Looking forward to giving that a try to go along with the new location for the 30. I think it is really going to perform well in that area. I've never had a rheostat fan before. I should be able to run it at a lower speed and keep it quieter than the old hairdryer model that came with the stove.
The AC-30 is 10 times the blower. I blew my Ac-30 last year and was given a 13 this year (thank you! You know who you are! ) It works, but I will buy another 30 soon. It blows 5x harder when cranked, and is quieter overall. Especially when on a lower setting.
If I could get the equivalent of the low seating from the 13 on the 30, but a lot quieter, it is well worth the money I spent. I am really excited to see how that stove heats in the living room and where the heat travels too. The heat exchange should be a massive difference from the Defiant as it does not have a blower. This is kind of my mini-test to see how a Princess would work in the living room.
I have the variable speed blower with rheostat on the T6 and love it. I barely run it on anything other than low and it still pushes the air great and is nice and quiet. I am sure you will like it a lot.
BBar, you'll like that fan. I keep mine on low about 99% of the time and the whole house (other than the back bedroom) stays comfortable as long as the stove is kicking out some heat. It's just above 65 in the house this a.m., yet it feels a bit warmer and the kitchen is pretty close to the same temp as the living room.
I have gone in a different direction in regard to fans on the 30. A couple of years ago my fan died. I happened to be in my local Princess Auto store. They specialize in a lot of industrial surplus. I came across 4" "pancake" style fans similar to those found in CPU's only a lot heavier duty. They pull .5 amp. each. I had to reconfigure the 30 fan case internally and mounted these inside of it. I have wired it to be able to run one or both. My total expenditure was $10.. These fans are extremely quiet even on high speed. My experience has been that you do not need to push BIG volumes of air, you just have to keep it moving. My NC-30 is backed into a heatilator style fire place. Been running this way for 4 years now and works just fine keeping my single floor ranch style warm and cozy in most winter weather. When it gets extreme I fire up the R-3 on the other end of the house and all id good.
I've run the fan that comes with the NC30 a few times...both high and low...and while it's not rattling or noisy in that regard, you can hear it running. It's hard for me to tell it's really moving that much air, though. My stove is in the basement (non living just laundry/mechanicals/storage) so the noise doesn't matter, but it seems like the angle of the deflector plate should force the air across the stove top better instead of shoot it upward so much. I think I'm moving more heat away from the stove using a small air circulator fan (cheap model like Vornado) on the floor blowing into the corner. Today I might try them together to see what happens.
DexterDay has a mod for exactly what you are talking about on the 30, nicely done, there is a pic of it somewhere around here. I'd like to do something similar someday.
I can PM or text more details. It works great at exchanging the heat. The AC-30 is a much better blower for this mod, but the AC-13 works.
I dont use a blower on mine, dont seem to need it. Natural convection loop sets itself up in 15-20 min. Using a fan near the stove disrupts this and the rooms farther away from the stove dont get as warm.
Box fan on high blowing across the top and the AC13 on high too, stove at 650, seems to be the best for me so far. I plan to make a convection deck like dex's too. Figure, the 28-3500 furnace has an 850 cfm blower so we can't overblow the stove.
