Firebacks?

[StihlKicking]

I currently have a masonry fire place that I would like to get more heat out of. Does anyone have experience with firebacks? Do they help? Any other suggestions on how to harness more heat from a fireplace? Thanks

 

[madison]

grate blower. In the past I have used 2 of these grate blowers. FYI the steel hearth channels will fail after a few yrs. and will need rewelded or the entire unit replaced. (note the 3 yr warranty )

Struggled with this for a few years then finally switched to an insert.

Link to grate blower: http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Fireplace-Heaters-Blowers/Cozy-Grate-Fireplace-Heater

We had glass doors that the inlets and outlets of the blower connected to the door frame.

 

[bholler]

I am sorry but i have yet to see much of any add on for an open fireplace that actually helped very much. The problem is if it did work and extracted enough heat for the exhaust it would turn into a creosote factory.

 

[byQ]

You could reconstruct a fireplace using the concept of a masonry heater. Would it be as efficient as a masonry heater? Maybe but probably not. Would it be one of the most energy efficient fireplaces ever constructed? Probably. This fireplace's design would capture the heat.

I've not really seen this done so I am just doing some exploratory reasoning. Okay, so you have a small open fireplace. Now let's construct the rest of it with masonry heater principals applied. The fire goes up and instead of the energy going up the chimney it collides into masonry. Next it flows through channels colliding with more masonry and giving up its heat energy, and by the time the exhaust heads for the flue most of the heat energy has been absorbed into the masonry.

I'm liking this fireplace. The best of both worlds - 1) an open fireplace that 2) is functional at providing heat. I wonder why this hasn't been built? Maybe the channels and no fireplace door would cause CO/smoke back into the house - that is, not enough air draw?

 

[jetsam]

You could reconstruct a fireplace using the concept of a masonry heater. Would it be as efficient as a masonry heater? Maybe but probably not. Would it be one of the most energy efficient fireplaces ever constructed? Probably. This fireplace's design would capture the heat.

I've not really seen this done so I am just doing some exploratory reasoning. Okay, so you have a small open fireplace. Now let's construct the rest of it with masonry heater principals applied. The fire goes up and instead of the energy going up the chimney it collides into masonry. Next it flows through channels colliding with more masonry and giving up its heat energy, and by the time the exhaust heads for the flue most of the heat energy has been absorbed into the masonry.

I'm liking this fireplace. The best of both worlds - 1) an open fireplace that 2) is functional at providing heat. I wonder why this hasn't been built? Maybe the channels and no fireplace door would cause CO/smoke back into the house - that is, not enough air draw?

Because it would plug up the channels the first time you burned it and then you couldn't sweep 'em. If you don't have a hot pipe you get creosote from wood smoke.

One solution to this problem is a "rocket" mass heater, which is sort of similar to your idea. They supposedly work well.

 

[BobUrban]

x2 on a Rocket Stove. The reason these are not heating homes or why the fireplace mass heater isn't heating homes is the need for UL certification. We have an amazing rocket stove we built from an air compressor tank and lots of 12" square tube. It heats the fab shop and works amazingly well on very little fuel. VERY little. Essentially it extracts every bit of energy out into the room before exhausting. I will take photos of it next time I am over there.

 

[hamsey]

We had a fireback in our fireplace. Once it warms up it does throw off some good heat. As a matter of fact we still have it in the back of the fireplace. Still heats up and throws off some heat. I have checked the temp with an IR gun and have seen the temps around 160*. Must be helping some and better than being in the basement.

 

[jetsam]

I currently have a masonry fire place that I would like to get more heat out of. Does anyone have experience with firebacks? Do they help? Any other suggestions on how to harness more heat from a fireplace? Thanks

If you want more heat from the fireplace, the best thing you can do is to put a stove in front of it- or in it if it's big enough. Next best is a stove insert, which is a stove that goes (mostly) into the fireplace. I got an insert for supplemental heat, but it wound up heating my whole house!

 

[twd000]

x2 on a Rocket Stove. The reason these are not heating homes or why the fireplace mass heater isn't heating homes is the need for UL certification. We have an amazing rocket stove we built from an air compressor tank and lots of 12" square tube. It heats the fab shop and works amazingly well on very little fuel. VERY little. Essentially it extracts every bit of energy out into the room before exhausting. I will take photos of it next time I am over there.

I've been reading up on these rocket mass heaters on the permies.com forum. The community there is claiming wood consumption of 1/4-1/10 compared to a wood stove (some may be comparing to old smoke dragon stoves). Is this consistent with your experience? I want to believe in this miracle technology but the engineer in me says there are only ~8k BTUs in a pound of wood, and an average house needs 80 MBTU heating per winter, which works out to ~3 cords.

 

[Destructor]

A neighbor gave me a 3/16” steel plate cut to size from a scrap yard she works at. I don’t know how much more heat I get but it does protect the firebrick and mortar joints since I burn right up against the back wall. If you want to heat with your fireplace put a stove in it. If you like an open fireplace and don’t mind using a lot of wood try a fire back. I purchased a “Grate wall of Fire” grate, and well, it works great. It allows me to safely stack a lot of wood up against the back wall. It allows a good pile of coals to form beneath which really throws out some heat. The logs on top of the pile don’t burn much until the lower ones are burned. I seldom have to poke at the fire. I would love to install a wood stove but I don’t want to mess with my nice wood mantle so I do what I can do get whatever heat I can out of my fireplace. I crack a nearby window and usually turn the furnace off while using it. It will heat the living room but that’s it, I use it more for fun and the GF likes it too. I will in the future probably go the stove route. BTW the deeper your fireplace is the less heat it will throw.

 

[ccmac]

You could build a fireplace similar to a stove. You could put a couple cold air intakes in the firebox (see my pic and you'll see my outside air intake on the lower sidewall on the box), Then design a mechanical means to adjust that air, then have a set of custom doors made that use ceramic glass (tempered won't hold up to the heat) and provide a relatively air tight seal. Now this would not have a secondary burn section but I wouldn't doubt some of you more inventive types could figure that out.

My fireplace kicks out serious heat and warms the home very well but my mistake was not having more outside air available. The house is spray foamed and very very tight. With a roaring fire it'll negative draft the basement woodstove (PE Summit Classic) if it's not hot. I don't like having to be mindful of what two fires are doing at all times so I have chosen to place a Alderlea T5 in the fireplace in my avatar. It'll be a tight fit!! I will post photo's once completed. Working on it this week, gotta get the liner in right now.

 

[madison]

I am sorry but i have yet to see much of any add on for an open fireplace that actually helped very much. The problem is if it did work and extracted enough heat for the exhaust it would turn into a creosote factory.

Exactly - first hand experience with the creosote issue with our grate blower and doors > switched to an insert after the second chimney fire.