door gasket talk

[bholler]

For any heat you produce the loss will be 10 fold as soon as the fire goes out. I honestly think they draw more warm air out of the home for combustion than they produce.

Yes many do have a negative net heat gain for the house.

 

[moresnow]

If nothing else get it cleaned/inspected. Add wood. Marshmellows, Hot dogs, Popcorn. I grew up with 2 fireplaces that were used a lot. Fond memories of cooking over the fire. However after having 2 modern stoves I would be hard pressed to go back! Keep researching here and elsewhere. Got a feeling that you will start leaning towards using this as is until you are able to upgrade the system. Enjoy.

 

[beermann]

Is there a primary heating system that normally kicks in? Wondering if it is getting affected with the thermostat reading high due to the fireplace warmth? If so, an oil-filled electric radiator in each room might keep them more comfortable.

I have not used the fireplace but I want to next winter late at night or early morning. Using it as is without an outside airsource would ruin the pleasure of having a masonry fireplace. It would just draw all the warm air out and cause my central air to work overtime. I live in ontario and it would cost me a paycheque to space heat the kids rooms and run a fireplace that uses indoor air.

I'm trying to figure out how to give it an outside air source, seal it from taking air from indoors and new to my plan is to make a small air exchanger.

For the most part I have the outside air source figured out, I'm still thinking on a nice looking way to seal off the doors and I have a rough idea on an air exchanger which ill make a seperate post on.

 

[beermann]

If nothing else get it cleaned/inspected. Add wood. Marshmellows, Hot dogs, Popcorn. I grew up with 2 fireplaces that were used a lot. Fond memories of cooking over the fire. However after having 2 modern stoves I would be hard pressed to go back! Keep researching here and elsewhere. Got a feeling that you will start leaning towards using this as is until you are able to upgrade the system. Enjoy.

I am already leaning towards having one but for $250-$300 I think I can set it up for an outside air source, I'm sure I can seal up some gaps and still have it look good and I may be able to set up a slim air exchanger that connects through the current air vents on the front. Fingers crossed. I'll be posting pictures tonight of what I am trying to figure out.

At the minimum if it's all a bad deal I will definitely be having indoor open fire meals with the kids with an as is fireplace.

 

[bholler]

For the most part I have the outside air source figured out, I'm still thinking on a nice looking way to seal off the doors and I have a rough idea on an air exchanger which ill make a seperate post on.

What size inlet are you going to have? And what size is your flue? they should match pretty closely

 

[ccmac]

For any heat you produce the loss will be 10 fold as soon as the fire goes out. I honestly think they draw more warm air out of the home for combustion than they produce.

He said he has a fresh air intake so that would not be the case. His fresh air would provide the combustion air needed and not the warm air inside the home.

 

[beermann]

What size inlet are you going to have? And what size is your flue? they should match pretty closely

I'll get back to you tonight. Inlet being the air intake?

 

[ccmac]

You really are not supposed to burn with the tempered glass doors closed, that will likely be a problem for you and the glass will crack. I looked very close at doing something similar to what you are doing but I would have placed ceramic glass in the doors. That is what you need to burn with the doors closed. You still won't be as efficient as a woodstove, but you'll improve your setup considerably. And if wood is plentiful then efficiency won't be as important.

 

[begreen]

Regardless of the plan, please have the chimney cleaned and inspected by a certified sweep before burning. If all checks out and is good to go then be sure to have dry wood on hand.

 

[beermann]

You really are not supposed to burn with the tempered glass doors closed, that will likely be a problem for you and the glass will crack. I looked very close at doing something similar to what you are doing but I would have placed ceramic glass in the doors. That is what you need to burn with the doors closed. You still won't be as efficient as a woodstove, but you'll improve your setup considerably. And if wood is plentiful then efficiency won't be as important.

Thank you for this

 

[beermann]

Regardless of the plan, please have the chimney cleaned and inspected by a certified sweep before burning. If all checks out and is good to go then be sure to have dry wood on hand.

Using this without an inspection is not an option. It will be inspected.

 

[madison]

Honestly in most cases when I see people doing stuff like this to try to make their open fireplace more efficient they and up limiting the air to much and causing a mess of creosote in the chimney due to that.

Agree 100% with bholler, and will add my experience:

To appease my wife who did not want an insert or wood stove, I had custom glass doors made for an arched masonry fireplace, installed with a hearth heater that had a blower, which had inlets and outlets fitted to the frame of the custom doors.... Hearth heater grate lasted one season when the steel tubes melted through. Ultimately, two chimney fires later - the wife agreed to a wood insert.

If you want to make it "efficient", give up the thought of the glass doors and install an insert.

 

[beermann]

I'll get back to you tonight. Inlet being the air intake?

I have two 7.5"x4" clean outs that I can use and I have another 6" inlet as well. My flue looks to be 12"x12". The firepit is measured at 25" Width rear (left to right), 30" Width front (left to right), 22" depth (front to back), 26" high (up and down)

the brackets are just for clarification. info over typing can be troublesome.

 

[bholler]

I have two 7.5"x4" clean outs that I can use and I have another 6" inlet as well. My flue looks to be 12"x12". The firepit is 22" rear width 26" front width and 22" tall.

It sounds like if you bring air to all of those vents with equal volume ducts without to many elbows ect you will probably have enough volume.

 

[beermann]

Agree 100% with bholler, and will add my experience:

To appease my wife who did not want an insert or wood stove, I had custom glass doors made for an arched masonry fireplace, installed with a hearth heater that had a blower, which had inlets and outlets fitted to the frame of the custom doors.... Hearth heater grate lasted one season when the steel tubes melted through. Ultimately, two chimney fires later - the wife agreed to a wood insert.

If you want to make it "efficient", give up the thought of the glass doors and install an insert.

I am planning on an insert or stove in the future but it's just not in the budget as nothing fits without being custom built or renovated. Best I can do is make it throw a little heat while I sit beside it late at night.

How often did you have it cleaned?

 

[beermann]

It sounds like if you bring air to all of those vents with equal volume ducts without to many elbows ect you will probably have enough volume.

I would need to run roughly 25-30 feet along a wall and through the side no elbows If I angle them all on an upwards slope to an exit. or an additional 10-12feet and 1 elbow to a window.

 

[bholler]

That is an extremly long run there will be allot of resistance I am skeptical it it will supply enough volume

 

[madison]

How often did you have it cleaned?

Annually

 

[beermann]

That is an extremly long run there will be allot of resistance I am skeptical it it will supply enough volume

I'll see what I can figure out.

 

[beermann]

Annually

Thank you. I'll do quartly if I use it often next year.

 

[beermann]

I'll see what I can figure out.

One 6 feet, two 8 feet. Less than a 90 degree angle vented.....beside the exhaust of the central heating unit. But I'm sure I can make something work.

 

[beermann]

One 6 feet, two 8 feet. Less than a 90 degree angle vented.....beside the exhaust of the central heating unit. But I'm sure I can make something work.

Another option but I don't want to entertain it much. Is to go out the back of the fireplace and use an insert to protect the opening. But I'm not too happy about that so I'm gonna scratch it off the list.

 

[beermann]

Another option but I don't want to entertain it much. Is to go out the back of the fireplace and use an insert to protect the opening. But I'm not too happy about that so I'm gonna scratch it off the list.

And another is to drill on an angle from the ash drop to the outside but again I don't like it. Drilling into a fireplace structer sounds like I'm asking for it to crack and break sooner than later.

 

[beermann]

Agree 100% with bholler, and will add my experience:

To appease my wife who did not want an insert or wood stove, I had custom glass doors made for an arched masonry fireplace, installed with a hearth heater that had a blower, which had inlets and outlets fitted to the frame of the custom doors.... Hearth heater grate lasted one season when the steel tubes melted through. Ultimately, two chimney fires later - the wife agreed to a wood insert.

If you want to make it "efficient", give up the thought of the glass doors and install an insert.

Thanks for letting me know that I'll have to have the chimney cleaned on a steady basis if I plan to use it as it....which I am really determined to do next year AFTER an inspection this summer. I was just wondering, how often did you burn in your fireplace and at what intensity/how much wood each burn and roughly how long into your burning season before you had a chimney fire?. I know different fireplaces have different results but any info is helpful. Definitely looking to avoid chimney fires.

thanks

 

[rwhite]

I'm curious how you bring outside air into a fireplace safely. I'm imagining the duct work entering the Fire box but how do you prevent embers, ash and fire from entering the duct work? Im sure 90% of the time air flow will be coming in but there has to be That chance that you open the fireplace doors and someone opens the front door. It would seem plausible that flow direction could reverse and send flame into the duct work.