Insert Metal Surround....

[Dustin]

I have an osburn insert, inside a masonry fireplace, fully lined Stainless Steel chimney with no lower blockoff pate, but of course the top late sealed off.

I did a little experiment tonight. I was running the blower fan, which dosen't push alot of air. So a stuck a small fan near the side of the stove, blowing in the side air caivity..mine has the space around the top, and two sides that the surround wont cover. Anyway I got a little more air movement.

I pulled the two side surround pieces off, left said fan there running. The heat movement I got was amazing! So much that it turned the ceiling fan above the stove, that was not turned on. It seems that some of the bricks around the fireplace are warm..not HOT, but warm...I wonder if i'm pusing some of that heat around??

So I seem to be getting alot more heat without the surround on the insert...do I NEED to put the surround on? Or is it more for looks...Thanks!

 

[Dustin]

And a side note, I notice that when I have had the stove running at about 500 for a couple hours, I take a lit match, and place it above the stove, and around the sides to see if i'm losing any heat up the chimney. What I found was the oppisit, the flame, and smoke from the match actually comes back into the room. Making me think I have a great seal up top, and that I'm actually getting heat coming back into the living space from the chimney....This is an interior clay lined chimney. Had it looked at and they said the clays were in good shape, but I had a liner put in just to be safe...

Is it possible that once the flue gets to a temp, that I will actually get heat BACK in the house without the surround on? Is this at all unsafe?

 

[Dustin]

Anyone?? I did a search, and can't find the info I'm looking for...

 

[bokehman]

When I put in my insert in it went into an existing fireplace that was quite a bit bigger. I was going to seal around it but I thought it looked OK so I didn't bother in the end. Just below the ceiling I put a 6" x 6" vent between the room and the chimney chase. This means air from the room can flow in around the insert, go up the chimney chase and re enter the room at ceiling level. This airflow, driven purely by convection, picks up the heat radiated by the stove pipe as it passes through the chimney chase. According to my IR thermometer the air entering the room through the vent can be anywhere from 250 degrees (primary wide open) to 125 degrees (late in the burn cycle). Not only that the stovepipe is the first thing to get hot (long before the stove is making any heat) so without this airflow I think the place would take much longer to warm up.

I can't see how it could be unsafe as it's how a free standing stove with an exposed stove pipe works.