Hearth Help

[SammyG]

I am totally lost here. I just installed a Drolet Fireplace insert in my home, after reading all the great reviews. The problem is, it isnt putting out a lot of heat. I have a stainless steel liner, capped off, naturally. The only thing I can think is that the heat is rising up through the firebox.
During the install , I had to remove the damper door. SO, is all of my heat going up the chimney? Do I have to terminate the hearth above the insert? How? HELP!

 

[firefighterjake]

I think you're mixing up some terms here . . . the hearth refers to the base on which the stove or insert sits on . . . generally the hearth extends to the front of an insert and to the front and sides of a free standing stove. A damper may be found in the chimney on a fireplace or in the stove pipe . . . some folks also refer to the air control on the stove as a damper. By "capped off" I assume you mean there is a cap on the top of the liner . . . and guessing you removed a damper in the original fireplace . . . not sure what you mean by terminating the hearth.

Two questions though in terms of heat . . .

1) How hot is your insert getting in terms of degrees F . . . just saying there are a lot of flames or it looks like it should be hot does not give us much information . . . a stove thermometer would provide some valuable feedback.

2) When was your wood cut, split and stacked . . . often times so-called "seasoned wood" bought from a dealer isn't as well seasoned as it should be for a modern stove . . . generally wood that has been cut, split and stacked for a year or more does much better . . . with some exceptions . . . some wood can be burned sooner, and some species have to be burned later.

3) OK, so I lied . . . I have a third question . . . how are you running the stove? When the insert comes up to temp are you slowly shutting down the air control on the insert . . . are you getting a good secondary fire (i.e. Bowels of Hell, BBQ jets or Northern Lights) . . . or when you close the air does the fire go out . . . or are you even closing the air . . . failure to bring the stove up to temp and then start closing down the air will result in lots of flames, but most of the heat goes up the chimney.

 

[SammyG]

The wood is definitely seasoned. The insert gets up to about the 400-500 degree range. What I meant to say was: Should I terminate the opening just above the insert, where the damper has been removed, like a block-off plate? The insert gets plenty hot, and burns all day, the heat just doesnt seem to be distributing around the house. I know something is wrong because my wood chopping partner has to open his windows, his insert produces so much heat. Ugh.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Blocking off the top of the firebox is a great idea. Otherwise you will be loosing a lot of heat up the chimney.

I didn't see a mention of a fan. Do you have a blower on your insert to help push heat into the room?

Matt

 

[firefighterjake]

Ah . . . I think I see . . . no real experience with inserts . . . but I do know most folks suggest block off plates are beneficial.

Re: Wood . . . just because you can get the stove that hot doesn't prove the wood is fine . . . although I would say this is a good sign to be sure since some folks with unseasoned wood struggle to get it up to temp.

If you're able to get the stove plenty hot enough (and it sounds like you have a thermometer to check this) then I would say you are either not able to move the heat from the insert to the home or the heat you are generating is going somewhere -- and not in the house where you want it to be.

Probably two stupid questions . . . I assume once you get the stove up to 400-500 degrees F you start to cut back on the air to achieve a secondary burn which would keep more of the heated air from going up the liner? . . . also as EBL mentioned . . . you have a blower on the insert to move out the heat?

 

[SammyG]

Thanks so much you guys. The block off plate is the way to go. Lesson learned, do more research before tackling such a project! If anyone else stumbles across this thread, make sure you install a block off plate after you remove your damper door. Otherwise the heat just gets sucked out the exposed masonry. Man oh man I wish I would have done it first. Building a block off plate after the insert was in sucked. But its working now, that's for sure! Thanks guys.