I was at a buds house for Christmas. His dad passed away a few months prior and the old farmhouse is now his. It was built buy his dad in '61. The fireplace is rather large and being a "stove guy" I thought we would have to sit in the thing to stay warm. We lit off the first fire, and within 10 min I was pushing my chair back & continued to do so all evening. I have never ever felt so much heat coming off a fireplace, I almost had to quit drinking. Granted the living room was small: 25'x 15' and it had an 8' ceiling.
So as my amazment grew, I began to study the design. The fireplace opening was about 40" wide and 30" tall. It had either cast or boiler plate steel lining the entire firebox and it was double walled. We were unable to figure out what the spacing between the liners was, but I am guessing approx 6". There is a cold air intake(10x10") low on each side of the fireplace and an exhaust mate directly above the intakes at mantle height. The intake used to have electric fans in them, but quit working over 20 years ago. These intake/exhaust access the space between the steel liner. I made the mistake of putting my hand on the exhaust grill and it was way hot and had a good convection flow of hot air going back out into the room. This was an open hearth design & a custom removable screen that just sits on the hearth.
Behind the fireplace in a hallway there is acces to the rear of the fireplace. The mason had bricked up behind the liner with about a foot and a half of brick giving the thing some serious thermal mass. The front of the fireplace was bricked in Tennessee field stone & was 16' long, floor to ceiling. When I first saw it, nothing jumped out about it that looked much different than any other large fireplace. When my parents built their dream home in the 70's they put in a beautiful gigantic brick fireplace.....the thing was stunning....but put out zero heat(I swear it just sucked existing heat out of the room). They ended up with an insert w/blower & it was anemic at best for heat production.
So, my big 'ole Hearthstone is going in the basement for the main heating job and we will build a fireplace in the main floor/great room. Since seeing and experiencing a fireplace that actually works, I am felling a little better about a fireplace. Now, here are my questions:
Was this thing a store bought/Mfg'd steel fireplace liner? or was it something from the mind of my bud's father(who also built the entire house himself)?
I think I can replicate it(have welder will travel), will mild steel work say 1/4 thick?
Has anyone here ever seen anything like this?
RD
So as my amazment grew, I began to study the design. The fireplace opening was about 40" wide and 30" tall. It had either cast or boiler plate steel lining the entire firebox and it was double walled. We were unable to figure out what the spacing between the liners was, but I am guessing approx 6". There is a cold air intake(10x10") low on each side of the fireplace and an exhaust mate directly above the intakes at mantle height. The intake used to have electric fans in them, but quit working over 20 years ago. These intake/exhaust access the space between the steel liner. I made the mistake of putting my hand on the exhaust grill and it was way hot and had a good convection flow of hot air going back out into the room. This was an open hearth design & a custom removable screen that just sits on the hearth.
Behind the fireplace in a hallway there is acces to the rear of the fireplace. The mason had bricked up behind the liner with about a foot and a half of brick giving the thing some serious thermal mass. The front of the fireplace was bricked in Tennessee field stone & was 16' long, floor to ceiling. When I first saw it, nothing jumped out about it that looked much different than any other large fireplace. When my parents built their dream home in the 70's they put in a beautiful gigantic brick fireplace.....the thing was stunning....but put out zero heat(I swear it just sucked existing heat out of the room). They ended up with an insert w/blower & it was anemic at best for heat production.
So, my big 'ole Hearthstone is going in the basement for the main heating job and we will build a fireplace in the main floor/great room. Since seeing and experiencing a fireplace that actually works, I am felling a little better about a fireplace. Now, here are my questions:
Was this thing a store bought/Mfg'd steel fireplace liner? or was it something from the mind of my bud's father(who also built the entire house himself)?
I think I can replicate it(have welder will travel), will mild steel work say 1/4 thick?
Has anyone here ever seen anything like this?
RD
