Mr. Flame fireplace radiator

[skynyed]

(broken link removed)

Has anybody had any experience with one of these?

I was also thinking should I leave the door in the floor of the fireplace open a little along with the cleanout door in the basement in an effort to get cooler air to feed the fire or is that a bad idea?

 

[fossil]

http://www.fireplaceradiator.com/

Has anybody had any experience with one of these?

I was also thinking should I leave the door in the floor of the fireplace open a little along with the cleanout door in the basement in an effort to get cooler air to feed the fire or is that a bad idea?

The thing's a very expensive and pretty much worthless (IMO) gadget. The big box that has to sit on your hearth is a fan, which takes room air and sends it in through the heat exchanger to be warmed by the fire, and that air is returned to the room through the two nozzles at the bottom front. Depending on just how your fireplace doors are built (if you have them), they may have to be modified or replaced to accomodate this thing's airflow. Leaving the cleanout doors in the fireplace floor and basement open isn't a good idea whether you install one of these contraptions or not, unless you really relish the thought of a fire down inside your chimney structure below the fireplace. I wouldn't waste my money on one of these things. A traditional open fireplace is more ambience than performance, period. There really isn't much you can do with it to make it anything other than that. If you really are serious about wanting more useful heat out of it, then you gotta start thinking woodburning insert. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Welcome to the forums! Rick

 

[weatherguy]

I agree with most of what Fossil said but if I was to burn wood in my fireplace I would spend the money and get some airtight doors with ceramic glass. At least that way you would get some heat through the glass and you would limit your heat loss when your fire goes down by closing the airtight doors. In fact I have two fireplaces in my house, Im installing a Blaze King Princess in the one in the family room in the middle of the house and Im going to get some airtight doors for the other fireplace.

 

[skynyed]

Thanks for the welcome.
I didn't think it was a good idea to leave the door open a crack even with a pan of water at the bottom.
I got a couple cords of free wood with more coming but most of it is either slightly too long or full of big knots (pain to split)
to fit in my small Federal Airtight thats in the basement. Been kicking' myself for 23 yrs. Should have got the Large.

I looked into inserts but I'm reluctant to spend 3k or more for basically another small stove.

The fireplace radiator seemed like a good option. I do have glass doors that will fit (tho not exactly airtight) And I can get by with minimal splitting. I haven't found any negative reviews and a search of ebay didn't turn up any used ones so people who bought one must be keeping it. Found this site and seems to be very friendly and knowledgeable people here. I guess I've got some rethinking to do.

 

[drdoct]

I had something like this, but without the radiator part on the back. It was there when I bought the house. The fan box wasn't there so I hooked up a little fart sucker fan on to it and it blew out hot for a little while. What they don't tell you is that it cools the fire so much it's hard to keep it burning. I ripped the whole thing out and went with an old insert which I wasn't really happy with and then ended up with a nice Lopi. I wouldn't use one even if it was free.

 

[jtp10181]

I agree with most of what Fossil said but if I was to burn wood in my fireplace I would spend the money and get some airtight doors with ceramic glass. At least that way you would get some heat through the glass and you would limit your heat loss when your fire goes down by closing the airtight doors. In fact I have two fireplaces in my house, Im installing a Blaze King Princess in the one in the family room in the middle of the house and Im going to get some airtight doors for the other fireplace.

altering ul tested design is a no-no

If they are talking about prefab ZC boxes... which I doubt they are. The mention of an ash pit that goes to the basement would indicate a masonry fireplace. Not exactly UL listed in the first place. I don't know why you still bother posting in threads when you don't anything about whats being discussed.

And about the fireplace radiator... I see on their site it boasts 45k BTU output... hahaha. And how many CFMs of air is flying out the chimney sucking what volume of cold outside air into the house through leaky windows, etc...