Log Burner Fan Temperamental

[MickH]

Hi fellow boaters,

Can anyone please shed light on why my log burner fan decides not to work whilst sitting on the hot stove, yet when I take it off it decides to work!!! Thinking the motor and or the generator were faulty I replaced them. However, it continues to be very temperamental, also what does the chrome metal strip underneath actually do please?

[Tony Brooks]

The chrome strip is  a bimetallic strip that bends and lifts the fan base it it gets too hot. This is to protect the thermal cell.

 

 

[Bod]

Where on the stove top are you putting the fan?

 

Bod

[mrsmelly]

Put it in a skip, it will be of more use.

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Put it in a skip, it will be of more use.

 

No, put it in the re-cycling, it could be melted down & used to make something that really works.

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

No, put it in the re-cycling, it could be melted down & used to make something that really works.

Everyone knows that stove fans are ridiculously powerful and not a force to be trifled with. The recent increase in boat ownership, and by extension stove fan ownership, is now thought to be the real cause of global warming!

[Tony Brooks]

18 hours ago, MickH said:

Hi fellow boaters,

Can anyone please shed light on why my log burner fan decides not to work whilst sitting on the hot stove, yet when I take it off it decides to work!!! Thinking the motor and or the generator were faulty I replaced them. However, it continues to be very temperamental, also what does the chrome metal strip underneath actually do please?

 

I had hoped that you would get an answer to your first question but it seems not, especially as you did not seem to answer about where on the stove you place it. This might seem like a silly question but it has relevance.

 

The fins at the top of the body need to be cooler than the base so there is a temperature difference across the thermal cell. the greater this difference the more electricity is produced. All I can think of is that you have it positioned close to the flue so the fan can't draw cooler air over those fins so the temperature difference across the cell is insufficient to produce the electricity required to run the fan.  No fan, no cooling of the fins so no fan.

 

The fan needs to draw air from one side of the flue, not  directly over it.

[MickH]

The fan is placed close to the flue, will give it a try if placed towards the front

 

[Bod]

Place it to the side of the flue, and as far back as you can.

The idea is to pull cold air through the upper fins, pushing the same air onto the heated stove surface, then pushing the rising hot air from the front of the stove out into the room.

 

Bod

[MickH]

We have a Villager Heron, the flue is pretty central so no room at the back of the stove and if we place it at the front of the stove we are in danger of catching it when bending down to fill or empty ashes

[Tony Brooks]

Twist the fan through 30 degrees or so, then it will draw air from one side of the flue. It must be a small stove. maybe you need to start looking at a 12v computer fan up near the ceiling.

[MickH]

Thank you Tony

[Bod]

22 hours ago, MickH said:

We have a Villager Heron, the flue is pretty central so no room at the back of the stove and if we place it at the front of the stove we are in danger of catching it when bending down to fill or empty ashes

We have a Heron also, the original Eco-fan sits beside the flue, the fan does overlap the flue pipe.

Some of the newer models with two fans would be a problem.

 

Bod

[blackrose]

22 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

Twist the fan through 30 degrees or so, then it will draw air from one side of the flue.

 

Yes it's just got to be able to draw cooler air, whether that's from the back or the side of the stove. My fan is at 90 deg to the back of the stove pointing towards the flue because I think it assists natural convection rather than fighting against it. *Other opinions are available.

 

If your fan still doesn't work after repositioning it then it may have become overheated. Chuck it away and live without one for a while to see whether you think it actually makes any difference. If so, new ones are pretty cheap on eBay or Amazon now 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by blackrose

[MickH]

👌

[cuthound]

On 01/12/2021 at 13:43, Hudds Lad said:

Everyone knows that stove fans are ridiculously powerful and not a force to be trifled with. The recent increase in boat ownership, and by extension stove fan ownership, is now thought to be the real cause of global warming!

 

Indeed, the recent high winds were incorrectly attributed to.Storm Arwen, when actually they were caused by boaters with stove fans lighting their stoves during the cold snap that preceded it. 🤣

[JoeC]

What size is your fan? Is it the correct size for the stove seeing as there is not much room to put it on it. Don't ask me what size it should be though!