Thread: fire thermo fans ... do they work ?

Can anyone tell me if these fans do actually work ?
Im thinking that it might be useful ( if they work ) in my little high country hut to puff a bit of the heat from the wood range further around the room.
The hut is only 4x3m and its roasting by the fire and stays pretty chilly in the opposite corner.

Thoughts please and any particular brand and models anyone can recommend or otherwise ?

Have one at home I reckon it does.
You see the yanks using them in cabins.

In a small space like that it might work. Have one at home and it's really more decoration, it does give you an idea if the fires got to cool though when it stops

In a corner put in a low rev, hi volume fan, mounted vertically, a few inches off the floor, so you suck the cold air from the floor and pushes up into the hot air on the ceiling, this helps with mixing all the air in the room

Originally Posted by Maca49

In a corner put in a low rev, hi volume fan, mounted vertically, a few inches off the floor, so you suck the cold air from the floor and pushes up into the hot air on the ceiling, this helps with mixing all the air in the room

It's totally off grid so no power.
That's why I like it there.

Just crank the fire right up........

Originally Posted by SiB

Just crank the fire right up........

I did that a couple of weeks ago when I was up there and ended up in my jockeys for the evening.
Still cold in the bunks corner.
Minus 8 outside in the morning .... but the winter fishing was great !

you can make your own fan, the heart of this device is a thermapile ( not the sort your bum gets from a strong vindaloo)
basically if you put dissimilar metals next to each other in heat you will create a voltage between them, its sort of like copper/zinc plates in a lemon but in this case instead of an electrolyte you use heat. by stacking metal plates as mentioned before and adding heat you will generate voltage. then use a nice little motor like the spindle drive from a CD player (they run full blast at 5V) you add a fan to it.
of course you will have to play around with different metals/motors etc but it would be a cheap but time consuming project.

Thermopile chargers are already available through ali baba I believe

Just use a Peltier device between a couple of old computer heatsinks.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale...peltier+module

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Just use a Peltier device between a couple of old computer heatsinks.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale...peltier+module

dammit gadget (no not a rocky horror pun) thats what i was leading to.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Just use a Peltier device between a couple of old computer heatsinks.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale...peltier+module

Ok Gadgetman, Which of those would be suitable to attach to a computer fan to attach to the mantelpiece to push air around the lounge? They all look like white match boxes to me so pick which one you would buy if you were to do that and I will try that.

cheers.

Originally Posted by timattalon

Ok Gadgetman, Which of those would be suitable to attach to a computer fan to attach to the mantelpiece to push air around the lounge? They all look like white match boxes to me so pick which one you would buy if you were to do that and I will try that.

cheers.

@timattalon Won't work on a mantle piece. It relies on heat transfer from one side to the other. Needs to sit with one heatsink on the fire and one radiating heat into the atmosphere.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

@timattalon Won't work on a mantle piece. It relies on heat transfer from one side to the other. Needs to sit with one heatsink on the fire and one radiating heat into the atmosphere.

Not quite. The fan would go on or near the mantle piece. The heat thingy would be attached to the big steel van thing that is part of the fire It is like the one in the link Woodsman Totara Insert Wood Burner | Woodsman Fires but has a big vane at 45degrees out the front to direct heat outwards. It gets too hot to touch so I would probably look to attach the thingy to that....

Originally Posted by timattalon

Not quite. The fan would go on or near the mantle piece. The heat thingy would be attached to the big steel van thing that is part of the fire It is like the one in the link Woodsman Totara Insert Wood Burner | Woodsman Fires but has a big vane at 45degrees out the front to direct heat outwards. It gets too hot to touch so I would probably look to attach the thingy to that....

You want the fan blowing over the heatsink on the cold side to help create the temperature difference to generate the power.