Stove Fan Review | VODA heat powered stove fan
Stove fan review
Sometimes I feel like I’ve just joined a great new club. I hadn’t heard of stove fans until recently. Advised by the previous owners of our home, I ordered a stove fan to see if it makes a difference to the effectiveness of our wood burning stoves or whether what it claims to do is just a load of hot air!
A quick search online shows that two-blade or four-blade fans are most common. I ordered a four-blade Voda stove fan which I found online. It arrived quickly and all the packaging is recyclable. A card outer box had a corrugated card insert that safely held the fan in place. There was no unnecessary plastic bag or moulded plastic holder.
How to use a Voda stove fan
Simple instructions said to place the fan on the side or back of the stove on a flat surface. And to only handle it by the little metal handle on the top of it. The handle looks a bit small but in use, it is plenty large enough. I ordered the all black version, as I wanted something unobtrusive and that wouldn’t attract the attention of the grandchildren. Although it also comes with different colour blades.
It was quite warm in our house last night. We didn’t really need a fire, but I was too impatient to wait for a cold morning or evening. I placed the fan on the back of the stove as per the instructions and waited.
Mr J and I sat and watched the fan waiting for it to do something as the stove warmed up, a slight touch by Mr J started the blades moving and it merrily spun away until the fire died down and the heat given off by the stove lessened. It was very quiet, I didn’t notice a whirring sound (which had been a slight reservation of mine) or a tinkling noise at all. The idea behind the stove fan is that it whooshes the hot air away from the stove further into the room so it distributes the heat more evenly. Therefore you don’t get that ‘burning front, freezing back’ issue.
In early 2019, new guidance was passed about the use of some fuels in open fireplaces and wood burning stoves. DEFRA information can be found here.
Did the stove fan work?
In a nutshell for this stove fan review. Yes! It seemed to move the heat around the room very well and we could feel that the warmth was being pushed further away from the stove. Job done! I will be ordering another stove fan to use on the wood burner that heats the kitchen and snug (one of those stoves with doors on both sides) as the kitchen doesn’t have an alternative source of heating.
Originally published 18th December 2015.
2023 update on stove top fans
Having moved home and now having only one wood burning stove, we decided to use both of our stove fans on the wood burner. We placed one each side of the flue pipe and pointed the fans facing straight forwards or slightly outwards, so that the warm air did not cause turbulence in front of the fire.
I think the simple answer is that we love the stove top fan and will continue to use one as long as we have a wood burning stove.
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