Ecofan

[Hedgerow hoarder]

Has anyone got an using a Ecofan for there wood burner, I've read all the info and sound really good , but wanted to here some reveiws.. A little worried about opperating temp!

[oldjerry]

Is that one of those little fans that sits on the top of the woodburner,and works thru the heat thrown up and spreads it round the room?If it is,they've got one in the local,and it works well.

[Hedgerow hoarder]

Yep that's the one, it's £100 so didn't want to get one only to find out it's all hype!

[oldjerry]

Hell,I didn't realise it was that much,Ithink if your WB is in the middle of the room like ours I wouldn't bother for that much dough,at the pub it's in one corner of the lounge,so the fan helps throw the heat around the lounge bar.' pends on how much you've got to spend I spose.

[Big Al]

Yep that's the one, it's £100 so didn't want to get one only to find out it's all hype!

For £100 I'd be more inclined to buy a few jumpers or 2-3 tonne of wood.....

[Hedgerow hoarder]

That's what I'm trying to work out, 2 jumpers and some wood sound good ha ha

[oldjerry]

Well after raving about it ,I didn't like to say it ,buut I'm sure Big Al is right. (I only paid £150 fora 4yr old Morso Dove in brill nick,and the back boiler 2nd hand was £25.so yep thats not worth it.........no wonder the bloody beer's so expensive in my local.

[Ellendra]

If you or someone you know is handy at building things, those fans are just sterling engines with fan blades, you can google "sterling engine" and find directions for building one from scratch. They're not all that complicated as engines go.

[battybird]

If you or someone you know is handy at building things, those fans are just sterling engines with fan blades, you can google "sterling engine" and find directions for building one from scratch. They're not all that complicated as engines go.

I looked at the instructions and the jumper wins hands down!! OH agreed it was fairly simple though...sexist thoughts come to mind Mind you I could knit the jumper better than him!!

[SaveSomeGreen]

morso Dove for £150, good work.. Anybody else got one?? V jealous!!

[Spinpup]

We have an Ecofan. Bought it from America as they were too expensive here. I think we paid £70. I think it does help warm the room up more quickly and more evenly - you aren't just warm sitting directly in front of the woodburner anymore!

My daughter is chief fire-lighter in our house. I asked her what she thinks, she said, "None of the hot air gets wasted hitting the bricks, it radiates out into the the room. Definitely worth it."

So they're really good but really expensive. Might be worth setting a saved search on Ebay to get an alert if one is listed.

Michelle

[gregorach]

If you or someone you know is handy at building things, those fans are just sterling engines with fan blades, you can google "sterling engine" and find directions for building one from scratch. They're not all that complicated as engines go.

A Stirling engine is quite simple in principle, but they're really quite tricky to build so that they work well enough to actually do anything. I've tried a couple of times... Seals, bearings and timing are all rather difficult to get right. You can build a classroom demonstrator without too much trouble, but it almost certainly won't run with even the lightest load.

[Zech]

After humming and hahing over the cost, we've just bought one - it arrived this morning and is now being tested.

I did look into making one myself. It turns out that there are two types, the Stirling engine that has already been mentioned (appealing, but well beyond my manufacturing abilities) and thermoelectric devices. These use a small block of a material that responds to heat differences by producing an electric current. I did wonder about getting hold of some of this stuff and rigging up the rest of the fan myself, but I'm not sure where I'd pick up a block of bismuth telluride!

I'll report back when we've used the fan for a while, but two comments so far: 1. Check the dimensions of your stove-top space carefully. The instructions say that the fan should go at the back of the stove, but if we put ours there, the blades would clonk the flue pipe and/or the lip of the canopy (decorative trim thing on top of the stove), so our fan is further forward than it should be. 2. Buy a thermometer before investing in the fan (we bought both together). The optimum operating temperature is between 150 and 350 deg C, and our stove top just isn't getting that hot (we have an integrated back boiler that includes pipes going through the top of the fire box).

For £100 I'd be more inclined to buy a few jumpers or 2-3 tonne of wood.....

Where can you get wood at that price??

[gregorach]

I did look into making one myself. It turns out that there are two types, the Stirling engine that has already been mentioned (appealing, but well beyond my manufacturing abilities) and thermoelectric devices. These use a small block of a material that responds to heat differences by producing an electric current. I did wonder about getting hold of some of this stuff and rigging up the rest of the fan myself, but I'm not sure where I'd pick up a block of bismuth telluride!

You can pick up TECs remarkably cheaply on eBay - I've got one kicking around for a project I haven't quite managed to get around to, been meaning to see how much juice it can produce just out of curiosity....

[Zech]

I did look into making one myself. It turns out that there are two types, the Stirling engine that has already been mentioned (appealing, but well beyond my manufacturing abilities) and thermoelectric devices. These use a small block of a material that responds to heat differences by producing an electric current. I did wonder about getting hold of some of this stuff and rigging up the rest of the fan myself, but I'm not sure where I'd pick up a block of bismuth telluride!

You can pick up TECs remarkably cheaply on eBay - I've got one kicking around for a project I haven't quite managed to get around to, been meaning to see how much juice it can produce just out of curiosity....

Don't tell me that now I've spent the money!

No, I mean do - I'd love to hear how you get on with it. It doesn't take much power to run a small electric motor, as I'm sure you know. The fan structure mainly consists of a base to transmit heat from stove top to TEC and fins to disperse heat at the top, to keep the other side of the TEC cool enough for a temp. differential.