Hello,
We moved into this house a couple years ago and have recently wanted to use the wood burning insert in the attached pictures. I have searched for information and have not found anything. The previous owner left an installation manual for the insert. The cover says "The Performer" and the bottom lists a "Southwestern Steel Crafters, Inc." in Tyler, Texas as the distributor. I was curious if anyone has any information on the age and/or quality of the insert?
We had a sweep out recently and when he removed the insert there was a lot of ashes surrounding the insert and even on the smoke shelf. The amount was a few "garbage bags" full. He seemed to think that someone possibly dumped ashes down the chimney to "insulate" the insert as he had not seen that amount of ashes with an insert. I should mention that there is no flue collar or steel liner in the chimney...Any thoughts on whether these ashes were purposely put there or they were just years of accumulation from the insert? He said chimney had not been cleaned in a long time either. Previous owner said he burned about a cord a year. Just curious.
Anyways, I know I need to have a liner installed and was just curious if I should invest in a newer stove or continue to use this one? We are in Southeast MI and the fireplace is in the 12'x20' family room of a 1900 sq. ft. ranch with basement. We have forced air natural gas heat and was thinking about using the insert to provide additional heat when we are home on weekends or evenings and also just for the enjoyment of the fires.
Thanks,
Jason
We moved into this house a couple years ago and have recently wanted to use the wood burning insert in the attached pictures. I have searched for information and have not found anything. The previous owner left an installation manual for the insert. The cover says "The Performer" and the bottom lists a "Southwestern Steel Crafters, Inc." in Tyler, Texas as the distributor. I was curious if anyone has any information on the age and/or quality of the insert?
We had a sweep out recently and when he removed the insert there was a lot of ashes surrounding the insert and even on the smoke shelf. The amount was a few "garbage bags" full. He seemed to think that someone possibly dumped ashes down the chimney to "insulate" the insert as he had not seen that amount of ashes with an insert. I should mention that there is no flue collar or steel liner in the chimney...Any thoughts on whether these ashes were purposely put there or they were just years of accumulation from the insert? He said chimney had not been cleaned in a long time either. Previous owner said he burned about a cord a year. Just curious.
Anyways, I know I need to have a liner installed and was just curious if I should invest in a newer stove or continue to use this one? We are in Southeast MI and the fireplace is in the 12'x20' family room of a 1900 sq. ft. ranch with basement. We have forced air natural gas heat and was thinking about using the insert to provide additional heat when we are home on weekends or evenings and also just for the enjoyment of the fires.
Thanks,
Jason
![[Hearth.com] Information on this older insert and ash insulation questions](/talk/data/attachments/0/328-0e032bc6893ffb7c46f50470f9077364.jpg?hash=mzPmZA6SDP)
![[Hearth.com] Information on this older insert and ash insulation questions](/talk/data/attachments/0/329-e319a5b802faaaadccc912d9d18f7e0f.jpg?hash=n49yOharc6)
