Valiant (FIR361) Premium IV 4-Blade Heat Powered Log Burner
Valiant (FIR361) Premium IV 4-Blade Heat Powered Log Burner & Stove Fan, Black
| Weight: | 721 g |
| Dimensions: | 10.16 x 17.78 x 20.32 cm; 721 Grams |
| Model: | FIR361 |
| Part: | FIR361 |
| Colour: | Satin Black |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Valiant Stoves Ltd |
| Dimensions: | 10.16 x 17.78 x 20.32 cm; 721 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
Sits at back corner of stove. Works well and used in an open plan living room (24 x 15ft) which heats up comfortable. Checked with Hive to confirm increase in temperature. Would recommend.
The fan works well and is almost silent in use (you can’t hear it over the sounds of the fire). Would be nice if it moved a little more air, but then it probably wouldn’t be as quiet.
The fan itself is great, really quiet unobtrusive and is doing what it should. We have a deep inglenook fireplace and if you stand in front of the fan, you can actually feel the air being pushed out from under the chimney breast. Unfortunately however, this is our second fan. The first one Amazon sent had clearly been used before. It had scratches on the base and was quite dusty, also the silver plate on the bottom had been discoloured. It also came loose inside the box with no cardboard insert so would have been rattling arpund in there. Not a big deal as Amazon replaced immediately without quibble but have posted photos just so others are aware what to look for. Will assume it was a return that somehow slipped through the net.
Pushes heat out into room as it says it does. A slight hum but really not that noticeable unless the room is silent. The room has been much warmer, with more even heat distribution since buying this fan. Really pleased we bought this! Would recommend.
Not had it very long but pleased with it so far. We have quite a small stove in an alcove chimney so any help pushing the heat out is a bonus.
One of the better made stove fans with a decent air flow if placed towards the back of the stove top.
Idea if you have a flat topped stove with pipe out the back.
A bit extravagant, but I bought 2 of these with one on each side of my stove pipe to really get the heat out.
I thought they might be too noisy but hardly notice them running 🙂
I am still not decided if this bit of kit is necessary/ efficient at all.
It is sturdy & spins when the fire has heated up. It must push some warm air out into the room but cannot say “yeah that’s made a difference”.
It is a fan & does not have any heat output as asked in the starred ratings above.
After reviewing several stove fans, I decided on this one. Very robust and well built. But I cant honestly say I am that impressed with it. I cant feel any difference, and yet the fan does blow a candle out when held close to it. I leave you to make your own minds up ??
A well made product which works well if you don’t put it on when you light the fire. Wait until the heat is at its and then put it on. Don’t expect it to work immediately because it relies on the roof being a lot hotter than the top. Dampening the top with a wet tissue helps.
Excellent fan so far tou can really feel the air being pushed through by the fan operating.
Noise
Fan isn’t totally silent, jt has a slight hum but so far it isn’t an issue.
Build quality
Build quality seems excellent, very sturdy.
Heat transfer
So far it seems very good. I can feel heat being pushed towards me, the heat seems to be cooler too, I’d imagine some of the heat is now being pushed out the door around the house. This is confirmed by my radiator thermostats increasing in every room.
Dont believe the people who suggest fans don’t work. I was sceptical and worried I’d waste my money, but so far, it all seems good. Phew.
Obviously it’s a pretty crude way to improve heat distribution within the room that contains the stove as there is no guarantee of circularity, but it does help to relieve the heat island effect immediately around the stove. I have noticed that we now have relatively similar temperatures within the main room and better communication of heat into the hall, which is new. So on that basis it’s been a good investment.
We were a bit unsure of the fan as some people said it was noisy and did not work. We found that it is a very sturdy fan and once the fire is lit, it does take a few minutes for the fan to start working (as the wood burner needs to reach a certain temperature before the blades start spinning). It seems very quiet as well, we can hear it a bit if we turn of the TV and put our ear out towards it. Sometimes, the room in which the wood burner is seemed to get very hot and stifling but with the fan, you can really feel an air flow and the room now does not seem to get too hot. The hall which is our next open room seems to benefit from the warmth. We love our new fan.
As a new owner of a wood burning stove I was advised by my installer that a fan would be a good idea.
After much deliberating and hours spent looking at reviews I decided on the Valiant Premium 4, best thing I have ever done. It starts up quite quickly, it is very quiet and the extra heat output into my room means we are walking around in t-shirts instead of thick jumpers. It is extremely well made and sturdy and best of all it’s British made. I’m so pleased with my purchase, it even came a day earlier than it was meant to. Well done Amazo
A compact, well built and keenly priced fan that sits neatly on top of the stove. Does it make a difference to the heat output? To be honest I don’t know. My guess is that it probably does, the room seems to have fewer cold spots. Certainly not a scientific review or opinion but for 45 it looks good and keeps me amused.
After figuring out how to get it out of the box (pull it back out of the inner pack) I read the instructions. Placed it on the stove and waited……..nothing. Got the digital oven thermometer, 77 degrees C on the stove top. Took the fan into the kitchen and applied a DAMP sponge to the top cooling vanes….. it works (in the kitchen)! Put it back on the stove and it sings along (silently), Obvious really, the Peltier Effect requires a temperature difference across the terminals. By placing it when I lit the fire the whole thing gently heated up. When I placed it on the HOT stove the cooling vanes were cool, the fan starts and draws cool air from behind the stove and keeps the cooling vanes cool. BINGO. Rather pleased with myself for working it out.
Update: After a couple of weeks the fan failed again. Turns out that there was an dry joint on the red motor connector which caused intermittent operation. So I didn’t really get it going.
Good news is that Sarah at Valiant was happy to honour the guarantee and sent replacement parts which came with comprehensive, illustrated, instructions and an Allen key. It took 10 minutes to fix and is now up and running.
Firstly, the fan has to fit into a tight space. This unit is the right size to fit but I was concerned that its dimensions would impact performance. This isn’t the case and the fan works quietly and effectively.
Secondly, the stove is set quite deeply into a fireplace. It gets very hot above the stove (hence why I wanted to push this heat into the room) and I was concerned that the heat differential between the base plate that sits on top of the stove and the fins above might be insufficient for the thermoelectric module to generate electricity. This has not proven to be a problem. The fan started turning at a surprisingly low temperature and was spinning happily at full operating temperature.
I have read in reviews that some fettling is required to get the best position for the fan. Common sense dictated that the fan faces the direction of the required heat flow and that it should be placed towards the rear of the stove so that the air would pass over the hot stove top. This worked for me.
The fan has made a significant difference to the heat distribution around the room. I would highly recommend it.
After reading many reviews of other fans, and serious consideration of both 2 and 4 bladed fans, we purchased this for the woodburner in our 2 bed cottage. The woodburner is the only heating in the cottage (no central heating here) and although the woodburner on its own heated the main room and warmed the bedroom immediately above, the rest of the cottage remained chilly regardless of how much heat the woodburner produced, (think t-shirts in the main room and coats on in the kitchen!). All I can say is that I can’t believe what a difference a little fan can make! Now the heat is much more evenly spread throughout the cottage, the kitchen is warmer, the 2nd bedroom positively toasty by previous comparison, and the main room is a much nicer even temperature. I am pleased that we decided to spend the extra money on what appeared to be a superior product – the fan is very well built, and although some have commented on the noise, our fan is almost silent in operation. I would not hesitate to recommend this product to any one else as I think in the long run its superior operation will save us money in fuel costs as we don’t need to burn so much to try to heat the whole of the cottage.
Experiments done .
Temperature at light before fan , temperature up 7 degrees C in 3 1/2 hours , after fan temperature up 11 degrees C in 3 1/2 hrs .
Thermometer at body level before fan , temperature up 5 degrees C in 3 1/2 hours , after fan temperature up 7 degrees C in 3 1/2 hours .
It Does make a difference , also found out it heats the whole room to same temperature as before fan (26 degrees C) (starting at same temperature) heats the room in 4 hours less than the stove alone ( started at 16 -27degrees C ) in 3 1/2hours .
The noise : it is a bit noisy when up to full speed (stove over 250 degrees C ) sounds like a helchopter in the back ground of the tv . If tv is about sound level 20 or over you maybe not hear it but anything less you can hear the drone of blades turning , I don’t find it annoying .
Hope This helps I am still doing experiments all fun.
I must have a very fast shutter speed on my camera because I can assure you that the fan is positively spinning at great speed when photo was taken.I was able to position this fan within the 9″ clearance I had at the back of the recess. Fan height is less than 8″
Out of the box, there is nothing to set up, just pop it on the stove, and within a few minutes, it will start to spin. If you have not yet got one, I would suggest getting a stove thermometer such as the Blue Spot stove Pipe Thermometer (less than 10) and its perfect for the job.
The fan itself is not totally quiet, you will hear a whirring noise, especially as it speeds up, but its not annoying. There is a bi-metal device on the bottom to prevent it from overheating, should the surface temperature get too hot. It works by literally lifting the fan up off the hot surface, but I would remove it if the safety device cuts in.
Does it work? I think it does. At first, we thought its not pushing out much heat, but it works on movement of air – convection, rather than a force blow like a fan heater. The stove might appear cooler, but the room is definitely warmer, I would say by up to 30% more. For us, that is a huge difference. The optimum effect is reached around 200 – 250 degrees C, but it works at much lower temps.
The unit is fairly robust, the fan is well made, if anything the unit could be a little on the light side, but its so compact, this will fit on any stove. Its also something of a talking point, as its a mystery to some how it works…. with no batteries!!!.
2 year warranty, which is good, and I think, we’ll be putting less wood on the stove, and that’s what really matters.