Hi All,
1st post here.
I'm trying to iron out an option for getting wood heat going here as a backup heat source.
For some background - we have a double-sided fireplace. It is a Lenox CST-38 with an 8" flue pipe and approximately 14-15ft of chimney height.
Without significant modification (IE - taking out the "fireplace" fish tank assembly and rebuilding a new hearth entirely) - an insert-style stove is out of the question.
I have thought of doing a stand-alone stove. To do this the right way it appears that the flue pipe needs to be pulled and replaced with a proper certified stove pipe system. This would require opening up the chase to install a through-the-wall thimble. The good thing is we have plenty of open height so as to taper the connecting pipe from a stove to the thimble with both rise above the stove and angle. It is a vaulted ceiling so we could go pretty high, but if we went this way (stand alone stove) I would want to tap the chase with the thimble at about the 6-8ft height above the floor. The stand-alone stove option would likely render the fireplace unusable, that is unless there is a type of adapter we could get that would allow the use of either the stove or fireplace. Otherwise the fireplace can be decommissioned while the stove is in service, though the thought would be to go back to the fireplace down the road.
The other thought I have is to fabricate a heat exchanger that sits at the top of the "fish tank" fireplace box and allows air to be blown through so hot air comes out in to the room. I don't particularly like this idea. I would have to come up with a way to control the air intake to control the burn, otherwise it is a freely burning fire and no way to regulate other than how much wood is in there.
My primary concern with wood heat is mitigating the risk of chimney fires. To that point - my intent is to get a chimney sweep brush. That could probably be its own entire discussion, but for the discussion in this thread my point here is I am aware of the risk and would want to understand how to properly maintain flue pipe myself. I've done radio tower work and have a lot of fall protection gear - working on a roof isn't a big deal. If I was sweeping the chimney I would be tied off up there for sure.
As to the options - stove vs heat exchanger - I have heard that it is possible to extract enough heat out of the gasses going up the flue to accelerate the accumulation of creosote build up. The reference I got was that keeping the flue temp above 400deg F is preferable.
Wouldn't a stove be more efficient (and by that I mean more BTU's in to the room and less BTU's up the chimney for what ever given available BTU's from the wood being burned) as opposed to any "heat exchanger"? Or is it actually possible to get more heat out of a "heat exchanger" than a proper stove?
1st post here.
I'm trying to iron out an option for getting wood heat going here as a backup heat source.
For some background - we have a double-sided fireplace. It is a Lenox CST-38 with an 8" flue pipe and approximately 14-15ft of chimney height.
Without significant modification (IE - taking out the "fireplace" fish tank assembly and rebuilding a new hearth entirely) - an insert-style stove is out of the question.
I have thought of doing a stand-alone stove. To do this the right way it appears that the flue pipe needs to be pulled and replaced with a proper certified stove pipe system. This would require opening up the chase to install a through-the-wall thimble. The good thing is we have plenty of open height so as to taper the connecting pipe from a stove to the thimble with both rise above the stove and angle. It is a vaulted ceiling so we could go pretty high, but if we went this way (stand alone stove) I would want to tap the chase with the thimble at about the 6-8ft height above the floor. The stand-alone stove option would likely render the fireplace unusable, that is unless there is a type of adapter we could get that would allow the use of either the stove or fireplace. Otherwise the fireplace can be decommissioned while the stove is in service, though the thought would be to go back to the fireplace down the road.
The other thought I have is to fabricate a heat exchanger that sits at the top of the "fish tank" fireplace box and allows air to be blown through so hot air comes out in to the room. I don't particularly like this idea. I would have to come up with a way to control the air intake to control the burn, otherwise it is a freely burning fire and no way to regulate other than how much wood is in there.
My primary concern with wood heat is mitigating the risk of chimney fires. To that point - my intent is to get a chimney sweep brush. That could probably be its own entire discussion, but for the discussion in this thread my point here is I am aware of the risk and would want to understand how to properly maintain flue pipe myself. I've done radio tower work and have a lot of fall protection gear - working on a roof isn't a big deal. If I was sweeping the chimney I would be tied off up there for sure.
As to the options - stove vs heat exchanger - I have heard that it is possible to extract enough heat out of the gasses going up the flue to accelerate the accumulation of creosote build up. The reference I got was that keeping the flue temp above 400deg F is preferable.
Wouldn't a stove be more efficient (and by that I mean more BTU's in to the room and less BTU's up the chimney for what ever given available BTU's from the wood being burned) as opposed to any "heat exchanger"? Or is it actually possible to get more heat out of a "heat exchanger" than a proper stove?