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[victor6deep]

Not that I need to do this but I am wondering since my flapper and fan are setup to where I could unhook the power to the fan but still let air flow through the housing similar to a natural draft. My solenoid drops a metal plate on top of where my fan draws air. I attached a pic of what it looks like. My question is if I have my chimney coming out the top of my stove will I get more air flow unhooking the fan versus keeping the fan hooked up? I would think I will get more airflow unhooking the fan because the fan can't spin as fast as a natural air draft with no restriction.

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[mikey37]

victor ! I believe it will work however your recover time will b a lot longer! just my opinion!

[victor6deep]

I like the design so if my fan fails the fire will still burn. Just wondered if the air would move faster without a fan restriction?

[mikey37]

i would say yes-  but i could b wrong ! i would unplug fan and pull the heat out of stove untilthe stove calls for heat  and c how long it takes to recover!

[victor6deep]

i would say yes-  but i could b wrong ! i would unplug fan and pull the heat out of stove untilthe stove calls for heat  and c how long it takes to recover!

The more I think about this I would assume it will take longer initially but once the fire gets ripping this is where the fan restricts the fire from roaring. I currently run 170-180 and might change the temps to 175-185 to make up for the initial startup.

[mikey37]

i would say try and c what happens! as u know my stove is a natural draft and seems to work fine, how ever the opening is larger! i run my stove at 160 with all in floor heat!

[Scott7m]

Most stoves will go ahead and function with no fan... Solenoids are far more likely to fail.  If the flap is open you have natural draft, if the fan is on too you have forced draft..

The fans ain't restricting nothing..  I've seen them overheat so quickly during a creosote fire that they'd blow the float guage 15 ft into the air and look like a geyser going off

I was switching a solenoid out when this took place, it was simply drawing air through the fan

[muffin]

My unit is designed to be natural draft and worked great.  I added a blower because I have a very high heat demand some times.  The blower does speed up the recovery time.  I have run it in draft mode, with the fan still attached, and did not notice much difference.  I think it will work fine.  If you want the temp to recover faster, use the fan.

[victor6deep]

Well I ended up wiring a toggle switch to seperate the fan from the solenoid for the draft plunger. I went out about a hour later when the stove was cycling and boy was that fire going crazy in there all I could hear was air whistling through the fan louvers. I decided I amd gonna keep the fan off only when I have a active coal bed and then use the fan when I am starting a fresh load or starting the 1st fire of the year. I also like the switch on the loading door so when I scoop ashes out the fan doesn't blow them all over when I take the shovel out. Just from what I witnessed I think the fan actually slows the draft down when the fire really gets going.

[BoilerHouse]

I also have both forced and natural draft.  I use the forced draft fan on start up.  I allow it to switch to natural draft after the fire gets going providing it does not smoke.  That being said, in my case, I find that the fire is always hotter, the flue temperature is higher and more air flows through the unit  when the fan is on.