Thread: fire Place

OK, I do not own a stove yet.... I currently use a fire place. Does anyone have some good ideas to help generate more heat?

Anyone ever use self feeding fire place grates?

Just thought I would ask.

Thanks

The problem with a fireplace is that it sucks all the air up the chimney, so any heat gain you get from the fire is minimal. There are inserts and woodstoves you can get that will fit inside your fireplace. These will help with getting more radiant heat out into the room (blowers also help), but if you can get an insert or stove that gets its source/supply air from outside, then that's the best option.

We use a Vermont Casting Large Winter Warm fireplace insert. I heats our two story house in Atlanta GA....

it really depends on the type of fireplace you have. if yours is just brick lined, you should consider an insert.

but.....if you want to spend a few bucks, try this:

http://www.northlineexpress.com/item...p?ic=5TH-TR-22

i use something similar to this, but my blower is not on the inside like this one. i'm not sure why they would do that. if i bought one, i'd change that. there are others like this on-line that don't have the blower inside.

next, get yourself some good glass doors. find the cabinet style ones...not bi-fold. bi-fold doors leak too much air. i bought cabinet style doors and added rope insulation around the door/glass frame to seal them better. i also sealed the frame itself where it meets the brick face of the fireplace. i burn fires with the doors closed.

your glass doors will sit on top of the fireplace grate and, i also sealed that area with hi-temp silicone.

with a few other mods, my fireplace comfortably heats my 2000 sq ft ranch without a problem. having 80 degree temps when it's 20 outside is normal and even the furthest rooms are around 70.

i talked about this in detail in another thread.

We have an old masonry fireplace and in the steps to where were at now(Lopi Revere insert w/ blower and SS liner) this was a nice option. Like others have said and will say, your probably spinning your wheels with any take on an open fireplace. But if your not wanting to do the insert thing and just want to have your fireplace look really close to what it does now. It's a good option to getting more heat out of it.

Find a good used fireplace insert with decent glass doors. You will still get the effects of seeing a fire burning, but will retain your heat in the house.

on a related note, I have an insert fireplace with the bi-fold doors.
My house is "T" shaped with the fireplace at the bottom of the T.
I can keep the room the fireplace in at 70*, but I have to feed the fireplace every couple hours. I know the heat is going out the chimney.
the blower makes noise, but I dont get much air movement out the top.
I think the fireplace is from the mid 80s, but not sure. I know its at least 15 years old.
My fireplace isn't a masonary fireplace. There isn't any insulation on the outside of the insert in the wall or in the chimney.
The outside of the insert doesn't appear to have any places to be loosing air from the blower.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The only way you will get much heat from a regular fireplace is to burn like hell until you heat the stone and get some radiant heat from that. As said before an insert is the way to got. My mother has a Buck stove insurt and that thing will throw some heat.

Originally Posted by Fronty Owner

on a related note, I have an insert fireplace with the bi-fold doors.
My house is "T" shaped with the fireplace at the bottom of the T.
I can keep the room the fireplace in at 70*, but I have to feed the fireplace every couple hours. I know the heat is going out the chimney.
the blower makes noise, but I dont get much air movement out the top.
I think the fireplace is from the mid 80s, but not sure. I know its at least 15 years old.
My fireplace isn't a masonary fireplace. There isn't any insulation on the outside of the insert in the wall or in the chimney.
The outside of the insert doesn't appear to have any places to be loosing air from the blower.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

did your original fireplace have a thick steel wall liner in it?

Back in the 1970's I lived in another house which had a large fireplace. I don't know if these units are still made but I bought what was called a free heat machine.

It had stainless steel pipes and a couple blowers. The fire was burned on top of the pipes which heated the air inside. The blowers forced the heated air into the room. This free heat machine also had air tight doors. It was sealed around the fireplace opening with silicone.

My fireplace had an ash dump which could be cleaned from the outside at the bottom on the chimney. I took the ash dump plate off and let the fire get its air from the outside. No warm inside air went up the chimney.

This is something you can think about.

Nosmo

Originally Posted by mga

did your original fireplace have a thick steel wall liner in it?

I dont know how thick any of it is. There is the firebox that is lined with fire bricks and another box that is about 4 inches per side larger.

I got to looking around since its warm (40*), there is a good 1/4" or so gap at the top and bottom of the doors. I was thinking some aluminum tape top and bottom of my doors to block some of the air flow entering the box, but I dont know if that would handle the heat.

Originally Posted by Fronty Owner

I dont know how thick any of it is. There is the firebox that is lined with fire bricks and another box that is about 4 inches per side larger.

I got to looking around since its warm (40*), there is a good 1/4" or so gap at the top and bottom of the doors. I was thinking some aluminum tape top and bottom of my doors to block some of the air flow entering the box, but I dont know if that would handle the heat.

go to lowes or home depot. they sell fireplace door sealer rope. it's heat resistant and it comes with some glue. just clean the metal surface cut a piece to fit then glue it on. that's all i did and it's held ever since.

it comes in several sizes so get a measurement so that you can get the right thickness. it's only like 3 bucks or so for the kit and one kit should be more than enough.

Originally Posted by mga

go to lowes or home depot. they sell fireplace door sealer rope. it's heat resistant and it comes with some glue. just clean the metal surface cut a piece to fit then glue it on. that's all i did and it's held ever since.

it comes in several sizes so get a measurement so that you can get the right thickness. it's only like 3 bucks or so for the kit and one kit should be more than enough.

looked around the local home depot, they had a few fire grates and a bunch of gas log accessories. Ill check Lowes next time I can. I didn't really know what I was looking for and I have found that unless you know what your looking for and you know they have it, the big box stores are pretty useless. Ill hit the locally independantly owned Ace Hardware (owner is a neighbor too) and see what they have now that I have an idea of what im looking for.
Part of my concern is, the gap is at the top and bottom of the door where the guide pins for the bi-fold doors are located. I may be able to add the gasket to the door itself and seal it somewhat.