Help fix my draft!

[AhhhFire]

I have a masonary fireplace that we recently put in a Heat n Glo vented fireplace. I am experiencing a terrible draft coming in from the bottom of the insert. My temperature gun reads between 27 and 30 degrees - it is currently 17 degrees outside. This draft is constant is affecting the temperature in my home.

I am trying to figure out where the draft is coming from so that I can plug / seal the hole. I have also reached out to the store that installed this but they are saying that it could be a few weeks before they can get someone out here.

I have a full brick chimney with an ash clean out in the back of the house. I took picture inside the cleanout and as you can see from the picture that I zoomed in on the romex power cord and the black gas line is visible - I do not think I should be seeing that!

I also am not sure if or where the fireplace is sealed from the top of the insert to the top of the chimney.



any help would be appreciated as right now I have a towel in front of the fireplace to attempt to block the air


The stockings will actually sway a lil if I remove the towel.

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[DAKSY]

Did you have a FIREPLACE or a FIREPLACE INSERT installed?
Do you get a cold draft when the appliance is burning?
The romex & gas line being visible is totally normal.
You could try cramming some unfaced fiberglas insulation in
the clean out where you can see those lines.
That will stop the air flow from THAT direction.

 

[AhhhFire]

Did you have a FIREPLACE or a FIREPLACE INSERT installed?
Do you get a cold draft when the appliance is burning?
The romex & gas line being visible is totally normal.
You could try cramming some unfaced fiberglas insulation in
the clean out where you can see those lines.
That will stop the air flow from THAT direction.

thanks for the reply Daksy - here are my answers:

1) I had a Heat n Glo direct vent insert installed in to the existing fireplace.
2) Yes the cold draft persists when the fireplace is running, the brick in front of the fireplace doesnt get as warm as the rest of the brick surrounding the insert.
3) I would attempt stuffing fiberglass in but the distance between the ash cleanout and the romex visible area is about 4-5 feet which it makes it unreachable from bottom up

I feel that my only solution is to remove the insert and seal everything! Easier said than done I bet.

 

[DAKSY]

Did you watch the installation?
Do you have the install manual?
If not, go here:

http://www.heatnglo.com/Owner-Resources/Install-and-Owners-Manuals.aspx

 

[AhhhFire]

I have reviewed the installation manual and came across this interesting tidbit:

I was under the impression that my installation would be the one on the left and the top of the chimney would be sealed except for the two pipes that would go directly in to the unit - if the installers performed the installation on the right I would assume that there is a wide open hole in the top of my chimney which would contribute to the draft - or be the source of the draft.

Thoughts?

 

[DAKSY]

Either way, there should be a block off plate, or some unfaced fiberglass insulation jammed up in the damper area just above the top of the insert.
With the full liner (left view) install, there should also be unfaced insulation at the top of the chimney around & between the co-linear liners, creating a dead air space in the chimney.
The easiest way to check this is to remove the insert surround & take a peek in there.
Let us know what you find...

 

[AhhhFire]

I knew that inevitably I would have to remove the insert - I am hounding the Fireplace Patio place sales manager to get the installation team out here but he is telling me that they are 5 weeks out in availability - too buys on "new" installs to take care of an existing issue!

How heavy is the insert? Can it be done with 1 person or is two people?

If I do pull it out is the gas line at risk or the vent pipes? I am trying to determine if there is a flexible gas line connected to the fireplace as I do not want to break anything.

Also would you expect that the vent pipes have enough play to stay connected while pulling the insert out a foot or two?

 

[DAKSY]

Generally the surround is held in place with 4 screws, either Philips head or 1/4" hex head.
The gas line SHOULD be flexible, because it's easier to make the connections in the valve
cavity than with hard pipe. If you get the surround off, take a look at the top dead center of
the insert body. There should be ONE screw holding the liner attachment plate in position.
If you remove that screw, you can pull the insert out & the liners will stay in place.

 

[AhhhFire]

Too suffice the sales person I "sealed" up the ash cleanout with foam insulation board and fiberglass insulation - came back inside the house and the draft persists (no surprise to me)

 

[AhhhFire]

The sales person finally obliged to start a service ticket for my issue - said it would be a few days for the "scheduler" to call and probably weeks before the service team could be out

As much as I want to rip this thing out myself I would def want someone here in the house to know what they are doing lol

 

[AhhhFire]

Just wanted to finally follow up on this. The service team showed up and stuffed insulation above the insert and the draft persisted.

The service team then removed the entire insert stuffed insulation in the ash cleanout drop down. The service team said that this should have been sealed during installation. They put the insert back in and there was no draft!

Thanks to Daksy for his input and expertise!