drafty Heatilator - how to plug a draft?

[hpcbmw]

I've got what I believe is an old Heatilator fireplace. It's a regular sized fireplace, with slots in the brick on the bottom sides of the fireplace, with a fan on each side of the fireplace. It's got tubes that run behind and over the fireplace to blow air through, to blow warm air into the house. It's not very efficient, but it's what I've got for now. I hope to replace it in a year or so with a wood burning insert, but for now I"m using it for Chrismas ambiance.

My problem is that there is a steady draft coming from one of the slots in the bricks at the bottom of the fireplace. When i go under the house in the crawlspace, I can see a gap between the framing of the house and the mortar of the fireplace chimney (this is about 2 feet under the actual fireplace). I'm guessing that this gap is allowing cold air up into the slot in the bricks, and a cold draft into the house.

I'd like to just plug this gap by stuffing some material into it, but am concerned about something catching fire. This area really doesn't get that hot, but since it's only a few inches from the fireplace opening, I don't want to stuff something in that might somehow catch fire. Any ideas on a material I can scrunch up and stuff into this space? I was thinking of home insulation, which I believe has some flame retardant. The area I need to plug is two irregular sections about 3" x 5".

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[jatoxico]

If you think insulation will work for you then I'd go w/ Roxul. Not only is it fire retardant but is much better at resisting any damage from moisture. Can you post a picture of how/where you want to insulate.

 

[hpcbmw]

Here's a pic of the full fireplace and another pic of the small opening at the bottom left that is drafty. I'm thinking if I can chip out the rock on the bottom, maybe I can reach into the space behind the fan and pack some insulation into the gap where I believe the cold air is coming in. That should still allow me to still run the fan.The easier fix is to just shove some insulation between the rock face to block the cold air from coming int. Thanks for the tip about roxul. I'll take a look next time I'm at Home Depot.

 

[jatoxico]

Oh I remember you posted pix of this fireplace. I was thinking you wanted to insulate the gap in the crawl space which I figured could be damp at times. If your insulating up top you can probably do just as well with the pink stuff if you already have it around the house. If you're buying, Roxul is probably a better all around product and holds it's shape better but you can buy small pkgs of glass insulation.

 

[Poindexter]

When you have a chance, get a flashlight and your head into the firebox. Shine the light up the chimney, you will probably find there are no elbows in your existing chimney.

If that is the case, you might find an installer that will run pipe for a freestanding pellet stove up your existing pipe. It isn't a slam dunk, some installers will, some won't. You local codes are probably on the conservative side.

But, if your pipe is straight you can rip the whole thing out to place a freestanding stove under a perfectly straight pipe, because the ceiling and roofing framing is probably already set up for that.