Can You Use Fans & Blowers To Get More Heat From Gas Log Sets?
Fireplaces act as a heater, but unfortunately they are not the most efficient at heating. For vented sets, the chimney needs to vent the byproducts of combustion and the better it is at venting, the worse it is at heating. For vent-free sets, the flame isn't going to be as strong and is already at the limit of what it can do. So the thought comes up to take more of the hot air from the fireplace and push it into the room. Unfortunately fans and blowers are not the solution with our products.
While fans and blowers can potentially push more hot air out of the fireplace and into the room, there are potential negative effects that prevent us from recommending any of these products from being used with our fireplace sets. For blowers, it will likely blow soot into the room and make it dirty. It could also potentially blow the negative products of combustion into the room that normally go up the chimney in vented sets, or alter the flame in vent free sets to produce negative products of combustion that are not normally formed in the normal operation of these sets. With heat exchange fans it can be similar as far as pushing soot into the room, but also they require electricity in the firebox and can be noisy. As a result, we do not recommend the use of fans or blowers with our fireplace sets.
Instead, there are a few other solutions for generating more heat from your set. A heat-reflecting fireback can be used in the back of a fireplace to direct more heat into the room. Also a hood can be installed in front of your fireplace to trap some of the warm air and move it out more horizontally. Another interesting solution would be if you have a ceiling fan to run it in reverse to blow the hot air that has risen to the top of the room down lower, but be careful that it doesn't affect the flame like a fan or blower inside the firebox might. Finally, although it may be too late for most, if you are building a new fireplace or remodeling an old one, try making it a Rumford fireplace as that design of fireplace is generally better at projecting heat into the room than traditional types.