Feedback on Renaissance Rumford heat levels

[Lady W]

Hi thank you for having this forum and I am grateful I have found it. I am hoping you can help me with my choice of wood burning fireplace. I am up in Canada, and we are wanting to install a new construction fireplace in the room pictured below at our lake-house. The lake-house was built in 1910 as a 12 bedroom inn, almost 3000 square feet, used seasonally. We are in a slow process of winterizing it, which is happening in stages, but we would like to add the fireplace now as it will extend our comfort in the fall if it works correctly. For those who may wonder, this style of roof is insulted from the outside with 2'x10" stringers and thick insulation blocks installed over the existing roof to preserve the historic ceiling.

The lake-house originally had a rather ugly brick fireplace that had been painted a rust color in gloss paint making it even uglier, but we did make a valiant attempt to save it, getting quotes for a insert which would have reduced the size of the woodbox to almost nothing. In the end we took the fireplace out this summer after finding out it was pulling the cottage down and sinking into the mire due to its weight. It was tipped forward by several inches at that point and we were keeping the kids out of the room. We also added new joists to strengthen the floor when removing it.

The issue I am having with looking for a fireplace is the scale of this room. 18'x18' by 20' high. The "efficient" woodbox style fireplaces with the two glass doors that open seem fairly small visually for the scale and height of this room. I also have the issue that this is a historic property and while we have full leeway, there is a local expectation that we try to restore or maintain the original look wherever possible. So after looking at several online and thinking I had narrowed it down to the largest one I could find, I went to a local fireplace dealer today to talk about quotes.
While there he showed me a Renaissance Rumford 1500 fireplace with a pull down door. I was immediately in love with the opening size of this fireplace, but after arriving home I read the specs and they mention that the fireplace is considered only decorative... what?? For $15,000.00? What does that even mean?

So here is the crux of the matter for me. I would love to have this fireplace, but I need it to get this large room warm and toasty when it's burning. It doesn't matter to me how much wood we go through, and it doesn't need to "heat" the whole house by itself. In fact where I am in Canada we get -40 degrees sometimes so we would have other heating in the cottage unless we went with a pellet stove and ducting I am told.

However I do want to know if this fireplace will throw off enough heat to make the room feel toasty like we are sitting in a ski lodge, because thats my goal, and I don't want to make a huge error in buying this if it's going to be impossible to get warm with it.
So any feedback you can give is appreciated, and if there is a different big size wood burning fireplace I can get up here in Canada I would be glad to hear of it. Thank you!

I have attached several photos including:
-The room I am putting the fireplace in which has 20 ft ceilings.
-The original fireplace and tear down just for interest. We were surprised by two things:
#1 The extra fireplace inside the fireplace that was revealed.
#2 The fact that the fireplace was only one brick thick at the back and the back wall had been burned through the cracked mortar. Evidence of why you should not just fire up a 100 year old fireplace.
-I also included two photos of fireplaces that represent the approximate aesthetic "Lodge" look I want for this room. I have no idea if these are wood fireplaces in the photos, I just like the look.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Heating a room with ceilings that high is going to be tough, no matter what heating option you choose. There’s just a lot of volume there and heat rises. Ceiling fans help with this.

Most fireplaces are decorative at best. They tend to draw more heat up the chimney than they put into the room. An exception to this is a zero clearance fireplace. These have duct work you can redirect to other areas of the room that might help to evenly heat the space.

 

[Lady W]

Heating a room with ceilings that high is going to be tough, no matter what heating option you choose. There’s just a lot of volume there and heat rises. Ceiling fans help with this.

Most fireplaces are decorative at best. They tend to draw more heat up the chimney than they put into the room. An exception to this is a zero clearance fireplace. These have duct work you can redirect to other areas of the room that might help to evenly heat the space.

Thanks for replying. I did have ceiling fans with lights installed this summer. First time anyone has had the nerve to get up that high in 100 years. I’ve got a great electrician. He climbs like a monkey. Here he is installing the fans. It was scary even watching him!

 

[Todd]

A Rumford style fireplace does throw some good radiant heat compared to a traditional fireplace but it’s still only around 30% efficient. For $15k I think I’d be looking into Masonry Heaters for a big space like that.

 

[Lady W]

A Rumford style fireplace does throw some good radiant heat compared to a traditional fireplace but it’s still only around 30% efficient. For $15k I think I’d be looking into Masonry Heaters for a big space like that.

Can you give me an example of what a masonry heater is? Does it have a fire or plug in? I’m hoping for a real fire. Thanks

 

[SteveKG]

When I was building my house forty years ago, I constructed a Rumford fireplace. Back then, we did not have Internet but did have The Whole Earth Catalogue, which is where I found sources of how to design a Rumford. This fireplace does put out a lot of heat. In fact, we never sit closer than fifteen feet or so as it will be too hot. I have no idea regarding efficiency, we have three wood stoves to heat the house proper and use the fireplace because we like it.

That room there will be insane to heat. I don't think I am even qualified to figure out just how to do it, particularly as you want it "toasty." I would consider a fireplace, should you end up going that route, as ambience and, at best, even Rumford will be an accessory heat source. I would not give up mine, but I would hate to have to depend on it to keep the house the least bit comfortable on its own.

By the way, figuring out and building the Rumford was a fun challenge...if you like that sort of thing, which I do. Rumford's calculations still hold up today. And his goal was to get more heat from the fireplace out into the room rather than up the chimney.

 

[Todd]

(broken link removed to https://www.tulikivi.com/usa-can/Products/classic_line)

Something like these will give you a nice roaring fire and the soapstone mass will radiate heat for many hours longer after the fire dies out.

 

[Lady W]

When I was building my house forty years ago, I constructed a Rumford fireplace. Back then, we did not have Internet but did have The Whole Earth Catalogue, which is where I found sources of how to design a Rumford. This fireplace does put out a lot of heat. In fact, we never sit closer than fifteen feet or so as it will be too hot. I have no idea regarding efficiency, we have three wood stoves to heat the house proper and use the fireplace because we like it.

That room there will be insane to heat. I don't think I am even qualified to figure out just how to do it, particularly as you want it "toasty." I would consider a fireplace, should you end up going that route, as ambience and, at best, even Rumford will be an accessory heat source. I would not give up mine, but I would hate to have to depend on it to keep the house the least bit comfortable on its own.

By the way, figuring out and building the Rumford was a fun challenge...if you like that sort of thing, which I do. Rumford's calculations still hold up today. And his goal was to get more heat from the fireplace out into the room rather than up the chimney.

Thanks for answering. We added ceiling fans and we have a mini split heat pump in the wall but they are useless after October in Canada. It sounds like from what you are saying that I should go ahead and add in baseboard into this room and use the fireplace as “additional” heat. In sone ways the aesthetics are the most important in this reno as we are recreating a historic property. This is the kitchen we just completed which we tried really hard to give a vintage vibe even though we were adding modern cabinets.
I am really torn on this decision because if I go with a fireplace that is like a wood stove insert (in Canada we have the Napolian 6000)
I was told I could run ducting into the kitchen as it shares the wall and into a couple of the bedrooms and that warms the whole house, but I just don’t know how that would look with the height and size of this room.

 

[begreen]

I would seriously consider putting in a big zero-clearance fireplace in that space if the goal is to heat with a nice fire view. Something like the Heatilator Constitution, an FPX 44 elite, or an Astria Montecito Estate. The Montecito Estate qualifies for the tax credit. RSF also makes good fireplaces.

These ZC fireplaces can be enclosed in a stone veneer for a beautiful look. The main difference is that they will burn wood efficiently while putting a lot of heat into the room.

Montecito Estate - Astria

The 4.0 cu. ft. firebox and 30” log capacity is one of the largest available in its category. The Montecito Estate beautifully combines craftsmanship with the power of clean, controllable combustion heating. The gorgeous selection of doors and facades allows you to achieve a customized look that...

astria.us.com

Constitution Wood Fireplace

Extremely clean-burning performance and up to 10 hours of burn time.

www.heatilator.com

44 Elite | Made in America | Fireplace Xtrordinair

www.fireplacex.com

RSF – ICC-RSF

icc-rsf.com