colin.p
Burning Hunk
I must admit my stove kind of does the same thing. When it's going, a very pronounced draft occurs. However, it's probably sucking all the cold air in from outside, I'll wager.
When the powers out and no fan.Which stove is best ?
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I must admit my stove kind of does the same thing. When it's going, a very pronounced draft occurs. However, it's probably sucking all the cold air in from outside, I'll wager.
Midway, perhaps the reason you did not have good luck with this is because you tried blowing the warm air into the cool air. Sorry, but that is backwards. By using a very small fan set on low speed, the fan setting on the floor in a hallway or doorway blowing toward the stove room will move the heat fast if those far rooms need it.
I do agree with the radiant heat you mentioned but sometimes some folks have far rooms that could use more heat. We did until we did some super insulating. Now we no longer need a fan.
ohlongarm
Minister of Fire
I only run a fan when it's in single digits temps doing so keeps the house easily in the 70's10* or above stove a BK does fine.
Thanx Zap it is great to be back I missed my friends here!! Now to get my cable, Internet and phone back!
Ray
Not sure where you read this but the EPA shows that the PH is actually tied for second place with the other two stoves that meet or exceed the PH's efficiency using a decades old design. I am not a fan of current hybrid technology, a proper cat stove is superior in just about every way except flame show.
In a power outage, the typical freestanding stove will be superior to a typical insert. Any further decisions will be based on splitting hairs as they all work very well without fans.
Personally I like the hybrids as they offer the best of both worlds. My T5 kept us warm for powerless days with high winds and temps down to 6 degrees. No complaints here at all.
Ray
Ray
Missed everyone here!
Augie
Feeling the Heat
Didn't buy a blower fan with mine. Adjusted a few things in the house to encourage a convection loop. Never had an issue keeping the house evenly warm even on the coldest day/night. So far that was a night low of -5 daytime high of 6 and then another night of -8.
I think you have a different idea on what luck is. I used to use the fan(here after: blower) and the small table fans on the floor blowing the cool air into the stove room. NOT using the blower on my stove gets the house gets warmer faster, stays warmer longer, I reload less often, and I no longer need to use fans on the floor of the halls or doorways. Convection is clearly working better for me than fans/blower. I would consider not having to position fans, control blower speed, and open/close doors to control the airflow a stroke of good luck. The less work I have to the do the better, especially if it saves me money. That and I'm lazy...
My intent with the original post was to say that my stove (PE S 27) works just fine to heat my house (2200 sqft ranch) with no issues during a power loss, or even when the power is on. Obviously this wont work for everybody; especially insert users. What surprises me, however, is that so many on this forum are resistant and shocked at my statement. As I've already said, I never would have believed not using a blower would work better (again, for me and my setup). How many of you freestanding stove users have actually tried going without a blower for more than a day to experiment?
Just spent 4 days without power and found upstairs got too warm with no blower.. The blower disperses the heat and more stays downstairs where I want it so it does make a difference especially if it gets really cold I find the warm up much faster with the blower..
Ray
Good to have you back Ray. I think Highbeam meant hybrid cat + secondary burn stoves, not cast/steel. Our stove used to convect too strongly to the upstairs. This was because the ceiling was flat all the way from the living room to the large open foyer stairway. I put a false boxed in header between the rooms That drops down about 14" and trimmed it to look proper. That helped to slow down the flow enough that the house stays pretty balanced in temperature now.
Thanx BG great to be home again
I was referring to cat/secondary burn hybrids. I don't consider our stove a hybrid but rather a wolf in sheeps' clothing 
Ray
Augie
Feeling the Heat
I have no blower on my stove, use no fans in the house, farthest room is 2-4 degrees cooler than stove room. I live in a ranch and the furthest room is at the other end of the house as stove is as far from the bed rooms as possible.
firebroad
Minister of Fire
UPDATE--
No joy with my insert. I got the heat going, turned off the blower, kept ceiling fan running--an hour later the temp (thermo is about 25 feet from stove)actually dropped one degree. Turned blower back on, half hour later gained two degrees. Guess my set up is different than Midways, but I do not have a block off plate, OAK or liner insulation. That might make the difference.
Correct, I actually like the concept of a welded steel firebox wrapped with the exterior of your choice. Hybrids are still too much of a compromise of each technology. You can't run them like a true cat and you still have to pay for the cat element. I actually consider the current options as more of a non-cat with a cat to clean up the emissions of a lower burn. Rather than the best of both worlds (as they should be) you get the worst of both worlds with short burn times and the risk of poisoning your cat. Perhaps future designs will better achieve the long low burns of a cat along with the hot fast burns of a non-cat. The Lopi hybrid is closer than the PH right now.
Machria
Minister of Fire
Yep, the answer is the Progress Hybryd. But NOT becuase it has one of the best efficiency ratings. More because of it's long burn times paired with the long even heat output from the SOAPSTONE!
No fan necassary!
chemical_man
Member
If you still want a fan when the power is out, get a thermoelectric fan ((broken link removed to http://www.green-logic.net/ecainowostfa.html)). You can find these at many hardware stores, possibly on sale. They work well, and generally the hotter the stove the faster the fan spins; however, too hot can cook the thermoelectric and kill the power source and/or the dc motor (so don't put it next to the stove pipe).
My stove is at the end of my house. The only time I use a fan ( blowing towards the stove room ) is when it gets too warm in the stove room. I can feel a definite convection draft when it's really cold outside. I have an OAK so I know the stove is not pulling air.
having went 9 days without power during last years halloween snowstorm and 6 days without power for sandy i found a great way to run the fan is with the deep cycle battery i have for my boat trolling motor connected to a 400watt inverter that costs about 40 bucks. saves running the generator to just run the insert fan then recharge the battery when you need the generator for other stuff
Our Warmhearth unit is not very effective without the fan on.
Here's what I do when the power goes out. I plug an inverter into my truck, run a cord to the fireplace, and plug the fan into that. The fan only draws about 20 watts, so it can run hours and hours off the truck's battery.
I had to add a plug inside, so when the power's out, I can unplug it from the house's power, pull the plug out of the vent at the bottom, and plug it into the cord from the truck.
BTW, I google "Warmhearth fireplace" and the picture that came up was our fireplace!
(broken image removed)
Here's what I do when the power goes out. I plug an inverter into my truck, run a cord to the fireplace, and plug the fan into that. The fan only draws about 20 watts, so it can run hours and hours off the truck's battery.
I had to add a plug inside, so when the power's out, I can unplug it from the house's power, pull the plug out of the vent at the bottom, and plug it into the cord from the truck.
BTW, I google "Warmhearth fireplace" and the picture that came up was our fireplace!
(broken image removed)
Insomnivore
Member
I run a small fan off an inverter hooked to 2 12VDC batteries.
Power goes out here so frequently that I, and almost all the neighbors have multiple backup sources of power. I keep enough LP to power my generator for 2 or more weeks.
Quick calc shows average of 69.63 hours or 2.9 days of downtime (no grid power) per year over the last 5 years here. No particular reason except it's a semi-rural area. We have had three 7+ day outages in the last 2 years alone.
Power goes out here so frequently that I, and almost all the neighbors have multiple backup sources of power. I keep enough LP to power my generator for 2 or more weeks.
Quick calc shows average of 69.63 hours or 2.9 days of downtime (no grid power) per year over the last 5 years here. No particular reason except it's a semi-rural area. We have had three 7+ day outages in the last 2 years alone.
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