Bis Ultima - Connecting hot air ducts to central heating system?

[joeb9999]

I have purchased a Bis Ultima, and have installated it in my home currently under consturction. Has anyone connected the hot air ducts into a central heating system (returns/duct work)? My HVAC guy is currently installing all of the duct work and I would really like to do this, but could use some direction or find out if it is even possible/safe.

 

[begreen]

Usually no. For the BIS, the manual seems to answer that question:

6. Do not connect the hot air ducts to a central heating system. Malfunction of the heating
system’s fan will cause the fireplace to overheat. A furnace duct is only single wall and
not double wall as is required for the BIS ULTIMA hot air exhaust.

 

['bert]

The manual that i have shows a method to proceed with this type of connection shown on page 22. It does say that this is non-EPA approved, but not sure why. My manual is for a BIS Ultra, but yours should be the same. Check page 22 or PM me and i will send you a copy, it is a pdf.

Either way enjoy your BIS (i do).

 

[wdc1160]

I am in the exact same stage of the process. I am putting in a delta2 by rsf. Are fireplaces only have minor differences. Mine is non-epa. 2 other members have deltas, and some have opels- all of these can be ducted. It looks like you will be the first to actually have ducts ran. I guess I will be about 7 days behind you.

PS. I have completly gotten rid of my louvers. All the heat (except convection) is going through the chimney and / or vents.

 

[begreen]

The manual that i have shows a method to proceed with this type of connection shown on page 22. It does say that this is non-EPA approved, but not sure why. My manual is for a BIS Ultra, but yours should be the same. Check page 22 or PM me and i will send you a copy, it is a pdf.

Either way enjoy your BIS (i do).

I'm not seeing this with the online manual for the Ultra. Page 22 has chimney installation notes. But page 18 has the Not EPA approved design in section 3.5.2. However this is different from the OP request. It doesn't show it tied into the central HVAC system. That is the difference. It can be ducted, but not tied into the existing HVAC ductwork.

 

[DiscoInferno]

The warning BeGreen saw was about the gravity vent outlets, those are on top of the Ultima. Those are only supposed to be passively vented so a blower failure can't cause overheating. For hooking into the central ductwork, you need to use one or more of the smaller side knockouts, and then do a parallel connection into the existing plenum. The manual shows this and Security will happily sell you the (overpriced) kit. The problem I found when I tried this is that you really can't suck enough heat out that way, at least not with a single connection to the Ultima and with the kit blower (250cfm?). I'm pretty sure with the Ultima you can never block both the louvers and the gravity vent openings to try to force all the hot air out the sides, if the blower ever turned off it would overheat fast and even if running there might be a pocket of stagnant air at the top. I'll use my duct to heat the basement if I ever finish it, but it was way more efficient to heat my house through internal convection than using the central ductwork.

What might make more sense is dedicated ductwork running from the various knockouts to a small number of points in the house, and/or using the gravity vents to send heat upstairs.