What would you put in this weird fireplace?

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Those two photos do not look like a Rumford. Not at all.

To answer, a Rumford is a design intended to project more of the heat out into the room rather than up the chimney. The sides slope in toward the back, so the floor of the fireplace makes a trapezoid. The rear wall, up maybe a third of the way, begins to slope forward. So, the sloping sides and back serve to reflect and direct heat out from the fireplace. They work great. I built ours by the formula 30 yr. ago and it will really heat up the room. The design came from a Count Rutherford in England [or was it Scotland?] who, or so the story goes, was concerned with the extremely smoky and ineficient fireplaces that would not really heat rooms even when roaring and wasting wood. There is quite an interesting story to all this if anyone cares to search it. The basic fireplace idea is to build them shallower in depth, taller, and with the aforementioned sloping sides and back. They are quite successful in this.
 
Minor but important correction here. The term is Rumsford, not Rumford.
 
I'd be inclined to tear it all out and put in a nice pad and wall protection for a free standing stove. Thing is you never know how the last person built that stuff, it could be a nice brick layer over plywood or drywall for all you know. (oh and I hate white colour brick too...)
 
Unfortunately tearing it all out is not an option. We already have had to do $10,000 in unexpected repairs due to flooding down there. ("Unexpected repairs" = tearing out all the wallboard and flooring and replacing it) So for now, we have to live with what we've got. Ugly brick and all -- which I totally agree on!

The good news is that the wall behind the fireplace -- up to around the mantel -- is the concrete foundation of the house. And it is sitting on what will be (if our contractor ever comes back) a polished concrete floor. So the only flamable part is the wallboard and studs above the knee wall, around the height of the mantel.

Went to a local shop today with my photos and measurements and the salesperson told me the Jotul Oslo would be a good fit. (I didn't mention that I'd been looking at those, wanted to see what they would say). Salesperson did not think there would be a problem with fireplace getting too hot, since the total depth in front of the firebox is 25", and the stove is, I think, only 18" deep.

I just stumbled across the forum about the new Jotul with top loading possibility... anyone have any new info on that? Is it a done deal? If so, we may wait, because that would make life easier for us!

I am shopping around for a good chimney sweep. I'll have them check out everything before we go ahead with the install.
 
Thought folks might like to see the end result... thanks for the help!
 

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Oops. It's a Jotul Oslo which we're still figuring out how to operate -- but the good news is that it can heat the entire house from its location and there doesn't seem to be a problem with the brick getting too hot on the outside of the fireplace. The side of the column that touches the wallboard has not yet been warm to the touch, even after 12 hours of firing.

Btw, had a chimney sweep come in and clean and inspect. He didn't think there had been a fire -- just lousy homeowners who never cleaned (gee, what a surprise given what else we've found in this house!!)

Now back to stacking wood! :)
 
That is quite the change. Is that an F500? Is side loading possible?
 
BeGreen said:
That is quite the change. Is that an F500? Is side loading possible?
Click to expand...

Thanks! Much elbow grease went into cleaning up the bricks and it looks a whole lot nicer.

Unfortunately side loading is not possible, so we just use the front. We haven't had the problem with ash spilling out that some people report -- but even if it does, there are 2 feet of concrete in front of the door.

We love it!
 
RIWonderer said:
We love it!
Click to expand...

Yea Ill bet, real nice "upgrade" from the old fireplace for sure. Good job
 
RIWonderer said:
BeGreen said:
That is quite the change. Is that an F500? Is side loading possible?
Click to expand...

Thanks! Much elbow grease went into cleaning up the bricks and it looks a whole lot nicer.

Unfortunately side loading is not possible, so we just use the front. We haven't had the problem with ash spilling out that some people report -- but even if it does, there are 2 feet of concrete in front of the door.

We love it!
Click to expand...

The ash spill out will happen sooner or later . . . one of the few drawbacks to a fantastic stove. A few members over the years have posted some fixes . . . one person put in a L-shaped piece of metal . . . another went an even simpler route and bought some stove gasket and wedged it into the channel near the front door. I haven't tried either of these fixes myself since I tend to use the side door . . . but you may want to try them since I will guarantee you will eventually have the ash spilling out on to the lip which will be messy and inconvenient.
 
I'd get a ember-proof carpet for the area right in front of the stove.

They always roll and pop further than you think they will , maybe more so when it gets colder, for some reason.
If I had had to use the front doors I would have gotten a metal pan to put just under - maybe slide it out when pulling out ashes and loading and slide it back every time when done.

I found the f600 front door extremely messy to use compared to the right side door, I hope the 500 is better.
 
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