A Doorway Fan – Could It Be The Answer?
When you have a single heat source, such as a stove, it’s a common problem trying to get the heat to circulate around a large room, or around your house. More often than not you find yourself too hot in the room with the fire or stove and freezing everywhere else. If your stove is in a large room you can also find there are pockets of heat rather than a nice even temperature throughout.
The solution is simply: a doorway fan. They’re not just for the heat of the summer months. There are wood stove fans, doorway fans and through wall fans. When you have a couple of good fans working for you they circulate the heat around the house and in a mild winter could even be sufficient to heat upstairs too if the doors are left open. We are going to explore the different fan methods and hopefully you will be able to find a solution that best suits your home.
THE WOOD STOVE FAN
The wood stove fan is an ingenious device that is designed to push the hot air surrounding your stove into your room. It circulates the air around the room heating the cold air that naturally falls to the floor, and moving the warm air gathering on the ceiling.
How easy is it to mount?
The heat powered stove fan sits on your stove top, or attaches to the front of the door, if the stove has doors. The fans have a preferred operating heat and will have a way of cooling itself as the stove gets warmer, such as a bi-metallic strip in the base that will bend and tilt the bottom of the fan off the stove top. However, if your stove heats beyond the preferred operating temperature it will need to be taken off the top.
How is it powered?
The wood stove fans generate their own power from the heat of the stove, so you don’t have to think about a power outlets or batteries. The most powerful of the fans have a Stirling motor inside and they are capable of pushing a large quantity of air, considering their size.
Is it noisy?
The wood burning stove fan is very quiet and will more than likely go unnoticed.
What colors do they come in?
They are black. They are designed to blend in with the stove top, which are also usually black.
What are they made from?
The body of the stove top fan is made of metal and the blades are more often than not made of a light durable plastic.
Are they powerful?
Most fans push the warm air in a wide cone, which is good to keep the heat circulating in a large room; while others can create a narrow stream of air that can push the heat through an open door into another room, or into a hall. A good example of a fan that can push air around a room in a wide cone is the Ventum range, from Valiant. They have a Peltier motor and are capable of circulating air around a fairly large room. The Warpfive, with its Stirling motor, is a more powerful fan and can direct the hot air away out of the room with the heat source in a narrow stream.
THE DOORWAY FAN
The doorway fan, as the name suggests, mounts onto the doorframe and pushes the air from one room into the space beyond. This could be further rooms or even into the hall so the warm air can heat the other rooms. The most popular doorway fans are the EntreeAir, from Suncourt, and the Canadian Doorway Fan, from Canarm. For something a bit more powerful there is the Minuteman Doorway Fan. The doorway fan can be used in both winter and summer. In the summer it can be used to move airconditioned cool air from one room to another.
How easy is it to mount?
They come with screws and a template in the box. You fix the template to the doorframe and mark where the screws are to be fixed into the door frame. Remove the template and using either a regular screwdriver or an electric screwdriver fix the screws into the wood. Remember not to screw them in flush, leave about a 1/4 inch. The fans have keyhole shaped mounts which hook over the screws and pull down to secure them. They also come with fixings for the power cord to run alongside the door frame and wall, keeping the wire out of the way.
How is it powered?
The doorway fans are electric powered and you will need to think about where your outlets are when you consider this option. They do come with a good length of cord – approximately 10’ and have an in-line power switch.
Is it noisy?
The fans from Suncourt and Canarm have a similar sound output to a desktop PC; there are various suggestions to be found on line about dampening the sound for the more handy of you. That being said, though, they are not loud enough to disturb your evening or daily life. If you place more than one in a doorway the combined noise output may be disturbing. The Minuteman is whisper quiet.
What colors do they come in?
The most popular color is white; the Suncourt also comes in brown. The Minuteman looks more like a computer fan, it is chrome and black.
What are they made from?
So that they are light enough to sit in the doorways, they are made from a durable plastic.
Are they powerful?
They can move a large amount of air, about 100 cubic feet per minute. The Minuteman can move approximately 120 cubic feet per minute. To put it in context, a room of 10ft by 12ft will have new air 3 times in an hour.
Do I have to take it down to shut the door?
No, not at all. Whilst it’s in use you will want the door open, but when you mount it close the door and you will see the side you need to fix it, i.e. the other side of the door jamb where it closes.
THE THROUGH WALL FAN
This solution is a far more serious undertaking and should only be attempted by the most confident of DIYers. The Electrical work must be carried out by a qualified person in accordance with applicable codes. The through wall fan comes with a template to cut out the drywall on either side of the wall and shows where the mountings are to be fixed. You will need a drywall saw to do this.
You can control the speed of the fan and the direction of the airflow. Either up to the ceiling, down to the floor or pointing left or right. It can also be used in both summer and winter to move hot air or cool air from the source room into the adjoining room.
However, it can be quite costly to put your wall back if it turns out not to be the right solution.
OTHER FAN SOLUTIONS
It’s also possible to circulate heat from the stove with an ordinary fan – or even two, where one is placed on the floor by the doorway and directed towards the stove. If using a second fan, it can be used as a directional fan to push the air in the direction of your choice. This is probably the most efficient solution to circulate the heat from the stove around a house, very useful in a large, open plan room or L-shaped room.
