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[intensedrive]

Hi,

I think having properly seasoned wood would help.  Not sure it would fix everything. I'm going to look into the fan option based on the reviews.

Intensedrive do think if you had seasoned wood you wood be alright with the natural draft?

[wissel12]

jamesbodeis how is the fan option going?  Are your burn times still good?

[jamesbodeis]

So far so good.

[Roscoe]

Well...I have had my blower option running for about a week now on my 7500 so I figured I would report back for any perspective buyers....

Keep in mind I owned a forced draft Wood Doctor WD14000 for almost 10 years and this 7500 with the fan is a totally different animal. That old WD would burn any type of wood, seasoned or not with 24 hr burn times not out of the question. Even with temps in the single digits during the day and 20 below at night, the WD only required to be filled once a day. Ok....enough about that defunct stove/company.

Sight unseen I took delivery of the 7500 in Sept. 2014 and was a little unprepared for it because all my wood was split in big chunks. The capacity of the 7500 is about 3/4 of the old WD. I learned quickly that the 7500 likes small, seasoned wood so I bought the fan option in order to burn some big, sometimes not 100% seasoned pieces.         

My 7500 has 3' of chimney added to it. I run my temps 175-185.     

First, Because of the door configurations on a Ridgewood, the fan does not fuel the fire directly but rather fuels the firebox. The concept still works but recovery isn't as fast. 

Second, with seasoned wood, the recovery time is next to nothing. With mixed seasoned and green, recovery time is about half of the natural draft. Burning big split Ash rounds, recovery time is just a bit better than natural draft.....not much. I did not try green wood as I did not want to baby sit my stove with temps in the teens. All were tested with a nice bed of coals. Obviously the more moisture in your wood, the more you will burn trying to get up to temp.

Third, the fan set up makes it a pain in the ass to maintain the creosote build up (if you have any) on the draft door. I know a lot of guys (myself included) have burned up solenoids because of the door flap getting glued into place. Paper clips or not, you still have to maintain that draft door.

Last, a lot of guys ask if the fan was worth it. I paid almost $300 to get it to my house and I live in Michigan. Hook up was easy and the people at Ridgewood were great but I don't think I would buy it again. Instead I would try adding another section of chimney and/or stick to burning small, seasoned pieces of wood. Another option would be a completely new door set up, something that resembles Hawken, CB, WD....you get the picture.

Hope this helps

[willieG]

I have my blower assembly on my home made a few feet from the stove and I have never had any creosote or "gum" hold up my blower door.  I used a 3 inch pipe and cut it down where it enters the stove below the door to  2 - 1 1/2 inch inlets.. this works great. never a problem

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h308/billie_boy7/silvers%20replacement/003-1.jpge

[Roscoe]

I have my blower assembly on my home made a few feet from the stove and I have never had any creosote or "gum" hold up my blower door.  I used a 3 inch pipe and cut it down where it enters the stove below the door to  2 - 1 1/2 inch inlets.. this works great. never a problem

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h308/billie_boy7/silvers%20replacement/003-1.jpge

Nice stove build but it is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT set up

[tinfoilhat2020]

Roscoe i am not surprised by ur findings. I was expecting to here something along these lines. I have a Ridgewood 5000, almost identical to the ridgewood in design and function...i bought and hooked up a fan w/damper kit to the draft door a few months back in hopes to acheive being able to burn bigger logs and chunks off wood. I was having the same issues it sounds like u were having...it would burn great if i put small split peices of seasoned ash or oak...but if i put any larrge rounds or green in...my burn times and efficiency went to crap. Anywho, i got the fan all hooked up and it worked great for the most part...expect for the fact that it just blew the air directly onto the fire. Most units, like the WD have a baffle system on the inside of the door to evenly direct the airflow across the firebox from left to right, and also bottom to top. I expereinced incomplete burns and uneven burns. I also found that i was losing a ton more heat out of the stack, and also was seeing a bunch of sembers flying out from time to time along with ash. So, I took the draft fan off and went back to normal operation with natural draft. about a month later i decided to try adding an additional 4ft of stack on (i was already at 6 ft) and WOW! what a damn difference, NO NEED FOR A FAN NOW! within 4 minutes of the draft door opening there is an inferno roraing! recovery times are MUCH better, and i am able to throw whatever i want in there and it burns.

I Think that if there was some sort of baffle system on the inside of the door to direct airflow it would be much more efficent...but i would suggest just extending the stack..only cost me $22 for 4ft more of 8 inch pipe

[tinfoilhat2020]

I meant to say i have a TimberWolf 5000, not a ridgewood 5000. lol ^^^^^^^^^^^^

[jamesbodeis]

I wish there was a better way to direct the air. It blows pretty much dead center so that area burns faster than the rest. But for me since I am buring pretty much all green this year, it has helped my recovery times, and I am not using any more wood so far.

[willieG]

I have my blower assembly on my home made a few feet from the stove and I have never had any creosote or "gum" hold up my blower door.  I used a 3 inch pipe and cut it down where it enters the stove below the door to  2 - 1 1/2 inch inlets.. this works great. never a problem

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h308/billie_boy7/silvers%20replacement/003-1.jpge

Nice stove build but it is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT set up

I understand it is completely different roscoe, I was jus posting so that people realize they don't have to buy what some one else has decided is best for their stove. many on here (perhaps you too) have the capabilities to manufacture something for themselves and this post was just to show that if you use your imagination you may overcome a problem that seems to me a lot of folks are having. (this sticky flapper syndrome)

[wissel12]

Any updates for the draft fan option?

[Roscoe]

Anyone else running this forced draft set up besides myself and Jamesbodeis? If so, what do you think of it?

[U.P. Doug]

I installed my boiler last year and built a large woodshed, so I did not have a lot of time to cut wood. I am starting to run low on seasoned wood which burned great this winter with the natural draft, and it is hard to get in the woods with all the snow we have. I purchased a fan on E-Bay, looks like a hair dryer with a cover that slides to control the amount of air in and out. I fabricated a mount and cover for it at work to cover the front and sides and aim the blower at the draft door bottom so when it opens, the air blows in. I put a switch on it so I can choose fan or natural draft depending on my wood available. Filled it with green maple and beech yesterday and it burned great during the day, added more wood around 9:00 last night, and still going fine at 9:00 this morning. I have the fan running at 1/2 of the available air flow. I will run it like this for a while and let you know. So far, so good and allows me to burn green wood.

[wissel12]

I made my own force air for my stove. Not a fan of it. To much of the air goes up the chimney. I made it for the fun of it.

I wonder if it would work better if there was a baffle in the back of the stove. Something like CB has in there stove. Something to keep the air from short circuiting right out the chimney.

 

[U.P. Doug]

I did notice when I loaded the stove last night with the fan on high my stack temps were high, like you say Wissel12, and blowing the air right out the chimney. My fan is 60 cfm I believe, so I cut the flow to 1/3 and it seems to be the right amount. I have it on a switch and view it as a helper to burn green wood if I need too. Like I said, mine ran great all winter on natural draft with seasoned wood, but I am running low on it.