Blower Chubby Conversion?

Is it possible to convert a non blower model to a blower one?

I'm still in process of rebuilding mine but I'm concerned that it won't meet my needs once it's done.

The fan on my Harman has to run continuously to keep the house at an acceptable level.

No you can't I thought you could which is the reason I had bought mine. Some day I'll up grade.

I wonder why? It looks like it's basically the same stove. I'm sure a baffle would need to be welded in there, and a couple inlet/outlet holes would have to be cut, but it shouldn't be impossible.

Anything is possible, but the blower Chubby has two welded in tubes from the factory. I once asked Larry Trainer how do you replace a fire pot in a blower Chubby? He stated that he has to cut out the blower tubes and weld them back into place to do so. When he told me that, I optioned to get the non blower model.

I saw non-electric stove top fans and thought that was a great idea. I just haven't purchased any yet.

Here is a link.
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DOUG wrote:Anything is possible, but the blower Chubby has two welded in tubes from the factory. I once asked Larry Trainer how do you replace a fire pot in a blower Chubby? He stated that he has to cut out the blower tubes and weld them back into place to do so. When he told me that, I optioned to get the non blower model.

I saw non-electric stove top fans and thought that was a great idea. I just haven't purchased any yet.

Here is a link.
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Doug I've heard mix reviews on those fans and even heard of them failing on some people because their stove was too hot. Seems like a lot of money to take such a big risk on it. To bad there wasn't the option to try it out and see how well it works before you buy it.

I had a long discussion with Larry on the whole adding a blower unit to a non blowing Chubby stove a couple of weeks back when I went to visit him. He explained to me all that would need to be done to cut in and add it and the cost of it, plus we talked about adding a piece to the Chubby to sit in between the stove and the hood it's self but cost wise it would be cheaper to just buy one with a blower unit already in it.

I was thinking maybe of trying to make a shield that would go around the top half on the outside of the stove and maybe putting a fan in the back of it to see how well that would work. I would suppose that getting some air blowing off the stove into the room would be a lot better then to just have the stove radiating the heat into the room.

That sounds like a good idea Adam.

Here is another idea.

I was also considering repositioning my stovepipe damper, placing inline one of those electric powered stovepipe heat exchangers. That way the heat would be allowed to go up a short section of pipe, in through the electric stovepipe heat exchanger, then manually dampered down.

I have a top vent Chubby with about an 18" straight run up before I go to the damper now and that short section of stovepipe sure radiates some heat. That is why I'm thinking something like this may do what you want.

Here is a couple of links.
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**Broken Link(s) Removed** https://www.northlineexpress.com/category/fans-blowers.asp

Doug the only problem with that is the stove pipe is usually only around 200* while the top sides of the stove is around 500*. It would seem like you would get more bang for the buck by going around the outside of the stove instead of going the stove pipe route.

My father in law uses one of those electricity-free fans on his Jr. Chubby. Works like a charm with coal. With a wood fire it goes crazy.

A couple of weeks ago I help my buddy pick up a Chubby I found on Craig's list Mass. This stove had a shroud rapped around from one side to the other side and had a mounting place on the back for a blower. I thought it was a factory add-on because the side air vents where moved closer to the front to allow space for the shroud. The shroud was just bolted onto the sides of the stove and the stove's breach is on the top.

Adam, I'm surprised that this add-on wasn't mentioned by Larry. If you want to see it Adam, It's on West St. in your town.

Bottom line here is, I would say you could add a blower to the Chubby, it's already been done.

Adam, I think that you are missing part of my suggestion with stovepipe fan. In order for it to work well for you with the same temperatures as the top of your Chubby, the manual damper will have to be relocated in the stovepipe after the stovepipe fan. Then the temperatures of the stovepipe will be hotter than the 200 degrees that you read now.

JB Sparks has a great suggestion with making a metal shroud and bolting it to the Chubby with a fan. I bet that using both of these ideas, the Chubby would move some serious heat.

I've wanted to bolt a shroud of some sort to mine but hadn't had the time to really sit down and plan it out yet.

Well, to follow up on the shroud idea, this one my friend bought had all the holes in the front edge sealed off and there was a 4 or 5" hole cut into the shroud about 6" above the hole the blower mounted to. I'm assuming a round duct was connected to the big hole and run to a hot air plenum.

JB Sparks wrote:A couple of weeks ago I help my buddy pick up a Chubby I found on Craig's list Mass. This stove had a shroud rapped around from one side to the other side and had a mounting place on the back for a blower. I thought it was a factory add-on because the side air vents where moved closer to the front to allow space for the shroud. The shroud was just bolted onto the sides of the stove and the stove's breach is on the top.

Adam, I'm surprised that this add-on wasn't mentioned by Larry. If you want to see it Adam, It's on West St. in your town.

Bottom line here is, I would say you could add a blower to the Chubby, it's already been done.

Yes, I would love to see it and take some pictures of it!

DOUG wrote:Adam, I think that you are missing part of my suggestion with stovepipe fan. In order for it to work well for you with the same temperatures as the top of your Chubby, the manual damper will have to be relocated in the stovepipe after the stovepipe fan. Then the temperatures of the stovepipe will be hotter than the 200 degrees that you read now.

JB Sparks has a great suggestion with making a metal shroud and bolting it to the Chubby with a fan. I bet that using both of these ideas, the Chubby would move some serious heat.

Yeah you are right I missed it. Do those stove pipe fans work with DVL stove pipe or would it need an adapter on both sides of it?

Adam, PM sent.