Q&A Russian Fireplace - burning oil in it

Question:

We have a russian Fireplace in your 1906 Farmhouse its dimensions are 4'in width 9' feet in depth and 14' in hieght. It works pretty well but the problem with such a mass it take three days of straight burning in it to put off enough heat to heat our house in the winter.and then it needs to burn about 6 hours a day filling it on the hr. The wife and I work long hours away from the house now and it is our only sorce of heat. Besides electric baseboards. I have heard you can take the insides out of a Oil burning furnace and put it in the fire box of the Russian fire place I have heard that it does work well but I have not found anything or anyone thats has done this. Do you know the pro or cons of this or someone or a book that may help.



Answer:

Larry...I have not ever heard of this...yet it may be possible. On e problem might be if it cools the oil flue gases too much, this creates some acids that could eat away at the masonry.

There is a Masonry Heater Org on the Net....I think the link can be found at http://hearth.com/what/links.html

They should know more.

Link: HearthNet Links Page