Help with fireplace or firebox!

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PAwood

Member
Jan 22, 2009
8
NEPA
hello all new guy here looking for some opinions. i just purchased a 2 story farm house that needs some remodeling. my wife wants a mantle and something that looks like a fireplace. i will be removing the palster and reinsulating and installing new drywall so basically i have new construtions here. i have had some trouble locating a woodburning unit for my application. i was told there was a unit that would sit on the interior of the house and connected into a masonry chimney with stovepipe. then i would be able to frame it all in and either apply stone or stone veneer to complete the process. problem i am running into is i cant find the unit for sale anywhere. then i was informed about a metal firebox that would be recessed throught the exterior wall and connected to chinmey just like a real fireplace but metal not masonry.

here is what i want and i am not sure if it will work. i want something similar to a free standing unit without the feet. i would like to build a mantel and cover it with stone or stone veneer. the unit would be able to connect to a flue lined block chimney on the exterior of the home. i would like to eliminate any unit that requires any special chimney pipe, it has to fit into a block and terracotta lined chimney.....i currently run a englander add on furnace in my basement and it is connected into my forced air return. so please dont tell me to use propane! i know it would be much easier and efficient but i want to stay with wood. thanks to all that reply:)
 
It sounds like you want an EPA zero clearance fireplace. The problem is, as far as I know, all of them will require lining the chimney with class A pipe. I don't believe that what you describe in your post exists.

There are plenty of good EPA ZC fireplaces out there. Take a look at some of the following:

Kozy Heat Z42
Fireplace Xtrordinair FPX36
Quadrafire 7100 / Heat - n - Glo NorthStar / Heatilator Constitution
Magnum ZC
BIS
Napoleon
 
i will look into it.....i guess the best question to ask is......why cant i get a free standing wood stove, remove the legs and perch it on top of block work. then encase it in stone work????
 
PAwood said:
i will look into it.....i guess the best question to ask is......why cant i get a free standing wood stove, remove the legs and perch it on top of block work. then encase it in stone work????

If you incase it in stone work, you'll be ticked if you have to pull the unit out of the stone work for service, repairs, etc (IMHO). I doubt these stoves are designed to run with out legs *insert big groan here %-P *

Why not design a hearth area with a back wall, and do a free standing stove? You'll be warmer ;-)
 
Well, you can buy a freestanding stove and take the legs off. In so doing, you will void the UL testing & certification, the EPA approval, and the manufacturer's warranty, and you'll have no definitive guidance on safe installation, and no inspector's going to sign off on the installation, and no insurance company is going to honor a policy in case of damage or loss. But hey, this is America, so you're free to do pretty much as you please. Rick
 
i wasnt talking about literally doing that.......i know that there are fireboxes similar to that.......i want a fireplace look without the cost of installing a fireplace...
 
The Kozy Heat Z42 is under $3K. It also uses 6" pipe, which will be cheaper than the 8" the Quadrafire uses. Also, the Magnum was under $2K when I was looking at it a year ago. But I don't think it matters, since you only want something that looks and works exactly like a fireplace, but you don't want to buy a fireplace.
 
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