Draft Control?

[johnnywarm]

I have glass doors in front of my fireplace. it also has vents on the bottom of the frame that i can control by opening or closing them. What does this do exactly? or what is it for when i have a fire going??

Thank you John

 

[Gooserider]

I assume this is a normal masonry fireplace? If so, the slots are mostly intended as a sort of primitive "draft control", however the typical door setup is leaky enough that the slots really don't make a whole lot of difference. They won't do anything when the doors are open, but when the doors are closed, if it's a tight setup, you MIGHT see a difference in the intensity of the fire if you play with the lever while the doors are closed. Note that sustained running with reduced draft will probably lead to increased creosote.

Closing the vents when you don't have a fire may help reduce cold air infiltration coming down the chimney.

Gooserider

 

[johnnywarm]

I assume this is a normal masonry fireplace? If so, the slots are mostly intended as a sort of primitive "draft control", however the typical door setup is leaky enough that the slots really don't make a whole lot of difference. They won't do anything when the doors are open, but when the doors are closed, if it's a tight setup, you MIGHT see a difference in the intensity of the fire if you play with the lever while the doors are closed. Note that sustained running with reduced draft will probably lead to increased creosote.

Closing the vents when you don't have a fire may help reduce cold air infiltration coming down the chimney.

Gooserider

Thanks Gooserider! It sounds like there"vents" are there so you can have the doors closed when you have a fire going??

John

 

[Mandoo]

I have the same set up on my upstairs fireplace when I installed them I noticed the manual said never bun with the doors closed. To this day I have been scratching my head on why the vents if you have to have the doors open?

I get so much heat from wood stove located in the basement we just throw a fake log in every now and then for "mood" fire.

 

[johnnywarm]

I have the same set up on my upstairs fireplace when I installed them I noticed the manual said never bun with the doors closed. To this day I have been scratching my head on why the vents if you have to have the doors open?

I get so much heat from wood stove located in the basement we just throw a fake log in every now and then for "mood" fire.

We are going to use it as a mood fire too.We are also going to move a Pellet stove upstairs and put a wood burning stove down staires.

John

 

[Gooserider]

I assume this is a normal masonry fireplace? If so, the slots are mostly intended as a sort of primitive "draft control", however the typical door setup is leaky enough that the slots really don't make a whole lot of difference. They won't do anything when the doors are open, but when the doors are closed, if it's a tight setup, you MIGHT see a difference in the intensity of the fire if you play with the lever while the doors are closed. Note that sustained running with reduced draft will probably lead to increased creosote.

Closing the vents when you don't have a fire may help reduce cold air infiltration coming down the chimney.

Gooserider

Thanks Gooserider! It sounds like there"vents" are there so you can have the doors closed when you have a fire going??

John

That's what I would assume, although without a manual it's hard to be sure. (note the post above that says they were told not to burn with the doors closed...) They may actually be there mostly for cosmetics.

Another possibility is that there are some pre-fab units, and some aftermarket setups that attempt to improve on a fireplace's heating by creating a duct setup that loops around the fire, pulling air in at the bottom through the vents heating it as it passes through tubes in the back and top of the firebox, and sending it out through matching vents at the top. Some units had blowers, but many just worked by convection. The idea of the adjustment then was to control how much heat was put out. (these may have helped some, but none made the fireplace into a really good heater) You can identifiy this type of setup by whether the vent slots go into the firebox directly, or if they feed into some sort of duct. (if so, follow the duct work...) You also need to watch this type of unit for leaks, if the tubes burn through they can sometimes become a system for delivering smoke and CO into the room.... :sick:

Gooserider

 

[Mandoo]

Here is a link to my doors Check out the nice fire picture with the doors closed then read the last line of the description. Too funny!




(broken link removed to http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId;=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100595005&N=10000003+90401+502753&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125)

 

[johnnywarm]

Here is a link to my doors Check out the nice fire picture with the doors closed then read the last line of the description. Too funny!




(broken link removed to http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId;=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100595005&N=10000003+90401+502753&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125)

Thats Sweet Thanks. John