New Home (fireplace with blower) how much wood suggested

[BigVike]

I recently purchased a home in West Michigan and it came with a nice fireplace with a blower system. The house was built in 1973 and is a bi-level. The upstairs is where the fireplace is, ceilings are 9 ft and the 3 bedrooms have ceiling fans in them for a total of 1,200 sq ft. It seems to be well insulated. It has a High Efficiency natural gas furnace and I want to supplement the heat with the fire place.

My experience with fireplaces is at our cabin up North and have never run one on a regular basis. I'm expecting to add wood at night when I get home from work and before going to sleep. Seasoned, split oak wood delivered in the area runs $150-$200 a cord. I ordered a cord but was wondering what I should have to get through the winter. I am unable to ask the previous owner as he had major health problems and has been in the hospital waiting for a transplant.

Thanks!

 

[bholler]

Is it an open fireplace with blowers? If so I would say you could probably load wood in it constantly and still not be able to heat your house. In most cases open fireplaces have a net heat loss because they suck more heated air out than they are able to replace.

 

[jatoxico]

Your title says fireplace with blower. Need to know more.about what you have. A typical open fireplace is very inefficient and can actually operate at.a loss.

 

[jetsam]

If it's actually an open fireplace, zero cords is the best number. You're losing more heat than you're gaining.

You can put in a stove for heat, or block the flue so your warm air isn't whooshing out.

Could be you already have something that makes heat; give us some pictures and a model number!

 

[blades]

Open fireplace nice ambience - lousy to heat with- blowers not with standing. Those units from the 70's were not efficient. you will be able to feel the amount of air being sucked up by it across the floor, and of course if all that is going out then its got to be replaced. -it's going to come from outside- burrrrrrrrr. Research what it is- a lot of those were prefab units with a nice surround. Looks pretty but hard on wallet as to running it the way you stated maybe 8 cord for a winter in the upper midwest. One other thought -that Oak you bought won't be ready to burn properly until the winter after next at the inside. Best to save pennies and install an insert or a free standing stove in that area. Most likely you will need to line the existing flue or replace it depending on what is there.

Your short description sounds like a Heatalator product- they are out of business although the name is still around - thinks it is part of Carrier now. There are no replacement parts for thoseunits of the 60's and early 70's.

 

[begreen]

I recently purchased a home in West Michigan and it came with a nice fireplace with a blower system. The house was built in 1973 and is a bi-level. The upstairs is where the fireplace is, ceilings are 9 ft and the 3 bedrooms have ceiling fans in them for a total of 1,200 sq ft. It seems to be well insulated. It has a High Efficiency natural gas furnace and I want to supplement the heat with the fire place.

My experience with fireplaces is at our cabin up North and have never run one on a regular basis. I'm expecting to add wood at night when I get home from work and before going to sleep. Seasoned, split oak wood delivered in the area runs $150-$200 a cord. I ordered a cord but was wondering what I should have to get through the winter. I am unable to ask the previous owner as he had major health problems and has been in the hospital waiting for a transplant.

Thanks!

Welcome. Can you post a picture of what you have? Some heatilator style fireplaces had heat exchangers coupled to ducts, some with a fan at the lower intakes. Or, perhaps you have an insert in a fireplace? Need to clear this up to get a sense of what you may need for wood.

PS: $150-200 per cord of oak is a great price, but I would be very suspicious of the claim that it's seasoned.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'm going to vote for 5+ cords. Regardless of what you are going to burn in, you will need wood. Dryer is better, and firewood dealers often have a different definition of dry than we do. Newer, EPA stoves, run best with wood with less than 20% moisture. With a wood like oak, that typically means being cut, split, and stacked in the sun and wind for 2 to 3 years. The earlier you pick up the wood, the happier you will be with it.

 

[BigVike]

Sounds like from what everyone is saying it is just for decoration and really isn't useful other than looks.

I have a picture of the fireplace that was taken by the realtor, I can take some more tonight. That brick is faux, it is hard plastic and will come down when I get some free time to put up real stone. The damper and surround seem very tight and it has a good seal (way better than my house I owned 7 years ago). The fireplace is on an interior wall and the there is a vent behind that chair about 1' off the floor.

It is an open fire place and I really don't want to put in a stove. As I said it is natural gas and my previous house was 3,200 sq ft and only cost $1,020 to heat (including hot water), so I am not investing in a stove. Maybe if I had a free supply of wood, but I can't come close to saving any money by adding a stove.

The wood that was delivered last night was very dry, I wouldn't say seasoned for 3 years due to brightness of wood, it was still red and white (depending on the oak species) on the inside and look freshly split, but he could of tarped it to keep the color (it wasn't grayed at all). I'll burn some in my fire pit and see how easily it takes to determine if it was seasoned good. I'd say I was missing about 14% from a full cord. Not sure if I'll use him again because of it. But his price was within line with everyone else in the area (Craigslist and Facebook) my stack was 8x4.3x3.2.

And thanks for all the quick responses, great message board\ forum here!

 

[begreen]

If this is just for ambient fire burning then a couple cords should be sufficient.

 

[kennyp2339]

Hard to tell if that's a full masonry fire place or if its a zero clearance with a brick veneer, if its a zero clearance consult the manual and make sure its rated for continuous burning, some zero clearance units say to only burn for short periods, or nothing longer than 8hrs straight. Also whether its a full fledged fire place or zero clearance get it inspected before using and be advised that you will lose more heat in the house running the open fire place than not running it.

 

[bholler]

It is a poor pic but it looks to me like it is a zeroclearance unit But I could be wrong. But the wood beams running right next to it are a bit concerning

 

[jatoxico]

It's all good. Open fire places aren't very good heaters but burn a cord or two for pleasure and enjoy.

 

[maple1]

I would just consider it an ambiance appliance.

I am quite sure it would cost more to heat using it with $200/cord wood, than the NG furnace.