"C & E" wrote in message
...
Can anyone tell me the general draw of a squirrel cage fan in the plenum
of a heating/ cooling system in one or both speeds? I'm trying to decide
if this fan is cost effective (I'll do the math) for distributing the heat
from my wood stove. I have always contended that every use of it defeats
the purpose of burning wood. TIA Chuck

In my 5-ton A/C, 100,000 btu heating system, the blower is about 10 A, mebbe
a little more.
But this is a big-azz blower, ballpark about 1 foot long by about 1 foot
diam squirrel cage.

10 A, at a power factor of 1.0 (purely resistive) is 1200 watts, a good
sized heater in itself.
Which is something you should consider, that technically, this electric cost
is "returned" in the form of heat, altho not "free" heat, as in chopped
wood.
Of course, this "return" of heat is undesirable in the A/C mode.

I'd guess that the blower suitable for a wood burning stove would be much
much smaller. For example, the blowers in kitchen hoods are considerably
less than 5 A, some less than 2 A, gleaned from a GE Profile sheet on their
designer hoods.

I think a current draw of 2-3 amps would increase the effective heat
distribution of a wood stove so as to be well worth the electric cost.
Ceiling fans also do well along these lines, and draw very low power.
--
EA