Log burner fan - worth it’s or useless tat?

markin

Useless tat

Just use the fan you use in the summer to circulate the air. So many over heat and burn out in a week/year, and the flow isn't great anyway. 

jonnydeppiwish!

Worth it

markin said:

Just use the fan you use in the summer to circulate the air. So many over heat and burn out in a week/year, and the flow isn't great anyway. 

Thanks - we don’t tend to use fans in the summer tbh, plus I’d rather not spend money on electric.

stuhse

We have noticed a definite improvement since getting our thermally operated fan- i think ours is an Aldi one, only a few quid and its done about 3 years now. Also we have one of those thermometers which fastens magnetically to the flue out let. This is really useful to check you are burning in the correct temperature range, and therefore efficiently.

markin

Useless tat

jonnydeppiwish! said:

markin said:

Just use the fan you use in the summer to circulate the air. So many over heat and burn out in a week/year, and the flow isn't great anyway. 

Thanks - we don’t tend to use fans in the summer tbh, plus I’d rather not spend money on electric.

15 -20w for low settings, for 1hr a day won't break the bank.

FreeBear

Posted this on another thread a day or two ago... Stirling powered fans - nearly silent, no thermoelectric piles to fail, and if constructed from the right materials, can not be overheated.

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.

Eldi_Dos

Those fans  that the links lead to are certainly expensive,I thought a meccano fan could be utilised to build one with a bobbin for a base.
Couple of hours of pleasant browsing but not been able to come up with design or parts.
But on the bright side found meccano car, two for £30 in Argos, think that could be a couple of presents sorted.

redofromstart

We frittered £24 on one last month, and despite my low expectations it does a great job of pushing the heat from the wood burner out of the inglenook. So much so that we bought a second one to stop the cats squabbling over the chairs on the fan side.

FreeBear

Eldi_Dos said:

Those fans  that the links lead to are certainly expensive,I thought a meccano fan could be utilised to build one with a bobbin for a base.
Couple of hours of pleasant browsing but not been able to come up with design or parts.
But on the bright side found meccano car, two for £30 in Argos, think that could be a couple of presents sorted.

Plenty of engineering drawings available - I have a couple of books with various designs.. https://modelengineeringwebsite.com/Stirling_fan_drawings.html - There are a couple of parts that need to be machined to a really good finish & fit, but the rest of it can be quite agricultural. A small lathe is needed.

Jonboy_1984

Went into one of these Xmas barns yesterday (pop up selling Xmas trees and decorations in a barn on a farm that grows Xmas trees). They had one on a stove in the corner and I was surprised by the warm air current as I walked past around 10’ away.

greenbee

redofromstart said:

We frittered £24 on one last month, and despite my low expectations it does a great job of pushing the heat from the wood burner out of the inglenook. So much so that we bought a second one to stop the cats squabbling over the chairs on the fan side.

If the cats can tell the difference, then they must work!