We have a fireplace in our basement (house built in 1950) which I'm assuming is some type of pre-fab setup- metal firebox and damper, brick firebox floor and concrete hearth. Inside it is the most worn out, used up, warped... Ok you get the picture... Englander catalytic insert fron 1990... Installed slammer style in the original 1950 brick double layer chimney. We had a chimney fire two winters ago and my stubborn old Dad insists on using the thing- I don't think it's safe to use anymore, and really doesn't heat the house worth a darn. The basement will get up to 75-80 degrees, but we can't seem to get the heat upstairs- the only way that is even somewhat effective is a small fan in a floor register, but even that doesn't heat the upstairs any better than a small electric space heater. We have a perfectly working high efficiency gas furnace, which heats the house ok, except the basement which is always cold. I know open fireplaces can be inefficient, but I have seen them put off some serious heat, too. Ours has a fan that blows around behind the firebox and brickwork to blow heated air back into the room, and even that can produce some decently warm air with the insert going full tilt. Are we looking at a serious decrease in heat or safety if we would remove the insert? The insert is a catalytic, but the combustor doesn't seem to work properly unless the stove is ready to blast off to mars, and I'm not comfortable running it at temps that high. Would it be safer to scrap the insert and just get a grate and screen for the fireplace? What about emissions? Would it produce less smoke than the insert, ie; less creosote? It's not unusual to have white/blue smoke billowing from the chimney even with a roaring hot fire going, and it is hard to get a fire to burn properly (at least to my standards of "properly", which is lots of lazy blue/yellowy flames and minimal smoke from the chimney) The wood we have may be less than ideal, but it is what it is- some is dry and light, some is green and heavy- I try to avoid the green wood, but the dry wood burns great with no sizzling or hissing. I don't have a moisture meter. Future plans are to install a pellet stove upstairs, but that won't be for a while. Any advice is appreciated!
