Hi another cold winter for me, builders are in action at last but it will be spring before they finish! So my only hear source is a log burner and I wonder can anyone recommend a stove top fan? I saw the items on this from a few years ago but would like latest thoughts if available. I would prefer not to buy a Chinese made one but let’s not get into that! Thanks.
I’ve had one for years but I believe that they don’t actually make any difference. But they look nice spinning away. Mine are “Ecofans”.
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I bought one of these:
Fluesystems Eco 4 Heat Powered Stove Fan https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B014JHSD8K/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_FQWXAG75SGHT3WEP0H7R?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I bought a well reviewed one as I wanted it to be quiet which it is, it also seems to distribute the heat into the room very well.
We had one that was completely useless. We believe that was probably because the stove was slightly set back in a recess, rather than being central in the room. (But had it been central then perhaps no need for one anyway).
It was a proper brand one although I forget the make, and after about 2 years the thermocouple failed and we never replaced it. And never noticed any difference.
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We were very impressed with the stove-top fan which friends used…
It was some years ago… and those fans were only just coming onto the market.
Previously, their kitchen/diner was definitely cool at the far end, away from the blazing logburner. After the fan, the whole room achieved a more or less even temperature.
The logburner was set into a small inglenook.
For that reason, we looked into the stove-top fan for ourselves…
We needed something which would “throw/encourage” the heat out into the room.
Unfortunately, our logburner was over the limit (heat wise).
Our log burner is set forward in the inglenook. Even so, most of the heat stays inside the inglenook in the first instance… and only gradually works its way to the rest of the room (with most of the heat rising (at first) to the ceiling at the fireplace end.)
A ceiling fan at far end of room… switched to winter mode… successfully moves the hot air from the ceiling towards the floor… gently/discretely drawing heat from the fireplace end… dispersing it throughout the room.
We have a thermometer sitting by the door to the corridor (coldest spot) and can see the marked improvement in room temperature between sessions with ceiling-fan On as against c-f Off…
If your logburner is within the heat limits, I would think a stove-top fan is well worth considering. If not, I would suggest you consider a ceiling fan with summer/winter switch.
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Just check out the most recommended one on Amazon as they’re all knocked out in the same 2-3 Chinese factories.
Isn’t that the case for most things?
Alas, it certainly does for most electrical appliances these day unless you wish to pay way, way over the odds.
I try to buy French or at least European products, but it’s not always easy.
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It’s not good eh? and the real cost will be paid later in so many variable ways!
Yes that’s what I fear, for every set of great reviews I always find a bad one…
Thank you Stella this gives me a way forward, checking the temperature is a thoughtful idea.
I have a stove top fan on my big woodburner, I like to think it does make a small difference to the warmth throughout the main living room. I’ve also got a small round Godin woodburner in my conservatory, but as it’s top loaded, isn’t suitable for a stove top fan, so I use a small 15w mains powered one, and that really does make a lot of difference.
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No situation is ever identical to another, but it certainly seems that fans… of one sort or another… can/do make a difference.
I would like to have had a stove-top fan … as it runs without using electricity… but never mind.
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I have been using the same one that I purchased in 1999, it works well. It was made in Canada.
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We have one, advised to set it at the back of the log burner top so that it draws the cooler air from behind and heats it as it passes.
We also have one on the stove in our canal boat back in the UK and in that fairly enclosed space it definitely does move the heat and help distribute it.
Mark - where do you site your not-on-top-of-the-stove fan? I have a feeling that our stove might be, as @stella describes hers. not in spec as it really wellies out the heat. What sort of temperature are you referring to, Stella?
Gracious, off the top of my head it’s around 13/15kw … whatever, it was higher than the maximum recommended for the fans on-sale some years ago.
I looked into it quite carefully at the time…
perhaps the temp range has moved up… no idea, but probably best to check out the specifications carefully before spending anything.
Thanks Stella! That’s around the output of my stove! When we bought it, we thought it was a typical sales pitch and obviously it wouldn’t reach those temperatures but it most certainly does! The first year we tried it, we ended up opening all the internal doors in the house first and then had to open the windows and external doors… Then we learned how (not) to stoke it up to that extent 
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It is a learning curve.
As it happens, we had fitted a ceiling fan at the far end of the room (brought from our old UK house) a couple of years before we bought the logburner.
I reckon some sort of fan is quite possibly a plus… whatever the heating system
I’ve been thinking about a ceiling fan following your previous post but I think I probably couldn’t fit one as we have low ceilings. Since a lot of the heat does collect at ceiling height of course, it sounds like a seinsible solution… I’ll have to investigate a bit further. I think you are quite a was south of us so the fan will be useful in the summer too but would be rarely used here 