grate heaters

[squib]

tried searching but did not find what i needed.

i have a masonary fireplace that i would like to install a grate heater in with blower { steel or cast iron } with glass doors. anyone have any xperience with these or any suggestions.. ??
thx

herman

 

[rhyano]

I have a masonary fireplace too, and I looked at the grate heaters also as I wanted to get more heat out of my fireplace.

From what I have read, the grate heaters do work, they will pull heat out and heat a room up.


I decided against one and invested in a wood buring fireplace insert. It was not as expensive as I thought it would be, and doing the installation myself also saves money. With the woodburning insert you will use less than half the wood you do now and you will get much much better heat output.

 

[squib]

rhyano,

what kind did you get.?? got any pix.?? does it have a blower syste.

heramn

 

[DAKSY]

Go Here:

(broken link removed to http://stollfireplaceinc.com/wood_heatgrate.asp)

Be warned that you will hafta get new doors with the Heatgrate, as they sit on top of the HG.
Prices? You're talking $700 +/- for the HG & maybe the same for the door,
& while they indicate it's a 40K BTU unit, you're rapidly approaching the cost of an insert,
which is a far better (i.e. higher BTU) heat source...

 

[HardWoodW]

Hey, I'm a new guy here but I've been heating with grate heater for a few years (I'm acutally upgrading a different fireplace to a wood burning insert- but that's another post) Here's my set up. When we moved in there was an open double sided fireplace; I couldn't convince my wife to block in one side so we had to look for other solutions to avoid a house full of smoke and also heat the house. Almost every place I read said it's not possible to have a 2 sided wood burning fireplace- but I'm a cowboy so we decided to try it anyway. We installed glass doors on both sides and put in the cozy grate fireplace heater. It has a 100cfu blower on it and an automatic on/off sensor and we've been very happy with it. It's a pretty inefficient system and uses a ton of wood but when there is a nice bed of coals the air coming out of the grate heater gets very warm and it stays on for a few hours after the flame is out. And yes, even though it's a see through fireplace it still drafts fine- just have to be careful that wood doesn't fall against the glass. I think in a single sided fireplace it would work quite well although still wouldn't be nearly as efficient as an insert- but it does put out the heat.

 

[Fsappo]

Stoll makes a great grate heater. But if you dont install it with a set of doors, your making some heat and sucking the rest out the chimney. A door and grate heater can run you $1500 for a quality set up. With the tax credit figured in you can buy a decent fireplace insert and install it yourself for about the same money and burn less wood and get longer burn times, as the previous posters mentioned

 

[gpcollen1]

To be honest - you are much better off investing in a good insert than a grate heater. I went down that path for a while but once you purchase doors and heater, you are already at the cost of a decent used stove or getting close to a new one. Waste of money IMO.

 

[rhyano]

Herman,

The insert that I choose is a Drolet Escape 1400i. My house is a ~1200 sqft two story. The family spends most of our time on the first floor so this little insert should be adequate.
Here is the setup that I am installing this weekend.

Drolet Insert $799 -- Sale at Menards last month.
Selkirk Flex Liner 25' Kit $335 -- Menards
Insulation wrap 1/2" -- $235 Online
Block off plate $20 -- Stainless steel from work and custom sized and cut

So for about $1400 I feel I got a pretty nice insert that should keep my family nice and warm this winter, and lower our gas bills.

Ryan

 

[squib]

thank you all for the information. i have changed my mind & am going to go with a complete wood burning fireplace insert. oh boy now which one. ???

herman

 

[Dix]

I went through this process, too.

Have fun !

 

[squib]

yes & now the fun begins. here in east central ohio there are not many place to go & look, but there is a lot of wood to be had.

oh & the tax credit.

herman