Echo fan? Worth it or not?

 
Crazyfarmer
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Post by Crazyfarmer » Mon. Feb. 15, 2021 8:56 pm

I’ve been thinking about purchasing a eco fan to put on top of my coal stove to help circulate some air in the room I’d like to hear some comments of people that know about them and if they’re worth buying or are they just a fallacy something to look at. Does anybody have any brands in mind
Last edited by Crazyfarmer on Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 7:41 am, edited 1 time in total.


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 1:34 am

Lots of Amish use them in their shops & they work REAL well!!! :)

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 8:34 am


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 8:40 am

C, box fans, etc. take electricity.

 
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Seagrave1963
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Post by Seagrave1963 » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 9:08 am

watching - I have eyed these "electric free" fans for a while but something seems to nag at me about how well they will do with a coal stove.

 
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 9:58 am

If electricity is not an option then your choices are are near nill.

 
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HandFire
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Post by HandFire » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 10:36 am

Using another brand for 3 years now with a few concrete dives and and it is still spinning strong. Even things out a couple degrees in a large room. It's not going to going to take away drafty conditions or move large amounts of heat around but does work to balance slightly. I wouldn't spend alot on one but cheap they are great.


 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 10:39 am

I still see them on people's wood stoves in the back ground of some You Tube videos, spinning merrily away.

I bought one a few years ago to use on my coal kitchen range. Worked great,.......for about a week. Then it progressively ran slower. Moved it to hotter parts of the range and it worked again,....... for a day or so.

Did a web search of reviews of the fan and found out that slowly dying is not uncommon with them. Some sent theirs back to the factory and had it fixed. Some had it fixed and it didn't stay fixed. Since it would have been expensive to ship it back to the factory in Canada to maybe be fixed, I moved it to the basement. :roll:

If you do a search on here that thread about them from a few years ago should come up.

Paul

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 12:57 pm

They make different models for different heat sources...
Wood stoves run hotter, pellet and gas stoves run cooler...
Yep not much choice if no electric...
I never thought that the no electric fans were much more than a novelty...

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 1:33 pm

With my Ecofan, it wasn't a case of not hot enough. They advertise it's good for 185 F to over 600 F and it mentions working on gas stoves, too.

It worked fine for awhile. However, I had to keep moving it to hotter and hotter areas of the stove every time it died out. That would only made it work again for about a day before it eventually would not work at all.

Seems the problem is in the interface between the heat absorbing surfaces and where that attaches to the motor section.

Paul

 
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HandFire
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Post by HandFire » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 6:51 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:
Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 1:33 pm


It worked fine for awhile. However, I had to keep moving it to hotter and hotter areas of the stove every time it died out.

Seems the problem is in the interface between the heat absorbing surfaces and where that attaches to the motor section.

Paul
Most likely it got too hot and cooked itself until it seized or fried the windings. You are right the interface being the problem. Most designs add too much surface contact. The one I have has a simple bi metal tab that lifts it to give some air flow so it doesn't cook itself. They need to go on the coolest spot you can find if they are going to last. I paid $29 for mine and would have a hard time paying twice that for what it does and No way would I pay anymore than that for one.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 7:06 pm

HandFire wrote:
Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 6:51 pm
Most likely it got too hot and cooked itself until it seized or fried the windings. You are right the interface being the problem. Most designs add too much surface contact. The one I have has a simple bi metal tab that lifts it to give some air flow so it doesn't cook itself. They need to go on the coolest spot you can find if they are going to last. I paid $29 for mine and would have a hard time paying twice that for what it does and No way would I pay anymore than that for one.
There's no way it could get too hot where I started out putting it up on the range's mantal shelf. The highest temp it gets up there is about 150 F and only then when the range is really running full blast.... as in the cooktop plates over the fire box, just below that end of the mantal shelf, are glowing dull red (almost 1000 F). But it never saw that high temps. It worked fine up there for awhile. Then slowed until it stopped.


I moved to a lower, hotter surface and it would start up and spin for a day or so, then quit.

Look up online reviews of the ecofan and and you'll see that is not uncommon.

Paul

 
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Post by oliver power » Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 7:56 pm

HandFire wrote:
Tue. Feb. 16, 2021 10:36 am
Using another brand for 3 years now with a few concrete dives and and it is still spinning strong. Even things out a couple degrees in a large room. It's not going to going to take away drafty conditions or move large amounts of heat around but does work to balance slightly. I wouldn't spend alot on one but cheap they are great.
I'm going to second HandFire's experience. I bought one to play with. I played with it, then gave it to my uncle. It still spins away on top of his Mark-III. That's got to be 3 or 4 years now, or longer.

 
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Post by Whirligigmike » Fri. Feb. 26, 2021 10:34 am

The Eco Fan is a really cool scientific toy. But, as an air-mover, it is useless!
I do run mine all the time, because it is great visual thermometer. I can tell how hot the stove is running with just glance, very convenient.

Mine lasted about ten years, then the Peltier Diode died. I replaced it the diode with a similar size one from e-bay. Been running great for 5 more years.

Its a useful novelty, but not an air mover.

 
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Post by lsayre » Fri. Feb. 26, 2021 11:23 am

Whirligigmike wrote:
Fri. Feb. 26, 2021 10:34 am
The Eco Fan is a really cool scientific toy. But, as an air-mover, it is useless!
I do run mine all the time, because it is great visual thermometer. I can tell how hot the stove is running with just glance, very convenient.

Mine lasted about ten years, then the Peltier Diode died. I replaced it the diode with a similar size one from e-bay. Been running great for 5 more years.

Its a useful novelty, but not an air mover.
This seems to be the consensus opinion of most owners. CFM capacity is low.


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