looking for information on my fireplace

[amelia.holmes]

My boyfriend and I moved into a new house a few days ago, we have a fireplace and were wondering about it...


the weird part is we don't think that there is a chimney, or at least we can't see one anywhere and we lit a fire for the first time yesterday and couldn't see any smoke when we went outside to look. However we have called many different fireplace company to try and find out about it (no help there) they have told us that there must be a chimney.


My boyfriend is very curious about how it actually works, I on the other hand am more worried about how to make sure we won't burn the house down.

So now about the fireplace

It is a craft stove model 4830, it plugs in, which starts a fan, and here are some pictures.

Any help is great!

Thanks

Amelia

 

[begreen]

This is a fireplace insert. There should be an actual fireplace behind it.

Welcome to hearth.com.

 

[amelia.holmes]

Awesome! thank you so much, just confirming that helps.

Glad to join the fireplace community.

Any chance anyone has a diagram, or can explain the air flow?

 

[begreen]

As far as I can tell it is a very basic box. Air in front center and low, smoke out in the upper back of the stove. It doesn't look like a very efficient design, but it may have a catalytic convertor. The EPA lists the 4830 as a cat stove. I found this in a search:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/50078/

 

[amelia.holmes]

Is there an easy/cheap way to make it more efficient?

 

[begreen]

If it is a cat stove then checking the condition of the catalyst is the place to start.

 

[amelia.holmes]

It is. Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Cowboy Billy]

It would be a very good idea to have a chimney sweep come out clean and inspect the chimney ASAP You have no idea how it was burned in the past and and what its condition is. It may or may not be full of creosote and a chimney fire waiting to happen. Be safe! You did not say if you renting or buying the house. But if you bought you should be able to upgrade to a high efficiency insert latter on.

Billy