Minimal Heat coming out of my Fireplace

[vicuna]

hey everyone.

I moved into a house with a Bis 1 wood burning stove. It's ~25 years old but was supposed to be pretty efficient. It doesn't give off a lot of heat I was wondering if there was something I could do differently?

there are two vents on the side about 6 feet up where heat is supposed to escape. it does warm a tiny bit but not enough to even nudge the temperature up. and almost no heat comes out the front. dunno where it goes ! out the chimney I suppose.

I have tried all kinds of configurations in terms of more wood, allowing more air in, etc.

If I open the doors to the stove, we feel more heat out the front - so I was thinking of getting a screen and just running it with the doors open?

(I got a high level inspection with camera and everything is ok)

thank you for any suggestions with this.

 

[begreen]

The BIS 1 is an oldie, circa 1989 or so. I don't recall this unit having a blower. That would make an improvement. Is there any heat coming out of the upper vents on the fireplace side?
The BIS Traditions added a blower option for forcing more hot air out. I am not sure if this is adaptable to the older model(s). I did find this fan listed for the older BIS1. It looks like it would go behind the grille for the side vent.

Fan | Montigo

Replacement Fan fits most Marco, BIS 1 and BIS 1.2 Wood Burning Fireplaces. Also used in older Montigo gas fireplaces. Blower Brackets are 4-1/4" Square Blower Depth is 2-1/4" 80 CFM

woodstoves-fireplaces.com

There is a copy of the manual here, if needed:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/bis1-manual-compressed-pdf.288809/?hash=439c339181d556d4ec0e1ecb38694930

 

[vicuna]

thank you for the reply

yes it's an oldie. and yes the upper vents barely let any heat out. like i can put my hand right on the vent and it's just a little warm.

we bought a universal blower kit but it was impossible to install...we would have had to fabricate something. it was a whole thing. we were on the phone with tech support with my installer and he told me it wasn't happening