As talked about in a previous post, these heaters really benefit from using a fan to spread the heat around. My initial attempt using an ancient rule fan that I repaired I deemed was too noisy, so I ordered an EcoFan.
This sits on top of the heater and generates electricity from the heat of the furnace. It finally arrived yesterday and I tried it out – works well! It’s only a matter of time before I accidentally catch part of myself in the spinning blades though.
Hi Matt,
Nice blog, it looks like you’ve put in some real solid work to Gudgeon, well done! I was wondering if you had a follow up on the Eco fan. After all this time do you think it was worth the money, or would you recomend a low draw computer fan. We have an old Newport heater on our 34ft North Sea, and are hoping to disperse that heat a little better.
Cheers!
Thanks! And interesting question…
Good points:
– It’s an attractive fan and looks great
– moves a lot of air
– doesn’t need power
Bad points:
– can’t really position it in the correct position, ideally it’d be off to one side of the chimney blowing across it, but there isn’t enough room on top of the heater to put it there
– annoying to keep moving before you go sailing
– expensive
Really a bit of a toss up. Don’t regret the purchase, but probably better options
So, almost 5 years later (and you are probably done using it for a while now that you are in warmer climes) would you change anything? How often do you use the draft assist? Is the gravity tank the way you would choose to go rather than a direct line and pressure pump from the main tank? Have you ever overfilled the run off juice container? As you may have guessed, I am installing one (and installing it soon. So, chop chop! Leave those Mexican fish alone for a second and give me the recap). I got a deal on the stove but I have a feeling the other parts are going to add up.
Def pleased with the gravity tank. The setup is pretty good, only thing I may have done differently was use a cheap, fast diesel pump – the one I got is a pressure pump which isn’t needed at all. The gravity tank is nice as it’s a small bit of extra capacity and it means you don’t need to run the pump at night if you leave it on – plus it’s a safety measure, if you leave it on, it’ll drain the tank and stop. I got a one gallon tank really cheap at a second hand chandley up in sidney (though I think it closed down) so try looking around.
I use the draft assist a LOT. It helps, esp when lighting. The other parts do tend to add up a bit, but it’s great to have.