Adding a Blower Fan

[reddogrunner]

When we first built our house a few years ago I made the mistake of not upgrading the fireplace to something actually usable. They put in a piece of crap Heat-n-Glo with glass doors. No blower unit, etc. As all of you know those things don't heat worth a crap and it smokes inside the house unless you cracka window which kind of defeats the purpose.

Anyhow, It has 2 solid panels of metal above and below the firebox. I want to take the thing apart and see if I can jerry rig a blower unit in there until i can afford a real insert. Has anyone here ever tried that? Had any success? Thanks ahead of time.

 

[savageactor7]

Yeah I think that's do-able but very labor intensive, and with a lot of jury rigging...and all that just for a blower to provide an incremental heat increase? Meh...

Why not have a serious sit down with the exec and discuss the possibility of removing the fireplace to accommodate a free standing stove for 5X the heat?

 

[haveawoody]

I vote for the free standing also.
2x the heat, 1/2 the wood, very low costs to maintain, comes with a blower in most cases and you can even purchase one with minimal wall clearance if space is an issue.

Fill the old chimney up with insulation and put a electric in it's place.
Spending good money for a blower on an old stove is a bad investment i think.
Spending good money on a stove that reduces wood load 1/2 and heats 2x for that amount of wood is good money.

A free standing decent wood stove and good insulation in a home are like money in the bank.

 

[reddogrunner]

Unfortunately a free standing unit is out of the question. No corner that would work and we need our floor space. So....back to the drawing board. Thanks anyhow though

 

[haveawoody]

reddogrunner,

If you are lacking space for a free standing then a new epa insert is probably going to be worth the firewood saving over adding a blower to the not so good insert.

It will cost you more to start putting in a new insert over adding a blower to an old stove, but the savings on wood amounts and house temperature over a season or two will offset the cost difference.
And it will make a difference on your back, chainsaw oil, gas, truck etc only having to haul 1/2 as much wood.

An insert due to it's nature will never be as good at heating as a stand alone.
Then again you can get pretty close with a new epa insert.

 

[Encore]

Agree with the others. Rip out that old fireplace and get a stove insert and enjoy a warm house.

A blower, will help, but it's not going to even come close to an insert. and in the end its not really going to give you the heat you want.