Older Style Heatilitor

[grimace]

Hello All,

I just bought a house with 2 fireplaces. 1 is in the basement and appears to be a wood burning fireplace with a brick firebox. The other is in between two living rooms and passes between them. This fireplace seems to be a gas heatilator fireplace. Both sides have vents above the opening. One side has fans on either side of the hearth that turn on with a switch mounted on the chimney in the opposite room. These fans seemed to do nothing at all, I could reach my arm in the vent and felt no airflow whatsoever. Other heatliators that I have seen online seem to have fans in the vents which makes much more sense in my opinion.

I recently demolished the ugly marble that was covering the hearth on one side to reveal the inner workings. I found a hole behind the fans in the block which I presume eventually leads under the firebox. Another thing that I noticed is that the brick around the metal is only 1 brick width thick and it also seems like it was poorly built with many small gaps in the mortar (not sure if this matters other than looking bad).

I had a professional come out and check the fireplace and he really only looked at the gas portion. He said that we would have to replace the line, and add a shutoff. He also mentioned that both flues would have to be swept and recommended a chimney sweep. I wasn't here when he was here, but he was from a plumbing place and from what my wife told me he seemed like he didn't know much about fireplaces and mostly just pointed out stuff related to the gas. Unfortunately there are not any fireplace experts in my area (either that or they dont advertise) so I'm not sure where to turn. I basically want to know if this fireplace is safe, and if it is safe whether or not the fans/vents are required. I already planned on replacing the gas line and adding a shutoff as well as replacing the valve inside the fireplace that seems to have a broken ignition. We do want to use the fireplace, but we also want to renovate the surfaces so they don't look so terrible.

The house was built in 1978. I have not gone down to the clerk to get documentation on the house, but plan to soon. I have attached some pics for reference.


Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Upstairs side 1:
Side 1 vent:
Side 1 vent inside:

Switch for blowers on other side:

Side 2:
Side 2 vent:

Side 2 blower fan (the setup was identical on the other side of the hearth):
Side 2 hole behind blower (the setup was identical on the other side of the hearth):

Valve/ignitor switch:

Gas line from basement:


Backside showing ignitor and badly charred gas log:

Upstairs flue:


Here are some pics of the basement fireplace for reference.

 

[bholler]

Get a pro in to inspect both of them. And what are your intentions with the fireplaces? Are you planning on using them just for recreational fire or do you want to get heat from them?

 

[grimace]

Is there an easy way to find fireplace pros? We really only want them to be for recreational use.

 

[bholler]

Is there an easy way to find fireplace pros? We really only want them to be for recreational use.

Chimney safety institute of america (csia) has a website and you can search by zipcode

 

[grimace]

Chimney safety institute of america (csia) has a website and you can search by zipcode

Thank you, that was just what I needed. Found one near me. https://www.thechimneydoc.com/

Also I was wondering. Does it look like the drywall is too close to the firebox in the basement? Seems like a fire hazard to me.

 

[bholler]

Thank you, that was just what I needed. Found one near me. https://www.thechimneydoc.com/

Also I was wondering. Does it look like the drywall is too close to the firebox in the basement? Seems like a fire hazard to me.

Yes i see several potential issues which is why i think you really need a qualified pro on site to check it all out