Mid Century Heatilator wood fireplace with electrical plugs

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midcentmod

New Member
Dec 8, 2016
2
MO
Our house was built in 1955. Our Heatilator is original to the house. We are the second owners. Previous owners didn't use the fireplace except at Christmas. We have used it quite often. I noticed plugs on the lower side vents. These are on both lower vents. I've googled and the search came up empty. I can't find any pictures or explanations for the plugs on the side vents. What are these for? There isn't any sort of fan or blower in our fireplace. It doesn't appear that a fan or blower was removed at any point either. Our chimney sweep was at a loss as well.
 

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I had a similar set up with fans in the upper portion behind the grates.
 
I've never seen that myself. Cigarette lighter plug for starting the fire?:confused:

The 'heat' that you're feeling from that fireplace is a bit of an illusion though just so you know. A open fire consumes so much air that it is sucking cold air into your house from somewhere(to replace the air used for combustion) that the overall result is usually a net loss of heat.
 
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