glowmaster insert questions

[Mike1]

Hi All - I have been trying to do my homework and haven't found anything similar to my situation. I bought a house in Minnesota. It was built in 1992 and has a wood burning insert in the basement called a glowmaster (picture attached from good image search). I can't find any more information on the brand. I went up on the roof and looked at the chimney, it is an 8x13 or so flue with clay tile. It isn't lined with stainless steel but was creosote free and in the tiles were in good condition. I don't believe the previous owners used it much. I have had a handful of fires and it seems to be good draft. It seems as if the installation was not retrofitted for an insert but built specifically for that insert.

Anyone have any input if the flue is too large? Most everywhere I read says an 8 in circle diameter seems to be the max. If it is too large is it possible to retrofit in a liner even on an old odd size insert? Just seems odd the size considering it was never an actual fireplace.

I have been gifted a lot of nicely seasoned oak and birch but I am fairly paranoid about using this system. Any advice by all of the experts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[begreen]

With that arch behind the stove it sure looks like there might be a real fireplace there. I'm guessing this was put in shortly after the house was built. The stove may be a slammer, that is with no direct connection to the flue. If so, this type of install is no longer allowed. That may be rectifiable with a full liner. Not sure, I haven't seen this insert before.

PS: Looks like the unit was up for bid last June. No takers.
https://catesauction.hibid.com/lot/19840557/glowmaster-wood-burning-fireplace-insert

 

[Mike1]

I appreciate the response but I used the same photo from Google images from that auction, that isn't the one in my home. I mentioned that in parenthesis.