Ceramic doors on heatilator

[kmac0576]

We bought a home 2 years ago that has a heatilator fireplace. Burning with the doors open, it provides some heat. Maybe a little more than a regular open fireplace. On a few occasions, I have kept a fire going with the doors closed (not safe with tempered glass I know) and it actually pumps out some decent heat through the vents.

We’ve been thinking about a wood stove insert to get more usable heat out of the fireplace. However, I am curious if some airtight ceramic doors on a heatilator would work similarly to a wood stove? They are expensive, but certainly cheaper than a full insert. Doesn’t need to heat the whole house but would be nice to get some halfway efficient heat from the fireplace.

 

[bholler]

They will help a little but you will then have a creosote issue. And not enough to justify the cost

 

[OrlandoBuilder]

I agree, you may want to get in touch with Gabby Schneider at hearth and home for some insight on this: [email protected]

 

[Hartz Homestead]

Our house came with a heatilator fireplace, and without doors all the heat goes up the chimney. We had custom Pyrex glass doors made 40 years ago for $400 and we've been heating our house with it quite efficiently ever since. I highly recommend quality tight fitting glass doors, and ceramic glass would be best. Because we burn hot fires with dry wood and have a ceramic and brick chimney, we have no creosote build up. I fixed the ash cleanout to allow just the right air flow from under the house to keep it burning hot.
I also drilled through the concrete and installed 120 volt fans in the intakes, which help some, but recently added 12 volt fans to replace the lower vent intakes and man do they ever kick out a blast of hot air! Rated at 460 cfm for the 2 of them, and on 12 volts we can run them on a battery when power goes out. Plus the bricks get warmed up, and usually I only have to light one fire a day for 1-2 hours and the house stays warm. An insert might be more efficient, and probably burn cleaner, but would cost more and then you'd have a smaller firebox, and lose the benefit of the heatilator.