Old house/open fireplaces/inserts

[mattyo]

Good morning.

I have a 200 year old house. It has 4 unusable fireplaces in it. 1 may need to be disassembled. Also one large one doesn't even have a damper at the top of the firebox. Here are pictures and dimensions to start it off as well as some info on my plans.

I currently have a Harman pellet furnace that I installed in my basement to heat my top floor and a few bottom floor rooms via ducts. I like this product and would like to stick with this brand if possible. My heat load calculation for my house shows me losing about 35-40k BTU out of my chimeneys alone per hour. Obviously I want to fix this, but now I am tryign to decide how. I want to still use the fireplaces with combination of wood and pellets. The idea of fixing my drafting/heat loss problems while adding a heat source seems great to me. Also I have the challenge of not losing the old charm of the house. I am generally trying to get all cast iron matte black finish products to match the house.

Currently all the chimneys are unlined but are massive. I plan on lining all chimneys with an insulated Stainless steel flex appropriate to each appliance (each will have its own).

The fireboxes:

Dimensions: 32w x 46.5h x 22d (top) 25d(bot) (20w at rear)

I plan on putting a Harman Accentra inside this space. I will use it as a spot heater for that room. If the heat travels to the neighboring hallways, that will be a bonus. I chose this appliance because I like the harman products, and my furnace downstairs uses the same parts. Also, I do not want to lose the details (pot arm, etc.) of this old kitchen fireplace by covering it all up.

The next photo is a fireplace off the same chimney, adjacent to the last fireplace. This one our inspector told us is junk. It is in a wierd spot which will most likely be a future hallway. I am on the fence about what will happen to it.

Dimensions: 37w x 31h x 15-12d (bot-top) x 28w at rear

This next Fireplace is in the current kitchen opposite to the 1st in the list and adjajent to the one listed directly above. It uses the same chimney. It is fairly wide and has no damper to shut it off from the outside unless I can call cardboard from costco a damper. This is a Fireplace that I would use as an insert to burn wood. It would only be situational/ambiance. The bonus is that I would be closing it up properly to avoid heat loss and be able to create heat with the same solution. I want to go with wood here in case of an outage. There is also an old gravity heat transfer grill directly above it so heat can get to the 2nd floor.

Dimensions: 44w (32.5 w at rear) x 32.5h x 19.5-17.5 d (Bottom-top)

This last fireplace is my biggest dilemma.

Dimensions: 33w (16w at rear) x 26h x 13-11.5d (Bottom to top)

I would really like to put a Harman Accentra pellet insert in this fireplace because I am often too busy to tend to a fire these days and again would like to stick with Harman. Though, I am not totally opposed to a wood insert. Here are some products that may fit that fireplace if I must go with wood: Lennox country performer, Avalon Ranier 45, Regency H2100, Lopi answer. This list is a sampling that I have been able to find so far. This particular fireplace is very shallow at only 11" at the top and 13" at the bottom. But the current dimensions do not allow it. Also the surrounding cast iron block off plate supplied with most appliances is too large, I do not want to block off all of the old woodwork.

So, my questions are:

Can I enlarge that opening?

The depth will need to gain 5" to be safe. The width in the rear will need to gain 10". A plan of this house and a few measurements taken show the wall behind face of this central fireplace to be 36". So, somewhere inside there there is alot of space.

Anyway, is there a reason not to do this if I had the space and the structure of the chimney is not affected?

Can I trim down the surrounds that come with most of these products if I maintain the clearances recommended by the manufacturer?
I would need to tailor this to each opening. I can do the ironwork/metalwork. Is there a safety reason I cannot do this?

I am trying to supply as much information as possible along with some eyecandy to look at. Hopefully this is enough to give me your 2 cents.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[begreen]

Greetings Matt, welcome aboard.

Installing the pellet stove(s) should be very straight forward. With their closer clearances they should work pretty well for you. Take their liner(s) to the top of the chimney.

If choosing a wood insert, besides the general constraints of the fireplace size, I also see some concerns about clearance to combustibles. It's good to see the Vigilant is not connected. It looks too close to the surrounding woodwork behind it. The actual surround can be cut down on some models. IMO for a classic old house I'd want a cast iron front and surround on the insert. This looks like a setting for something like a Jotul C450 if a wood insert is chosen. Or perhaps consider installing a freestanding stove and extending the hearth out a bit?

If you do decide to go all pellet, then the Quadrafire Mt. Vernon would also look good in there or a Castile, even as a freestanding stove with no surround.

 

[mattyo]

The big kitchen fireplace will probably be an insert. It is deep and tall enough where I would like to recess the stove into the opening and make a plate that blocks off any opening. I want to do this because the trim and paneling starts right on top of the fireplace opening and I will not be able to abide by the clearance recommendations.

Anyone have experience with enlarging a fireplace area to fit a bigger insert?

I would really like to control that small fireplace heating automatically with a pellet insert.

 

[webie]

Looking at the pictures , all I can say is back in the day when this house was young that must have been one heck of a pile of firewood every year .

 

[mattyo]

I could not agree more.



All the sig's with all the gear lists make me want to go be a lumberjack.

 

[iceman]

I could not agree more.



All the sig's with all the gear lists make me want to go be a lumberjack.

Are you in the "hills" in western mass? If so, dont forget "power outages" you might want a good generator with all those pellet stoves/furnaces in there...
as suggested you can put a regular pellet stove and leave it freestanding, but I do like the idea of an insert...
you have a big job in front you .. good luck and please post pictures as you go!

 

[mattyo]

Actually, I am in Wilbraham. I am currently fixing up an old house (which I do not plan on moving from...ever). I am doing some slate roofing and pointing on the chimneys in late summer, and I would like to install all the liners/caps at that time. So, even though the next heating season is far away, I really need to decide what I am going to do before that so the liners can be installed and ready to go. I really do not want to have to go over the slates or on the roof in general for a long time after this summer.


I agree on the generator, but not yet. We gave been pretty good as far as outages lately. I do have one in the works, but I am still planning on where to put it.

 

[Todd]

Maybe the pellet furnace could heat the whole house if you installed new chimney top dampers and just left the fireplaces alone?

http://www.amazon.com/Lyemance-Seal-Chimney-Damper-13x13/dp/B001154TPU

 

[mattyo]

While I agree that something like that will cut heat losses, the look doesn't fit the house and I want to be able to use the fireplaces.

 

[Todd]

While I agree that something like that will cut heat losses, the look doesn't fit the house and I want to be able to use the fireplaces.

You won't see them, they sit pretty much flush on top of your chimney and there is a cable that goes down to the fireplace so you can open them up and burn.

 

[boxerdogheidi]

Any photos of your 200 year old house.

 

[mattyo]

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22484&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=mattyo

There are pictures of my house on this website.