A quiet fan for the wood stove

[FISH4BUGS]

We heat with wood, and we also use a fan to circulate the air from the stove room to the rest of the house.
The past floor fans have been way too noisy.
My SO is apparently sensitive to the fan noise but it doesn't bother me. She claims she can hear it all night long and it keeps her up. Well....Okay...if you say so.
Are there fans that are made that super quiet?
We only use it to circulate air from the center of the house to the outer rooms.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[EDG]

Yes but the fan is probably going to be expensive.
My grandparents had one probably made in the 1950s by GE. It was all metal with heavy aluminum blades with extreme tear shaped blades on the trailing edges. It was whisper quiet. It was killed by a lightening strike.

[Blanket]

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Complete.../dp/B018G9ZKBK operated by heat

[Bulldogger]

Like Blanket, I immediately thought of the heat-powered fans. They are not cheap, but I'd expect their low number of moving parts would tend towards long life. If I heated with wood I would pony up for one since it can operate without power in a blackout.

If anyone here has one, I hope they'll chime in with how well they operate.

BDRG

[Petrol & Powder]

If you need to move a large volume of air, over some distance, you will probably need something larger than a stove top fan.

The noise comes from the turbulence around the blades AND the motor itself. The old heavy metal fans like the one EDG speaks of in post #2 were industrial works of art. Many of those electric motors were seriously overbuilt. They could operate at low speeds and still quietly move significant air. They also had bushing with oil cups, very well made motors and well designed blades.

In today's world you're probably looking for something that turns slowly and moves a lot of air at low rpm's but without that 60 Hz hum that plagues cheap motors.

An old turntable motor, pulleys, a belt and some well designed blades might work but that's going to be some serious fabrication.

Another possibility if you have central air is to use the blower in you system (without the HVAC unit running) to just move air though the duct work.

[ShooterAZ]

Dyson makes some air movers that don't make any noise at all. They are pretty expensive though.

https://www.dyson.com/fans-and-heate...FYzOWwodpLMJcA

[Petrol & Powder]

Dyson is a little heavy on marketing.

[DCM]

Low RPM is the key as others have mentioned.
The Dyson looks interesting but I have no experience with that.

[NyFirefighter357]

Your moving the wrong air, you should be moving the air close to the ceiling not the cooler air on the floor. https://www.google.com/search?source...10.m69PX220mHU

[EDG]

Yes but the fan is probably going to be expensive.
My grandparents had one probably made in the 1950s by GE. It was all metal with heavy aluminum blades with extreme tear shaped blades on the trailing edges. It was whisper quiet. It was killed by a lightening strike.

[beemer]

[QUOTE=Bulldogger;4464239]Like Blanket, I immediately thought of the heat-powered fans. They are not cheap, but I'd expect their low number of moving parts would tend towards long life. If I heated with wood I would pony up for one since it can operate without power in a blackout.

If anyone here has one, I hope they'll chime in with how well they operate.

BDRG[/QUOT

My Mother has had an Ecofan for about 10-12 years or so. It helps to circulate the air very slowly around the house but does not move a lot of air like a proper blower on a wood heater. The way her house is laid out and the type of heater she has makes it worth while but is almost worthless for mine. Would work for a shop or room with a small wood heater.

[shortlegs]

I use a small "squirrel cage" fan to push the heat from my wood burner down the hall to the other end of my house.A variable speed on is nice to control noise and amount of heat going to bedrooms.

[Shawlerbrook]

Something like this would be quiet.
https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...e-fan?a=911558

[leeggen]

Your wife would have night mares around thhis house with the old grandfather ticking away. Finding a quite fan is not easy. I have found fans from the same company have different levels. I have 3 eskimo fans and each make more or less than the other. Go to the stores and have them plug the fans in so you can listen.
CD

[MUSTANG]

I have three of these on top of the Wood Stove, one face straight forward, and the other two about 30º offset from the center fan:

https://www.amazon.com/Ecofan-800CAX...rds=stove+fans


Easily moves air in "Great room" of about 36ft x 24ft (20 ft vaulted ceiling). With bedrooms and office doors open it does move some heat to other end of house; but see a 15º differential in room temps to other end of house.

We also use a Ceiling fan in the "Great Room" to move hot air down from vaulted ceiling during the day.

[MaryB]

Your moving the wrong air, you should be moving the air close to the ceiling not the cooler air on the floor. https://www.google.com/search?source...10.m69PX220mHU

Actually you need to move the cold towards the stove. Cold air is denser so trying to push it out with heated air is a battle. Pull the cold out and warm flows in to fill in behind it. MUCH more efficient! I use a cheap box fan running on low to do this from the bathroom which is 25 feet from the pellet stove. I used to try and push heat, needed fans running on high with lots of noise...

[Idaho45guy]

I heat with a gas stove that sits in my tiny living room on one end of the house and I have to get the warm air to the rest of the house. I have ceiling fans in the major rooms as well as a big standing fan about 4' from the stove.

I tried one of those non-electric fans but the way my gas stove is designed, it didn't have enough heat on a flat enough surface to work. Gave it to my dad for his wood stove and he says it spins pretty fast and is quiet, but you would need a bunch of them to really move a lot of air.

Now, my ex-wife won a Dyson bladeless stand fan at work and put it in our bedroom in Arizona. I hated it because it was too quiet. I need the noise to sleep due to tinnitus. But that was indeed an impressive fan; whisper quiet and moved a lot of air. We had it for about three years before we divorced and she took it with her.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

A couple years after I put a woodstove in my livingroom (center room in my house). I realized I needed to move some air to other rooms. I also have a forced air furnace. So I re-routed the cold air return of the forced air furnace, to the wall, right behind the wood stove. Then I wired a second thermostat...with AC capabilites. I have it turn on the furnace fan when the livingroom is above 80º. I also have a ceiling fan in the livingroom that is on whenever the woodstove is going.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Attachment 227847
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I have one of the Ecofans. Bought it from Sportsman's Guide about 2 years ago, cost maybe a bit more than $100. It's advertised to improve your heating efficiency by about 18%. I used it to move the heat from the area of the woodstove toward the door of the room and then have a small electric fan that blows it on into the next room. The Ecofan uses no electricity from an external source, but instead makes it's own from the heat of the stove. It has a tiny electric motor inside, but I've never taken it apart. They are said to last about 5 years, and that replacing the motor isn't difficult or expensive. I like it enough that I bought a second one as a gift for a friend who also heats primarily with wood.

[Tackleberry41]

Its the RPMs, I have one of the $100 TSC heat powered fans, cant tell its running. But is not a huge mover of air. The lower on the back of the stove, moves air, but you can hear it. A box fan, you can hear it. Smaller fans will make less noise. Or something like the dyson where the fan is buried deep inside the housing.

Those little heat powered fans do make a difference, just not like a box fan where you can feel it. I plan to get another one this year, one to blow into the hallway, another into the master bedroom. All you need to do is move the air a little to make a difference.