Hello James, your review and research was excellent. However, to me, it seems a low priced but, inferior alternative to a constant and ongoing problem. I realise that winters in France are less severe than in the UK but, cold is cold. The Romans knew this and came up with underfloor heating. As yet, nothing has been invented to supercede it. With the invention of PEX pipe and push fit connectors, it is within the capability of most people. The science behind it is as simple as the fitting Like most jobs, the thought of it is much more scary than the actual work. There is no need to rip up floors or work from the underside, as it can be laid on the floor between wooden lathes, and another surface laid on top. This new surface should be one that conducts heat better than wood (cement sheet with tiles for example).
With a water heating wood stove and a header tank to facilitate circulation and take the hot water expansion, it is as simple as ABC.The water gets hot, goes to a ‘T’ junction which sends it in two directions…one circuit round the ground floor, and one to the upper floor. Break each circuit with a thermostatic valve.
If you feel really confident, put one in each room. Like all central heating systems, if you install more than one thermostatic valve in any loop, you will require two loops of pipes to each loop. One to supply the fresh hot water, and one to return it to the boiler. This return loop is connected to the water jacket inlet.
Probably sounds a lot more complicated than it really is, however the reduced heating (fuel) costs and the even, natural heat is well worth it. Underfloor heating runs at only 35C – 40C half the temperature of normal central heating, and much less than one centrally positioned wood burner.
I have 2 wood heaters, 1 freestanding and another built into a fireplace. They are 24 and 10 years old and both have built-in 3 speed fans, for which you need a power socket. In Australia we hear so much of advanced wood burning technologies in Europe that I am surprised that fans are not standard equipment there.
Yes Doug, already been there and done that, just for the fun of it really but they work well and now working on a prettier version for the relatives now that Santa's elves have a bit of spare time ;-)
Graham Lees - I use a fan with a Petit Godin and it works. I just have to take the fan off the lid when I want to put a log in. Because of the arrangement of my room, it suits me to have the fan turned 90 degrees to the flue so it still draws cooler air from the back and blows across the rising hot air (rather than having the back of the fan drawing air from the flue area).
As an aside it is a bad idea on two accounts to keep a log burning stove burning on "tickover" all through the night. When the wood burns slowly not all of the ignitable gases burn of so, firstly, you are not gaining the full heat potential from the wood and, secondly, the gases are polluting the atmosphere.
I have recently purchased one, expensive at £150, there are much cheaper ones out there at £46 but the cheap fans originate from the far east the expensive one Canada having great experience of mechanical items both large industrial and small houshold from the far east i opted for the original Canadian . our stove is the Esse Ironheart cooker the hob covers get in the way so the fan has to be positioned at the side so it blows sideways across the hob not front to back it also sits on the simmering hob as the body of the cooker doesnt get to a temp to get the fan spinning quickly enough, during the winter months apart from our cooker its also our only source of heat and as in the case of James upstairs is normaly just nice, the kitchen hot, living room comfortable the two rooms further away dont benefit from the stove but thats another story , since fitting the fan every corner of the kitchen is hot, upstairs is too warm and living room warm, it really does move the air around and stops hot air collecting in the ingle nook fireplace pushing it into the rooms having said all that this winter hasnt really been cold so far
Funny how it works. This is the second time in so many weeks that I came across the a discussion of this product. The first time was in a conversation with a friend. I was curious enough to research the product on the Internet.
First conclusion: stove top fans, while not completely unknown in France, are not on the tip of all Gaelic tongues.
Second conclusion: I found a reference to a cheaper French source (approx € 20 less than your proposed source when delivery is included) on Leboncoin.fr (http://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/593252969.htm). The company appears to be very recent (website under construction and mobile number provided), but the company is registered to a man with a name most likely originating from the north side of the English Channel. The only third party reference that I could locate was on Facebook from a woman who would appear to have her origins from the same general region. Caveat emptor.
What do you mean sideways? if you fitted a couple of neodymium magnets to the base you could position it almost anywhere. One side of the TEG generator needs to be cooler than the other, different TEG's have different temperature ranges. The correct temperature for complete combustion of wood is definetly higher than your stove thermometer suggests but then again that is the outside of the stove and not the combustion area so it's pretty meaningless. Fun though aren't they and it proves forced convection is far more comfortable to live with than radiated heat. The CPU cooler on my homemade one is liquid filled so it works almost anywhere rather than needing to go at the back of the fire to get cooler air.
I was thinking of one, Airmax, but I want it to work sideways to flow the air to the entrance hall. Not sure if it would woork that way. Also, I think our stove gets too hot if anything.
James, I see links for a three blade at 91€ and a four blade at 88€, both Valiant. Iassume the 4 blade is better? Your link in the main story shows the 3 blade then in the comments, including your image, shows the 4.
Hi @Stuart_Wilson I’ve edited the original post to show both the latest model, the 3 blade and the cheaper and most popular seller on Amazon, the one I have (4 blade). I assume the 3 blade is better as it’s their newest, can’t comment on it though as I don’t have one.
Interesting article and I am not disputing the science as it is in line with other less self interested articles that I have read. I will however point out for those of you that have been “influenced” by the numerous posts on this platform about how much cheaper things are in the UK than France that at least the first fan (FIR363) is available on the French Amazon site for approximately 15 euros less and if you have subsribed to Premium the transport is without additional cost.
I give our readership a little more credit @Jef_Groby! Both the Amazon France and UK links are above. Our self interest pays for the site that’s free for you to visit!