We have a Lopi free-standing wood burner in the main-level family room. The blower for the unit is located in the basement, just under the wood burner. The blower is activated by turning on and adjusting (for speed) a rheostat that is located near the wood burner (and hard wired to the blower below.) The rheostat is very difficult to reach, and I'd like to replace it with a remote control device of some type. I know such devices are made as add-ons for ceiling fans that originally had no remote. Would this device work as a replacement for the existing rheostat? If not, can you recommend an alternative. Ideally, I'd be able to turn the blower on/off as well as adjust the speed from the remote, much as I'd activate and adjust the brightness of the light in my ceiling fan.

Unless the manufacturer offers such a device you will have to make something else work. It is possible to adapt a remote control to you stove but that would take the knowledge and ON SITE work. It is not something I would be comfortable doing on this board and there would be no UL or CSA approval.

I doubt it would work, as ceiling fan remotes use capacitors to regulate speed and a blower motor would react much differently to the set values.

Do you know if your blower motor is PSC? Also, how many amps does it draw?

Ceiling fan remote controls - help and FAQ- Ceiling Fans N More (http://www.ceiling-fans-n-more.com/ceiling-fan-controls.php)