What kind of fireplace do I have (pics inside)?

Fsappo said:

Oh man, thank you so much! I was going thru the Alphabet trying to come up with something that would ring a bell. You have no idea how much stress you just alleviated!

Click to expand...

Glad to save you the stress....

You get two cups of hot chocolate when you come up next time. Now, the few I sold created happy customers. Of course, I sold them as a way to make a little more heat than they had while preserving the look of the fireplace best as possible. Have you ever tried a grate heater with a decent set of glass doors? I have stood in front of both and thought the fuego actually put out more heat.

Fsappo said:

You get two cups of hot chocolate when you come up next time. Now, the few I sold created happy customers. Of course, I sold them as a way to make a little more heat than they had while preserving the look of the fireplace best as possible. Have you ever tried a grate heater with a decent set of glass doors? I have stood in front of both and thought the fuego actually put out more heat.

Click to expand...

Never used a grate heater, and mine had plate steel doors when I bought the house.
It put out heat for very short periods of time, and with the top damper area glowing cherry.
I still have it if you want it? LOL

I was just below the PA/NY border today in Sayre, PA
Friday its Philly, I am getting a wee bit tired.

Back to the OP - it looks like you've got a pretty good opening and hearth. You'll need to check for clearances as your walls seem a little close on the sides. Also, are you able to see behind to see what type of construction you have there? Is it masonry or something else? What's the chimney like? clay lined / masonry?

There's still lots to think about before you decide on your insert / stove.

I've always liked the look of a free standing stove in/on a hearth like that - might make some things a little easier, might not.

The Fuego is an insert. There better be masonry behind there or at least an old heatform or heatilator.

I wasn't sure of the name until Hogwildz identified it. It was in my parents' old home when I was in college. I was only there for 1 winter, but I personally remember 2 things about using it. The first was that it did for the most part put off noticeable heat, but not nearly on the level of homes with a free standing wood stove. The second thing was that it needed nearly constant attention, because the wood shifted around as it would burn down and there were many times the shifting caused a log to roll forwards into the glass doors.
I know I'm inviting criticism about how it was loaded and so forth, but this was my experience from it, maybe 10 years ago. Well.. hopefully not that long ago, but I'm afraid that's about right.
While i'm typing this, I also remember once every so often the wood would "pop" and a stray spark would make its way out of the unit through the tiny opening between the doors. So nothing was ever "air tight".
Most people would probably suggest you "pull it out" and put something new in. I think I'm of the mind to suggest you use this one a little bit and keep track of what you like and what you don't like, and begin to build on your wood supply, so that should you decide to get a more capable wood burner, you can appreciate its abilities. Just my two cents.

Hi, I stumbled across this. I bought a house with the same fireplace. What did you end up doing with this?