stoker is at 400 degrees - heat coming from register is 150

Hi all,

Since the cold air has set in (teens night low 20's days) my stoker barley keeps house at 60. I have a magnum with one duct running from basement to 1st floor and alot of heat pours from that register. I was considering cutting another one but figured it would just split the difference and I wouldnt gain anymore additional heat. I am only using the distribution fan that came with the stove will a booster suck more heat from stove and push to registers or will a blower simply push same amount of heat through the duct? my stove is in basement and I read all the post that state this is the least desireable location but it was all I could configure. I am very satisfied when tems are 30's day and high 20's night and it really cooks when temps are 40's days 30's nights. btw - I am burning 100lbs a day in this weather

Hi Jimbo, take a look at this thread, just in case you didn't see it:

http://nepacrossroads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1465

I think if you add just a simple 4" or 6" cold air return to the inlet of your distribution blower [not your combustion blower] you will realize a huge difference in the heat upstairs.. If possible cut the cold air return in a remote hallway as far as possible from the hot air register you are currently using..

Hope this helps.. Greg L

Those magnum's are nice. I've seen one run and it was great for radiant heat... but I know the blowers on it wouldn't be enough to heat an entire house. It isn't a furnace. Its blower might be 400 cfm if your lucky, where a furnace blower will probably be closer to 1000 cfm.

You are pushing hot air, however at a very low volume. You should put in another register and get a booster fan for each one. I think your mag has a 6 inch take off.

It might not make since… but this is how I would try it. 6 inch from mag going to a 6 inch Y, then have two 6 to 8 increases. Have those boosters on low/med/high fan speed controls (not light dimmers). Then the 8 inch ducts go to your registers.

YYYYYYYY |||||| 8 in BOOSTER||||||
Y 8 In Y |||||| 8 in BOOSTER||||||
YYYYYYYY |||||| 8 in BOOSTER||||||
-------6 in from mag---YYY
-----------------------YYY
YYYYYYYY |||||| 8 in BOOSTER||||||
Y 8 In Y |||||| 8 in BOOSTER||||||
YYYYYYYY |||||| 8 in BOOSTER||||||


I'm heating my house nice with boosters tied into my existing ductwork. I'm not sure what my registers temps are but I have a temperature probe about 4-5 feet from my duct fans my air needs to be around 120 degrees to keep it steady at about 10 degrees. -1 and windy it needs to be 140 degrees. That’s with two 420 8inch duct fans, 840 cfm. Those temperatures go up fast when I turn them off when I shake it down. I get 160 degree temps by the time I turn my fans back on, my stove has a small fan on the back that says on the whole time.

http://www.airboosterfans.com/ is a great place for duct boosters.

http://www.warmair.com/html/ducts.htm Here is a little info about duct work and placement and register size. One simple point is to put your registers near outside walls. I try to put new registers by outside walls next to windows. The draft a window naturally have might actually help your air flow. Your locally library has books on central heating, and heating with solid fuels.

Thanks for the replies. So I should consider going from 6" to 8" will this make a big difference over just 6'. I currently have the one duct to the living room which is 6 inch under an outside wall\window. the heat pours from this register but when the temps went down to teens last couple of weeks it barely keeps house at 60 by itself. The stove is in the basement and is keeping basement at about 66. I plugged the front of the stove with insulation and use an ocsilating fan to wash heat from the one side of the stove toward the upstair openng.

My main reason for going to 8 inch is the higher CFM fans. 6 inch are 265 cfm, 8 inch are 420 cfm. I dont think you can make the hole in your stove bigger.

Thick stove gasket might be better than insulation, and its cheap.

My drawing didn't come out, sorry about that.

actually the harman mag stoker uses a 135 cfm dist fan. I had the same issues when i first got my mag.The area around the stove is around 500 to 600 degrees. found placing some fans around the house has greatly helped with the distributiion of the air to help the house stay warmer

Lime or anyone,

Do you know if there is a higher capacity distribution fan that can be used instead of the currently supplied 135 that harmon provided?

not to my knowledge.And harman claims a higher cfm blower will suck too much heat of the stove and effect it's operation.Which i find a little hard to beleive.
My brother inlaw has a reading stoker that comes standard with a 285 cfm blower motor with an optional 400 cfm blower motor avaiable. In my opinion this stove can use a higher cfm blower motor