Heat Powered Wood Stove Fan ??

[roylt]

Anyone use one of these? Wonder if it would help spread the radiant heat from my boiler through doorways of my basement. I'm on a tight budget so price point would come into play. Amazon has one for 22 bucks.
Thanks for your input.

 

[pisgah]

They stir the heat around a bit, but they are nothing like a powered blower. A cheap fan appropriately located would do a lot more.

 

[JohnL]

They are amusing but not effective. A good electric fan is much better at circulating hot air. A wood stove is how I heat my home. Burn about six to seven cords each winter. Winter her is about five months. Sometimes six.

 

[peachhead]

I have one and I pretty much agree with the above. They do move a little air but not a whole lot. A good box or pedestal fan can do a lot more.

 

[Watertender]

I think a corner doorway fan might be a good option. They are not that expensive and move quite a bit of air fairly quietly.

 

[blume357]

I vote for powered electric fan, I've seen these and they stir some air but will not move enough for what you want.
By the way, just to be 'one of those'.... you are not trying to move the radiant heat. but the air heated by the objects in the room that have been heated by the radiant heat from the boiler.... radiant heat is just light.... heated air is convection heat.... which by the way is the less effective way to heat an area....

 

[Cofaler]

We have one but consider it a novelty, it doesn't move any air to speak of. It may be an indicator to show how hot your stove top is, but it's not useful information that tells you to adjust your damper, add wood, etc, if that makes sense. You would have to do your own research in your house to see if running an electric fan to move heat would be worth the cost of electricity.

I used to work with a guy who burned wood to heat his old farm house who complained the upstairs bed rooms were always cold. He ended up cracking an upstairs window to cause a bit of a draft and swore it solved his problem.

My cousin lived in an old wood frame farm house on the western slope of CO with no ac and inferior insulation by today's standards, but was always cool and comfortable in the summer no matter how hot it was outside. I don't pretend to know the science behind that but I've experienced it in other old houses.

 

[Dan in MI]

I'd have to agree with the above observations. I have one and use it. For my purposes it is great, but I am in a 8x20 shop and it is pushing air directly at my work bench from roughly the midpoint of the shop. What helps the most, when it is really cold, is an old ceiling fan. It gets the lost heat from ceiling down and around the shop.

 

[mirglip]

I have 2 Caframo fans and they still work great after 8 winters. No, they don't move very much air, but I'm off the grid and I wouldn't want an electric fan running down my batteries all night while I sleep.

 

[NikA]

We've been through a couple and will keep buying them. They are an effective way to move a bit of air when the power's out, but as others say not as effective as other electric fans. I'm not clear they would work in your case, the top of the woodstove is a couple hundred degrees by the time they really get going.

 

[DBnoise]

I used to build wood burning stoves. The ones I built for myself were pretty well situated so convection could heat the house. I could load my air tight up on Thursday, set it to low, go on a weekend trip back Monday and still have heat. Open the windows downstairs where the stove was located and open the upstairs windows also. I personally have been healthier when heating with wood.
I like to use 5/16 floor plate for the top. More surface area. Use a 3/8" wall mechanical tube 12x3 for the baffle and let air flow thru it and have two holes in the top of the front edge 6" on center to inject air for more complete burn. Have a baffle in the pipe flu also.

 

[roylt]

Appreciate the input.
The way my home was built back in the 1920s the basement has block walls everywhere making the rooms. The boiler is in the middle of the basement area but was thinking if I could move air around a bit it might leak upstairs some.
Budget is tight this year and going into winter means high gas bills. I didn't run the boiler until end of October this year. several days of 50s in the house but been running heat this month.
Getting off track, venting a bit. Not my typical situation. Living and learning.

Thanks again,

 

[blume357]

Most folks have been brainwashed into believing that forced air whole house heating is the way to go. If you have a boiler with radiators in each room then you have what is now in modern times zone heating which is much better, on top of that it is radiant heat which I am taught is much better.... radiant heats the objects in a room which then heats the air. Also, in a drafty house this is much better. We are also finding out that this idea of sealing up a house as air tight as possible is a really really bad idea.