Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone might have some tips for making a fireplace more efficient. I have a brick firebox with a chimmney top damper and glass doors. I would like to extract more heat from this setup, but I am not sure how to proceed.
Thanks
Matt
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Replies
you can buy a "Heatalator"....LAy your logs on it and turn it on and it blows the heat out into the room.
They make several different kinds.
The simplist is the log holders that are round hollow tubes with a fan unit that blows the heat out of the tubes into the room....then theres the kind that blows it from a grill outside the doors.
Be warm,
andy
We're being trained through our incarnations-trained to seek love, trained to seek light,trained to see the grace in suffering
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Andy
Thanks for the tip. I'll search around on the net.
Matt
I'd be careful if I used one of those (and I did for years, they do work) because it now seems to me if not propoerly used they could circulate carbon monoxide into the room air.
I suggest using a good CO detector in the room.
_______________________
Why Don't Blind People Like To Sky Dive?
Because it scares the bejabbers out of the dog
Your mileage may vary ....
Bob
Rumford Fireplace!My life is my practice!
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'fireplace more efficient'
oxymoron without glass (or steel) doors.
The words fireplace and efficiency go together like - naw - they don't either.
A fireplace can be a better air conditioner than a heater. The only one that makes any heat, IMO, is a Rumsford, but you already have on ebuilt
Excellence is its own reward!
The words fireplace and efficiency go together like - naw - they don't either.
A fireplace can be a better air conditioner than a heater. The only one that makes any heat, IMO, is a Rumsford,
I certainly wouldn't argue that they are very efficient, but because they were used for acouple of hundred (thousand?) years to heat homes, I have to wonder about the claims that they actually lose more heat than they provide.
I used to heat my summer cottage on winter weekends with a "heatolator" type fireplace with one of those tube grate things and it worked pretty well, short term.
Starting from scratch? I agree completely, go with a rumsford
_______________________
Why Don't Blind People Like To Sky Dive?
Because it scares the bejabbers out of the dog
Your mileage may vary ....
I agree with Piffin, a roaring fire without a door suck ALL the air out of the house. The air that goes up the chimney get replaced by outside air that happens to be cold most the time. Maybe the house a thousand years ago was just one small enough room that benefited from the radiation of the fire.
I have always prove my point with the roaring fire by showing how much the furnace is coming on to keep the rest of the house warm.
But, women always love a roaring fire, so you can hold them close and keep them warm. Your honey get warms in the front from the fire and you hold her or him to keep other parts warm.
I've stayed in cabins heated soley by fireplace. You freeze your butt off while roasting the side closest to the flames.
This past week, I demoed a two hundred year old chimney mass that had five fireplaces for a cape home about 1228sqft. There was a tremendous thermal mass and apparently they really had to torch off a lot of wood to heat it up. Hearth bricks were scorched and soot blackened in the bottom layer and wood three feet away from the firebox was scorched in a couple of places. There was essentially a fireplace in every room - evidence of the fact that the space air could not be warmed or circulated. It was only via radiant energy that occupants were kept above freezing point, perhaps aided by a little hooch. .
Excellence is its own reward!
"You freeze your butt off while roasting the side closest to the flames."
That is my wing back chair where common.
The wings kept the cold air off of you.
Windbreak.
Excellence is its own reward!
"Windbreak"
Yes, but breaking wind they end up concentrating it.
TINSTAAFL
I've seen huge, enormous fireplaces in Europe. 30 tons and more. The firebox would hold a 1/2 ton pickup.
According to the guide, the fires would be made and eventually the firebox was burning an indoor bonfire. They would burn these huge fires for a few days until the stone mass was warm throughout, and then let the fire die. The mass would keep a small castle warm (relative) for a week.Ditch
Have you ever noticed in the old paintings how many layers of wool those folks were wearing?
relatively warm compared to the north pole but not the kind of heating comfort and efficiency we are talking about here.
besides, who would want to burn a pickup truck anyway?.
Excellence is its own reward!
besides, who would want to burn a pickup truck anyway?
Shhhh, ELF might be listening! Don't give 'em any ideas {G}
_______________________
Why Don't Blind People Like To Sky Dive?
Because it scares the bejabbers out of the dog
Your mileage may vary ....
...and the huge tapestries on the walls.....these were hung to stop drafts...Ditch
I just happened to think that maybe not everyone knows what hooch is. Synonyms could include rotgut, moonshine, applejack, cellar warmers, toddies, and booze.
Excellence is its own reward!
Matt, With very well sealed glass doors,including the frame and any deco grill work, and a 100% source of external combustion air,a fire place can deliver some net heat gain. You may be able to retro fit an air source, or open the ash dump if you have one.
As you are aware, the typical fire place is a huge exhaust fan sucking the air out of the house with a good fire, and becomes a two way path for air into the house when no fire.(Good move with your top damper). Never liked the flue smell when kitchen or bath exhaust fans were on.
Many yeas ago, I purchased a log grate from Ridgeway in Penn. some where. Don't know if they still exist. The grate is like the hollow air tube types,in a big "C" configuration,except made of black steel pipe, and is sealed with manifolds welded at the top and bottom of the "C", inlet/outlet connections at one side, and it has an air bleed valve on top of upper manifold. It is designed for heating circulating water that must be pumped to a heat exchanger such as a coil in a forced air system to extract the heat. They came in various widths and Btu capacities. I installed it, piped through the back of the chimney (area is hidden by shrubs)with black pipe,installed a safety temp/pressure relief valve, and ran copper water line to a finned coil that I put in a return air plenum, to an expansion tank, air eliminator,small pressure gauge and a small broze water pump, and back to the fireplace grate. Sounds more complicated than it is.( I think pump is about 3 gal/min.) I used it without problems for 8-9 years, until we tired of fire wood /ashes in and out of den. Also, home generators were not so affordable then, so in a power outage we could not use the fireplace. Natural gas was introduced into our neighborhood, and I gave in and converted the fire place to gas logs. However, I still have the liquid grate system. The ceramic logs rest on the grate, and the gas burner with auto shut off is under the fluid grate.
Note- I always used a 50-50 mix of distilled water/ Sierra antifreeze to prevent corrosion of the dissimilar metals; the Sierra because it is not deadly to pets if pressure relief ever blew it into yard. In the gas line, I installed a commercial 120 vac electric activated solenoid valve that turns off the gas to the fireplace in case of power loss. (Otherwise, I could have flame and no pump action, and at 20#,the pressure valve opens.) A lighting flash causing a monentary outage does not interrupt the flame, but anything over 2-3 seconds causes the flame to go out and the automatic gas log safety valve to shut off and stay off until the pilot is relit. Now that we have a generator for ice storms, and last weeks hurricane and tornados, we can power the pump, air handler blower, and activate the gas solenoid and have nice heat. My rough calculations indicate that I am recouping about 20,000-25,000 Btus per hour. It is enough to keep the downstairs quite comfortable in power outages, and of course the real reason was to reclaim some heat whenever burning the gas logs. The system was inspected and approved.
I change the fluid mix (about 16 gallons of mix) every 6 years using a drill operated pump to pump out the old and pump in the new, as all anti freeze moves to acidic over time. It has been quite carefree for 20+ years. Sorry for the lengthy answer. Paul
Practical Energy Cost Reduction for the Home