Need help with fireplace, identifying and troubleshooting

[Yzzim]

Hello,

I recently purchased a house that was built in 1977 and has a fairly large fireplace in the basement. I've never used a fireplace before and this past year we had a terrible ice storm come through the area so I have tons (literally!) of wood to burn, but I have no idea what I'm doing!

I'd like to identify the fireplace make/model if possible. There is no information on the fireplace, no nameplate or anything, I've looked everywhere. I've taken some pictures so hopefully that will help. The fireplace door opening is 32"x18" and the doors are 17 1/4" x 19 3/4".

I have done quite a few burns last year in the fireplace and have run into the following issues:

1) I get a lot of smoke coming out of the fireplace when I open the doors. I do get the chimney primed/warmed up with some newspaper and once that starts roaring (can really hear the hot air go up the chimney!) I then start a fire immediately. When I add wood to the fire and just open the doors for a few seconds I immediately get smoke coming into the house. Damper is wide open. This happens the whole time I have a fire going, not sure when I fire start a fire.

2) The fresh air intake doesn't seem to work well. With the doors cracked open (to prevent smoke in the house) I can have a nice roaring fire, but once I close the doors the fire is 20% of what it is with the doors open. I made sure the fresh air intake damper is open and attached to the outside intake vent (connected this myself as it wasn't connect properly when I bought the house). What I do find weird about the fireplace is it looks like the fresh air intake is sitting at the top front of the fireplace. With the doors open you can see a thin sheet of metal about 1/4" below the top of the fireplace. I believe the air intake resides in that opening. Seems weird to have an air intake at the top of the fireplace though...?

3) I get a lot of smoke in the fireplace with the doors closed. I'm guessing this might have to do with the lack of fresh air coming into the fireplace, but I'm not sure.

4) There is no gasket around the doors, it looks to have either melted off or has never been installed. I purchased the thinest gasket I could find at Menards and when I put it on I couldn't get the doors closed, it was too thick. Any ideas?

Sorry for all the questions but I'd really like to know what I'm working with before I burn the house down

EDIT: I should add, the chimney was inspected before I bought the place and I was told the fireplace looks like it had hardly been used. There is a mesh screen around the top of the chimney.


Fireplace with doors closed


Doors open


Looking up towards the back of the fireplace


Inside/Side of the fireplace


This is looking at the top front of the fireplace and you can see the opening of where the fresh air intake resides.

 

[webbie]

It's really hard to get a brand identified - these things usually have metal labels riveted to them somewhere which identify them.

Firstly, this is a prefab or "zero clearance" fireplace, that meaning it's sheet metal with a metal chimney (as opposed to masonry). By the looks of it, this one seems to be 1970's or early 1980's.

Not many used the standard firebricks as this one does - which may help someone else here ID it. Most used custom refractory panels.

The most popular brand back then would have been Thulman-eastern, which was also Majestic. They invented the zero-clearance fireplace.

Air intake at the top usually helps the doors to stay cleaner - but that was not thought of much until the early 80's, so maybe we are getting closer to it's date. I still say Majestic although Marco and Superior were also big by then.

Does it have any heat output grates?