Hello,
This website has been great. In fact, last October, I used the main part of the site to discover how to build and manage a fire when we moved into a place with a wood stove. (My first time using wood as the only source of heat!) This website was a lifesaver! I have now just recently spent almost a whole day reading every "question and answer" page, and then many posts in the forums to try and get information about a question I have. (Hence this post.)
We just moved into a new apartment, which also uses wood heat. However, the new apartment has only a single large open fireplace (see attached photo). I know an open fireplace is a really inefficient way to heat the apartment, which is why I'm thinking that maybe it's a good idea to somehow "convert" it into either an insert or a wood stove.
(Our landlord has given full permission to do whatever we want, as long as we don't physically modify the existing fireplace, and we take whatever we install with us when we leave.)
Question 1 - What is the better solution?
- a wood stove?
- an insert?
1) If we get an insert and the whole face of the fireplace is "sealed" by the big metal flashing, how does the heat get out? Only through the window? Is a air blower critical for an insert?
2) If we get a wood stove that sites inside the old fireplace, wouldn't all the heat just disappear up the chimney flu, just like an open fire? Or should we maybe put a fan or something behind the stove to blow the heat out into the room? Or maybe I should put a stove on the floor in front of the old fireplace? Also, note that in the photo you see the empty space under the fireplace. I'm paranoid a 500lb stove would crash through!
In my head, I see a wood stove as basically the same as an insert, except the insert has the big metal flashing/seal in the front to make it prettier, whereas the stove just sits there on legs in the open hearth. Is this about right?
We're not really too concerned with asthetics. (ie: We prefer it to be more efficient then pretty.)
Sorry. As you can see I'm very confused.
Question 2 - How "big" of a stove or insert to buy?
Ie: What "BTU" power and also physical size should I get?
I've attached a picture of the fireplace (attached pic "1.jpg", "2.jpg", "3.jpg"), so you can see what we have. The hearth is 39" wide by 23" inches tall at the opening and is about 20” deep. (It's about 27" deep from the very rear of hearth to very edge of the brick in the front.)
The room in which the fireplace is located is the main family room where we spend all our time. It is 309sq ft (with 8.5ft ceiling) and our whole apartment is 650 sq ft on each floor (2 floors total).
We live in a little village in the top part of Corsica, France (the little island in the Mediterranean right below France). It only gets down to about 40 to 50 degrees for maybe 4 or 5 months or so. It's often very windy, however, and our apartment is definitely not very airtight. (Every window/door leaks.) The walls are about 1.5 feet thick (made of brick with stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside) with no insulation. The doors/windows are double-panned glass. Yippee.
Question 3 - Installation?
The chimney flue is approximately 9" x 9" (and totally covered in black creosote) that goes up 2 floors straight out the roof. (See attached pic "4.jpg" for a shot looking straight up the flue.) My understanding is that for either a stove or an insert, we will need a flexible stainless steel chimney liner that connects from the back of the insert/stove and then goes at least 5 or 6 feet up the chimney flue.
I'm thinking about also adding an additional section of rigid stainless steel single-walled liner to the top of the flexible portion, as I've heard it will be better to run the tube as high as possible. Do you think this is a good idea? There's no access to the roof, so I have to do everything from the fireplace opening. (And cleaning will always need to be from the bottom.)
It's worth noting that there does not appear to be a damper or smoke shelf when I looked up the flue with a flashlight. The flue just goes in a straight line all the way to the top, with no obstructions or anything. Incidently, the flue is in the middle wall of the apartment, and not along an outside wall.
Also, how does the piping stay up the flue? Does the weight of the liner just rest on the insert/stove? Or is there some way to attach the liner to the chimney flue?
And.. What is this "T" I have heard about? Would installation of something like this benefit me? Seems the benefit is for cleaning and viewing, but I believe I would need to disassemble the whole liner every year for cleaning since it won't go right to the top of the stack, right? So a "T" would not be beneficial?
If it's not too hard, I'll do the installation myself. I am a good handyman, and have a few cousins who do home reno work for a living. I just need to understand how all the pieces fit together first.
Any suggestions, concerns, or problems with this install?
Thanks!
This website has been great. In fact, last October, I used the main part of the site to discover how to build and manage a fire when we moved into a place with a wood stove. (My first time using wood as the only source of heat!) This website was a lifesaver! I have now just recently spent almost a whole day reading every "question and answer" page, and then many posts in the forums to try and get information about a question I have. (Hence this post.)
We just moved into a new apartment, which also uses wood heat. However, the new apartment has only a single large open fireplace (see attached photo). I know an open fireplace is a really inefficient way to heat the apartment, which is why I'm thinking that maybe it's a good idea to somehow "convert" it into either an insert or a wood stove.
(Our landlord has given full permission to do whatever we want, as long as we don't physically modify the existing fireplace, and we take whatever we install with us when we leave.)
Question 1 - What is the better solution?
- a wood stove?
- an insert?
1) If we get an insert and the whole face of the fireplace is "sealed" by the big metal flashing, how does the heat get out? Only through the window? Is a air blower critical for an insert?
2) If we get a wood stove that sites inside the old fireplace, wouldn't all the heat just disappear up the chimney flu, just like an open fire? Or should we maybe put a fan or something behind the stove to blow the heat out into the room? Or maybe I should put a stove on the floor in front of the old fireplace? Also, note that in the photo you see the empty space under the fireplace. I'm paranoid a 500lb stove would crash through!
In my head, I see a wood stove as basically the same as an insert, except the insert has the big metal flashing/seal in the front to make it prettier, whereas the stove just sits there on legs in the open hearth. Is this about right?
We're not really too concerned with asthetics. (ie: We prefer it to be more efficient then pretty.)
Sorry. As you can see I'm very confused.
Question 2 - How "big" of a stove or insert to buy?
Ie: What "BTU" power and also physical size should I get?
I've attached a picture of the fireplace (attached pic "1.jpg", "2.jpg", "3.jpg"), so you can see what we have. The hearth is 39" wide by 23" inches tall at the opening and is about 20” deep. (It's about 27" deep from the very rear of hearth to very edge of the brick in the front.)
The room in which the fireplace is located is the main family room where we spend all our time. It is 309sq ft (with 8.5ft ceiling) and our whole apartment is 650 sq ft on each floor (2 floors total).
We live in a little village in the top part of Corsica, France (the little island in the Mediterranean right below France). It only gets down to about 40 to 50 degrees for maybe 4 or 5 months or so. It's often very windy, however, and our apartment is definitely not very airtight. (Every window/door leaks.) The walls are about 1.5 feet thick (made of brick with stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside) with no insulation. The doors/windows are double-panned glass. Yippee.
Question 3 - Installation?
The chimney flue is approximately 9" x 9" (and totally covered in black creosote) that goes up 2 floors straight out the roof. (See attached pic "4.jpg" for a shot looking straight up the flue.) My understanding is that for either a stove or an insert, we will need a flexible stainless steel chimney liner that connects from the back of the insert/stove and then goes at least 5 or 6 feet up the chimney flue.
I'm thinking about also adding an additional section of rigid stainless steel single-walled liner to the top of the flexible portion, as I've heard it will be better to run the tube as high as possible. Do you think this is a good idea? There's no access to the roof, so I have to do everything from the fireplace opening. (And cleaning will always need to be from the bottom.)
It's worth noting that there does not appear to be a damper or smoke shelf when I looked up the flue with a flashlight. The flue just goes in a straight line all the way to the top, with no obstructions or anything. Incidently, the flue is in the middle wall of the apartment, and not along an outside wall.
Also, how does the piping stay up the flue? Does the weight of the liner just rest on the insert/stove? Or is there some way to attach the liner to the chimney flue?
And.. What is this "T" I have heard about? Would installation of something like this benefit me? Seems the benefit is for cleaning and viewing, but I believe I would need to disassemble the whole liner every year for cleaning since it won't go right to the top of the stack, right? So a "T" would not be beneficial?
If it's not too hard, I'll do the installation myself. I am a good handyman, and have a few cousins who do home reno work for a living. I just need to understand how all the pieces fit together first.
Any suggestions, concerns, or problems with this install?
Thanks!
