Looking for help

[Brad W Wi]

I've put this in before with only one reply. I'm going to try again. I'm thinking of a blower on my 2x8 Dallaire. I don't know diddly about them and wondering about some feed back from you all ( or just a few of you)? I presently have a 10" stack on my unit. Do I need air tight doors? What kind of increase can I look for with my present evaporation rate of 43 GPH? I do have a small blower from a fireplce insert I'm thinking a 1/10 hp motor. Is this enough- to small? Any and all information will be appriecated and if anyone is in northern Wisc. that would let me look at their unit it would help greatly. Thank you for any and all help.

[Bucket Head]

I'm thinking the fireplace blower is small enough that it would not send a lot of ash past non air tight doors. However, it probably would not provide a lot of forced draft either. A bigger blower, which I would reccomend, would require some sort of gasket/sealing so sparks and ashes don't escape. Even a much larger blower than what is needed can be used as long as you restrict the intake and only send in the amount of air you need. Thats what I did with my blower. As for the evaporation rate, its hard to say what your increase will be. Too many variables to try and come up with an exact figure, but you will certainly have an increase. Maybe some others on here with a comparable evaporator will share some before and after blower figures.

Steve

[Father & Son]

Brad,
I have a blower on my rig which is identical to your's. It is a 265 cfm Dayton blower. I run it at full power and I have a damper in the duct work to adjust flow to keep from blowing sparks/ash out the doors. The duct work on mine enters the back of the fire box under the grates. I'm thinking of extending the duct work all the way to the front of the firebox, capping it and drilling holes in the top of the duct to direct the air straight up to see if it improves anything. The way it is now I think the effect is minimal. Hope this helps.

Jim

[berryrd]

I got a furnace blower from a heating contractor. Has alittle too much pressure and need to get a speed control. Has a dramic impact especally after refiring. My pans are alittle thick ,14 ga, and my stack is a lttle short so it helps.

[berryrd]

Oh forgot to mention that my arch needs a total rebuild so it is not air tight. So flames blow out the doors a other holes in the sides. Will be interesting to see how much improvement a tight arch will make. Furnace blowers for sale in classified.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Let me start by saying I burn oil BUT I did see a CDL Intensofire and the air shoots in from the door and man does it rip. I also installed a Marcland auto draw off and got the full feature one that has a alarm circuit to shut down the oil gun OR the blower on wood burning rigs if the temp gets to high so it must make a big difference.

Now I also noticed that on the CDL rig he has to run with a screen cap on the flue stack for back pressure to keep the heat in so the temps stay up. I think just blowing all the ash and heat around with blower fresh air is going to be the majic trick.

[RickinFarmington]

I have asked this before, but have not really gotten an answer that addressed the question.

Given the ease of installing a blower on well built arches, is there any reason one would not go with a blower. Is the wood consumption increase offset by increased evaporation in GPH? Seem like everyone should be running forced air.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I am starting to build a new system and would like to hear from people with experience.

Thanks, Rick