Newbie here with some advice needed

[Bazzin05]

Hi all,
I'll just start by saying I am new here and I love the wealth of information that is shared here. My wife and I have recently purchased a house and are working on turning our main heating in the living area of the house to be wood with an insert. I have read a bunch of information on here and researched different inserts and at this point I have decided to go with the Pacific Energy Summit. We have a 2700 SQFT house with an open floor plan and think this would best suit our needs. The house was built in the late 1970's and at one time had a wood burning insert in it but when we moved in the previous owners had change it over to Propane because they didn't want to mess with wood any longer. We have removed the propane insert and have a nice large opening for the new wood burning insert. The opening is 28.5" tall x 35.5" wide x 28.5"deep. I do have a few questions about it though.

1. When the propane insert was installed the installer busted the side of the chimney out from the basement fireplace to run the gas line. Could I just cover this with a thick piece of steel and seal it with some high temperature caulking?


2. You can see the electric box hanging in the back... I know I need to put a metal box on that is there any specific place that is best to mount that inside the opening? I figure I will need to move where the wire comes through the block but am not sure if I could just mount it there.

3. I am assuming the top plate that is in place is what was used as a heat shield to keep the heat from rising up the chimney originally. I will need to replace that since it is all rusted out. What is the best material to replace that with? Just a thick piece of steel or stainless?

I think that is all I can think of for now if anyone has any advice to make this as easy as possible feel free to speak up. The chimney is currently clay pipe lined and I plan on doing the install and lining of the chimney myself with the help of a few friends who have don this a time or two but I would like some advice from some seasoned veterans on this to help the process go as smooth as possible.

A few more pics of the area for perspective.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. The Summit is a good insert. Before getting started I would have this setup inspected. There are several red flags showing like the outlet wiring, rotten block-off plate, the hole in the side wall and woodwork too close to the opening. Personally I am not a fan of the electrical box being inside the fireplace.
The fireplace wall should be repaired. Check with an electrician for local code of the receptacle. If allowed I would expect it to be fed with metal sheathed bx and with high temp wire insulation. The replacement block-off plate can be made of galvanized steel, aluminum or stainless.

 

[Bazzin05]

Thanks begreen! I have called around to get someone to come out and look at it and so far it seems I moved in at the wrong time to get someone that wants new business. I will keep calling around until I can find someone to come out and inspect it.

Welcome. The Summit is a good insert. Before getting started I would have this setup inspected. There are several red flags showing like the outlet wiring, rotten block-off plate, the hole in the side wall and woodwork too close to the opening. Personally I am not a fan of the electrical box being inside the fireplace.
The fireplace wall should be repaired. Check with an electrician for local code of the receptacle. If allowed I would expect it to be fed with metal sheathed bx and with high temp wire insulation. The replacement block-off plate can be made of galvanized steel, aluminum or stainless.

 

[bholler]

Thanks begreen! I have called around to get someone to come out and look at it and so far it seems I moved in at the wrong time to get someone that wants new business. I will keep calling around until I can find someone to come out and inspect it.

Yeah in our industry this time of year is really busy. You may have a hard time getting someone out all that soon. But i agree with bg you need a pro to look at that i see lots of red flags and it needs checked out in depth

 

[begreen]

Yes, this is their busy time of year. Put your zip code in here for a list of certified sweeps or installers in your area.
www.csia.org or (broken link removed to http://nficertified.org/pages_consumers/consumers-1.cfm)