Wood burner and heat activated fan

[Harry Bloomfield]

The intention of the suggestion was for the fan (which in that specific shape produces a fairly narrow flat stream of air), to blow underneath the stove, whereupon the air hits the wall at the back and spreads out sideways and upwards, and turns around, emerging from the top and sides of the stove and carrying the warmed air into the room like a stove top fan would. Picking up cool air near the floor and pushing it into an enclosed space where it can only emerge from warmed parts should help prove whether arranging significantly increased air movement around the burner will improve your situation elsewhere in the room.

Will such a powerful airflow tend to upset the combustion and perhaps blow smoke into the room?

 

[Jbcory74]

@Burnerman I have the option to switch from an Allure 05 burner to an Aspect 4…

This will mean little cost as won’t need to touch the current surround or hearth but will only give me 6” of space above the stove (compared to the 2”) now… worth it? And probs like an extra inch either side of the stove.

I’ve added both specs to this comment!

Jess

 

[oldbutnotdead]

My four penn'orth- either pull your existing burner forward (if your stovepipe is 5" the minimum you can come forward will be about 8") or open up the fireplace so the thing can breathe (or fit your smaller stove).
As long as it's the same company who fitted your burner they should be happy to use the same liner so labour costs shouldn't be hideous. Wouldn't get excited about part-ex value, you'll probably do better on Facebook Marketplace.
Here's mine- it's set back into the fireplace and has a water jacket on it (13kw total, 5 into the room) and it heats this room (kitchen) and the hallway and upstairs landing very nicely from convection, the water jacket heats the thermal store which looks after rads and hot water. Drawbacks- it eats timber, stoking every 20 minutes or so, glad I don't pay for it

 

[Burnerman]

I’m afraid 6” isn’t enough space to get a traditional eco fan in, although there may be alternatives!
Certainly there will be better convection than the original installation - whether it will make any significant difference to you versus the cost is unknown.
You’ll realise the spec you’ve uploaded ( left sheet) is for a wood burning stove only.....ideally you need a multi fuel stove so you can burn smokeless ovoids, or the log bill will be huge! To be fair, there isn’t a huge difference other than a grille that can be riddled. Ovoids cost about £15 per 25 kg up here.
Can you just confirm for me that there is an existing register plate, I.e the original chimney is blocked off apart from a hole where the stove pipe passes through?
John

 

[Jbcory74]

My four penn'orth- either pull your existing burner forward (if your stovepipe is 5" the minimum you can come forward will be about 8") or open up the fireplace so the thing can breathe (or fit your smaller stove).
As long as it's the same company who fitted your burner they should be happy to use the same liner so labour costs shouldn't be hideous. Wouldn't get excited about part-ex value, you'll probably do better on Facebook Marketplace.
Here's mine- it's set back into the fireplace and has a water jacket on it (13kw total, 5 into the room) and it heats this room (kitchen) and the hallway and upstairs landing very nicely from convection, the water jacket heats the thermal store which looks after rads and hot water. Drawbacks- it eats timber, stoking every 20 minutes or so, glad I don't pay for it View attachment 289870

I can’t pull the current drive out without the need to increase the hearth significantly!

So I believe the only options are

To get a smaller stove which will only give me 6” space above the stove for the air gap.

Or to completely remove the stone fireplace surround and hearth and increase the size of the recess (only heigh, the width is as far as it can be due ti the external chimney breast) and then get a new hearth and possibly a wooden or whatever material mantle is required?

Your set up is amazing BTW I love it. I wish we had more space to have that!!!

Jess

 

[Jbcory74]

I’m afraid 6” isn’t enough space to get a traditional eco fan in, although there may be alternatives!
Certainly there will be better convection than the original installation - whether it will make any significant difference to you versus the cost is unknown.
You’ll realise the spec you’ve uploaded ( left sheet) is for a wood burning stove only.....ideally you need a multi fuel stove so you can burn smokeless ovoids, or the log bill will be huge! To be fair, there isn’t a huge difference other than a grille that can be riddled. Ovoids cost about £15 per 25 kg up here.
Can you just confirm for me that there is an existing register plate, I.e the original chimney is blocked off apart from a hole where the stove pipe passes through?
John

Damn it.

Looks like completely removing the current surround would be the only option then as I wouldn’t want to get a smaller stove - that one is pretty much the smallest!

Yeah there is a plate just inside the recess about half an inch up, it’s completely blocked off with a hole where the flue exits. So I am assuming that means the chimney is blocked off apart from that?

Oh we’ve just been burning wood, my partner gets a lot of it for free!

 

[Jbcory74]

Damn it.

Looks like completely removing the current surround would be the only option then as I wouldn’t want to get a smaller stove - that one is pretty much the smallest!

Yeah there is a plate just inside the recess about half an inch up, it’s completely blocked off with a hole where the flue exits. So I am assuming that means the chimney is blocked off apart from that?

Oh we’ve just been burning wood, my partner gets a lot of it for free!

But during the old weather last week we bought from for like £70 and there’s so much wood, but the fire only goes on in the evenings unless it’s freezing during day time and I am working from home!

 

[Burnerman]

Sure, you have a register plate in place which is a good thing. All should be but some aren’t and there’s always sign of soot and debris visible.
So where do we go from here......buy a smaller stove and try it, and if it’s still not good enough then raise the fireplace upwards?
John

 

[Jbcory74]

Hey! @Burnerman @oldbutnotdead

We’ve had the recess opened up as much as possible. The space above the wood burner has increased from 2 inches to 9 inches and the space on the sides has increased from 2 inches to 3 inches (it wasn’t possible to open it up anymore due to the external chimney breast!)

Better????

 

[Mr Chibs]

I still think it's tight at the sides... out of curiousity what board has been used on the sides and back of the aperture/reveal?
The sides may get warm depending on how much heat is thrown out of the sides of the stove.

Better now you've got more room above the stove... a flue thermometer is a good investment (£10) so you can see when it's burning efficiently.

I have a heat activated fan above mine too. Also make sure you have carbon monoxide detector.

FWIW I've got around 125mm space at the sides... and my skirting board is chopped flush to edge of the aperture/reveal, no problem when stove is raging.

 

[Jbcory74]

That’s as wide as it could go at the sides we’ve been told, so there has just been a small increase at the sides then the original set up - the only way to get more space is to change our burner which is currently an Hunter Allure 5 and replace with the smaller version Allure 4… but I’m hopeful that this new set up will be enough to stop the heat getting trapped…

The guy that installed it said he has put insulation down the flue too - stones of some sort he said , so instead of heat going up the chimney breast and getting lost more should get transferred into the room?

There is fire proof boarding around the sides and back - same as what was there before, I believe it’s only thin boards?

Thanks! They have given me a thermometer which has a magnetic back and has since been added to the flue! I was thinking to get a tan now too - as now one will actually fit, any one in particular or get some from Amazon? I saw this 5 blade one: https://amzn.eu/d/4eiiZUa

Thanks!

 

[Jajodu]

We had one of those, too noisy by far as it span very fast as the blades are fairly small and then the bearings failed. We got one from the store we purchased our log burner from. Massive difference in quality and still going 5 years on, and quiet.

 

[Jbcory74]

We had one of those, too noisy by far as it span very fast as the blades are fairly small and then the bearings failed. We got one from the store we purchased our log burner from. Massive difference in quality and still going 5 years on, and quiet.

Do you happen to know the name of the brand? I don’t mind paying more for one as long as it’s going to do the job and not break in a years time!

 

[Jajodu]

I'm away atm but will look it up on my return.

 

[Mr Chibs]

I've got one of those cheap fans, it was £14.99 from Aldi, been using it two years... have had a fire every night November to May... it's silent, guess it's just luck of the draw.

Reckon you might just get warm sides of the reveal if the fire has been on a few hours, it's it cement fire-board, it will cope with the heat no problem.

The 'stones' may be vermiculite and a around the flue liner. This is the proper way to do it.

Bet you will be counting down until the cold weather!