Recoheat

Netexporter

Andrea15 said:

It does have a metal strip, but I am not sure if/how it works. 

It is supposed to curve (the two metals expand at a different rate), which should lift one edge of the base off the stove.

Do you have a thermometer on the stove? If you are over-firing it, even the bi-metal strip may not be enough to prevent the cell overheating.

Andrea15

I do have the thermometer, but I am hardly overfiring it as I am not getting that much heat in any case 😂

FreeBear

Have you tried a Stirling engine powered fan ?

https://www.stirlingengine.co.uk/d.asp?product=VULCANMINI -  Reasonably priced models..

https://warpfivefans.com/product/steelhead-stove-fan/ - Quite a bit more expensive, but they do have a number of other models.

Andrea15

£125?!?!
My fan is fine. I just use my rechargeable batteries.

markin

lohr500 said:

Andrea15 said:

I find the "self powered" fans totally useless, or at least the "self" bit, reason why I have it now battery operated. 

Our five or six year old cheapo Aldi self powered fan is still going strong. 
What was useless about the model/s you tried?

A common problem is over heating them and burning out the thermocouple = thermoelectric generator

The is no battery!

lohr500

Not sure if other designs are similar but the Aldi one has a metallic (bimetallic ?) strip on the bottom which raises the flat base of the fan off the stove top if it gets too hot. I guess this is to prevent the thermocouple getting too hot.

Effician

Think my solution would have more benefits than a recoheat in recovering flue heat & much cheaper too. the missus uses also the rail to dry socks etc.

Still use the Caframo & after 13yrs still does an ok job of getting warm air into the room, if we need to spread the heat around more we have 2x ceiling fans downstairs plus 4x16" dc stand fans to move heat where we want it around the house.

Andrea15

I boil water too

Nigey

Andrea15 said:

Has anyone ever heard of this gadget? It seems to be some sort of pump you install in the flue of your stove to get more hot air in the house.
I have just come across it by chance; after a search here nobody seems to have mentioned as yet.
As I am disappointed with the heat output of my stove, I am always trying to find ways to improve its output. 

I just thought I would give you an honest review as I have had recoheat fitted over a year. Im in no way affiliated to ecoheat and paid full price for it.

 I moved into a small 2 bed house in Scotland a few years ago and wanted to get a bit more from the stove.  It didn’t seem to give a lot of heat out and the fire sat right back into the fireplace. I came up with a plan to bring the fire forward by fitting a Tee and connecting the chimney to the back, bringing the fire about 10 inches forward on to the hearth. I also watched all the videos about recoheat and decided to take a punt and install it the same time.

Previously I had a double stove fan on top, but TBH it didn’t make any difference.  I could put my hand in front of it and could hardly feel a thing, it seemed to move the air a few inches. I tried with a small desk fan blowing underneath and again it had little effect the heat stayed in the room. I tried a fan blowing up the stairs this was a faff as had to keep turning it on a off because it was taking to much heat out regardless of which setting, I just could not find the right balance. 

The advantage of my set up now is that the air is brought in from outside, it goes through a coil in the chimney that’s heated from the smoke passing through it, that gets pushed through front of the chimney, as mine is now at the back it blows over the top of the stove. It’s made a huge difference, it has taken the chill from the rest of the house. I’m not going to say its like the Bahamas upstairs but it’s very comfortable. Instead of just circulating the air with those powerless stove top fans. As the air brought in it pushes it through the whole house, similar to the positive ventilation fans. 

 Cons -

The pump is quite big and is noisy, it’s a deep constant deep hum like a fish tank pump x 10. I tried it on a concrete slab on rubber mats. I ended up making a insulated box and put it in the void/crawler space under my kitchen. The other option I guess would be to put it in a box outside and find a way to route the air pipe.

 The hissing noise from the fire is annoying especially at first, you do get kinda used to it though and if your watching a movie you can turn it off. its certainly not as quiet they make out in the videos, at first I was driving me nuts, but like anything you do get used to it.

It’s not snake oil but it’s also not cheap. But it does offer a level of comfort you don’t get with just the stove top fans.

 With all the issues mentioned above would I buy it again ABSOLUTLY without a doubt.

 (I have the pump connected to a smart plug so can switch it on and off via Alexa and my dot has a built in thermometer, so I’ve set a routine via the app to switch it off when the lounge temperature gets below 20c)