Hi Guys, Hoping to get some input from you. I bought a cabin with an old fireplace (Glow Boy) probably bought and installed mid 80's. It was supposed to be sort of a Heatilator knock off. It has a huge 8" air intake from outside and a variable speed fan to push air. The chimney seems to be about 7", and the air is forced around the fireplace through 3 chambers until it finally blows around the firebox and out into the room. the actual vent where the air comes out is split top/bottom with the bottom air coming from around the firebox and the upper part from the chamber before it gets to the firebox. And this thing really doesn't put out a heck of alot of heat. I have the brochure from when it was bought and was advertised as one of the most efficent fireplaces around. (or so they said). I want to be able to get alot more heat out of it if I can and was wondering if you had any ideas.
What I have done is to buy some fireplace bricks and put them in the firebox, (this thing just had a plain metal box, and when you opend the door to add wood, the heat would dissipate so quick, that by the time you closed the doors there was hardly any heat coming out. the bricks have made a noticable difference but I still want to suck more heat out of this.
I pulled the front off the fireplace off and I can see that the air is basically warmed by passing by the chimney. I was wondering if there would be a way to attach a heat exchanger or even just attach some metal fins around the outside of the chimney that will give it a bigger surface area to radiate heat. This would be attaching the metal just inside the fireplace itself, not on the stack. There is an area of about 6 inches of chimney coming from the fireplace up to where it enters the stack. I really don't want to replace it as it is built in and this is in an A frame, and there is 35' of stack up to the roof, all enclosed in rock. I figure there has to be something to just fit up against the side of the chimeny that will help suck some heat out.
This thing has lots of draft as the chimney goes straight up and so little heat get sucked out into the room tha I don't think putting something onto a couple inches of chimney would cool it enough to cause a creosote buildup. But is should allow more heat to be sucked into the room.
Anyone familiar with this type of fireplace? any other ideas? I can take a few pictures to show you want I mean, if you think it may help.
Thanks
What I have done is to buy some fireplace bricks and put them in the firebox, (this thing just had a plain metal box, and when you opend the door to add wood, the heat would dissipate so quick, that by the time you closed the doors there was hardly any heat coming out. the bricks have made a noticable difference but I still want to suck more heat out of this.
I pulled the front off the fireplace off and I can see that the air is basically warmed by passing by the chimney. I was wondering if there would be a way to attach a heat exchanger or even just attach some metal fins around the outside of the chimney that will give it a bigger surface area to radiate heat. This would be attaching the metal just inside the fireplace itself, not on the stack. There is an area of about 6 inches of chimney coming from the fireplace up to where it enters the stack. I really don't want to replace it as it is built in and this is in an A frame, and there is 35' of stack up to the roof, all enclosed in rock. I figure there has to be something to just fit up against the side of the chimeny that will help suck some heat out.
This thing has lots of draft as the chimney goes straight up and so little heat get sucked out into the room tha I don't think putting something onto a couple inches of chimney would cool it enough to cause a creosote buildup. But is should allow more heat to be sucked into the room.
Anyone familiar with this type of fireplace? any other ideas? I can take a few pictures to show you want I mean, if you think it may help.
Thanks
