heat to move from the basement to the rest of the house fast enough is a common limitation but making more heat in the basement can only help.

 

[Huntindog1]

I dont ever use the fan on my stove. Heat seems to flow naturally in my house.
You might try it with out a fan you can always get one later.

 

[Highbeam]

I dont ever use the fan on my stove. Heat seems to flow naturally in my house.
You might try it with out a fan you can always get one later.

He already has the stove without the fan. His problem is not getting enough heat upstairs.

 

[Woody Stover]

If you are trying to get heated air upstairs, you need a blower to move more air past the fire box efficiently, which produces more heated air faster. Then your convection loop to the upstairs will be stronger. If the stove is close to the stairs, it will be more effective. Regardless, the blower will definitely help.

 

[dh1989]

I ran my stove for a season without the fan kit. This year I added it. I only use it when the house has cooled off and I need a rapid temperature gain. The fans pull heat off the stove fast. The entire floor (1000 sqft) sees a several degree temperature rise in minutes.

I think the fans will be helpful in your situation.

 

[begreen]

The fan will help, but there still will be the core problem of the stove being in the basement, when the heat is desired upstairs. Having the stove at one end of the basement, away from the stairs doesn't help, there is only so much heat that can pass up a 30-36" doorway.

 

[Huntindog1]

You need a Air Flow path that the heat can naturally flow. The blower on your stove will heat the Stove room more. I found that I did not need to heat the stove room more so I leave it off.

Put vent in the upstairs floor at the end of the house close to the stove. You can get a grate that closes automatically if a fire occurs per fire codes.

As in my basement install the stair way is at one end opposite of the down stairs stove area. The stair way lets cool air flow down to the basement. The vent in the upstairs floor near my hot stove lets the hot heat flow up very easily. It works so good that when I walk up my stair way it feels like a cool breeze coming down. Make sure to use a fire code grate in your floor so in case of a fire there isnt an easy path for fire to spread upstairs. So this all creates a natural air flow path.

My stove works good for this too as its the secondary tube type stove with no convection deck. Lots of heat comes off the top of the stove as my stove cruises at 600 - 700 stove top temp. This makes for a powerful flow of heat up to the ceiling around the basement stove area. IF I turn on my fan it blows that heat off the top of the stove and out into the room rather than a flow up to the upper 1st floor of the house. But good thing is I have plenty of heat in the Stove area any ways dont need to run my self out of that area being too hot.