Salesman's pitch or viable project?

[gerrythegreat]

I want to thank the ones who responded to my earlier post https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/19572/ , which made me realize I coudnt put the fireplace where I wanted.


Yesterday I went to a shop and showed them a drawing of my house. It is basicaly a 3000 scare feet home 2 storey (30 by 50) plus an unfinished basement. I share the first floor with my parent that live in an inlaw suite, that is why I wanted to install the zero clearance fireplace on the wall separating the 2 appartements so I could then shoot hair on their side. But I cant do that cause there is no way to get the chimeney out.I should also mention that I have 2 oil furnace for the house. One for the main floor and one for the second floor.

Basicaly the saleswoman who was really nice recommended I install a RSF opel or delta to an outside wall (west side), put the chimeney outside ( I have no choice) and then connect the fireplace to the central heating ducts of the main floors furnace.

Now this goes against what I have read here and elsewhere but could it be a good enough way of heating my house ?

thank you and ask away

 

[Jerry_NJ]

I'm not sure how you'd connect to heating ducts, but the idea is sound in my mind. What you want is to circulate hot air, and use of existing ducts seems nice if you can somehow collect hot air and push it into the ducts.

 

[gerrythegreat]

RSF has a system for this. What I was more affraid of was the fireplace on an outside wall and the chimeney going outside after the first floor.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Many, maybe most chimneys are on an outside wall. It would be best to insulate the chimney liner to help keep its heat up when the fire is low, e.g., when doing a long over night burn. I may still be missing an important point, but I remain supportive of the idea of pushing hot air from the stove/insert/fireplace into the heating duct system. Clearly, you need a return of airflow back to the point where you are pushing air into the ducts, open doorways or the heating duct returns may suffice.

 

[begreen]

Many newer chimneys are placed on the exterior. Most older homes where the stove was the primary heat source had the chimney on the interior.

 

[gerrythegreat]

New developement.


Turns out I might be able to put the fireplace on an inside wall. The installer's worry is about having the new chimney right behind my old oil furnace chimney,nearly touching one and other. He says that when the fireplace will be working the warm draft from the chimney might go down the oil chimney and into the house.

any thoughts?

 

[PeteD]

I would question that installers credentials, if it were me. What is going to cause hot chimney gas to go down the adjacent chimney?

Pete

 

[gerrythegreat]

i m no expert at all but could it be that the cold draft(can I call that ??) of the oil chimney would pull the smoke from the fireplace chimney down?

 

[Sheepdog]

New developement.


Turns out I might be able to put the fireplace on an inside wall. The installer's worry is about having the new chimney right behind my old oil furnace chimney,nearly touching one and other. He says that when the fireplace will be working the warm draft from the chimney might go down the oil chimney and into the house.

any thoughts?

Gerry,
That happens with my setup. My fireplace flue and my furnace flue are right next to each other. I found out that, when I am burning my fireplace (which I don't do anymore since the Jotul Oslo was installed) that my house was so tight, the replacement air was being pulled down my furnace flue and into the basement. I couldn't figure out why I was smelling wood smoke in the basement, but it finally dawned on me. Now I crack a window in the living room to supply make up air and the problem goes away. Obviously, an open fireplace will draw far more air than an EPA stove, but this just shows that it can happen.

I wish you good luck with your planned install.

-Sheepdog

 

[gerrythegreat]

New developement.


Turns out I might be able to put the fireplace on an inside wall. The installer's worry is about having the new chimney right behind my old oil furnace chimney,nearly touching one and other. He says that when the fireplace will be working the warm draft from the chimney might go down the oil chimney and into the house.

any thoughts?

Gerry,
That happens with my setup. My fireplace flue and my furnace flue are right next to each other. I found out that, when I am burning my fireplace (which I don't do anymore since the Jotul Oslo was installed) that my house was so tight, the replacement air was being pulled down my furnace flue and into the basement. I couldn't figure out why I was smelling wood smoke in the basement, but it finally dawned on me. Now I crack a window in the living room to supply make up air and the problem goes away. Obviously, an open fireplace will draw far more air than an EPA stove, but this just shows that it can happen.

I wish you good luck with your planned install.

-Sheepdog

Is the only drawback of this being the smell ? Is your basement finished? Could you stay in the basement when this happemed or was it too strong of a smell?

thank you

 

[Jerry_NJ]

I have a three chimney brick fireplace wall, all for solid fuel (fireplaces and stove, now one fireplace is an Insert) and on occasion I would get smoke back down the cold master bedroom chimney when the living room fireplace was being used. This was even when the grate on the BR fireplace was closed (not a tight fit). The smell isn't pleasant. I don't think it is healthy either to have smoke in the house you can smell...ever hear about "second hand smoke"?

EDIT: there are several possible fixes. Is oil chimney still used? If not,close it off. If needed, can it be extended, made higher, or perhaps make the stove chimney higher..these suggesting are beyond my knowledge base.

 

[thechimneysweep]

This is called cross-drafting, and is a fairly common problem with adjacent chimney flues. You can read more about it at (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/xdraft.htm). The best fix is to install an outside air feed to the new fireplace: if you eliminate room depressurization, no return air will be drawn down the adjacent flue.

 

[PeteD]

This is called cross-drafting, and is a fairly common problem with adjacent chimney flues. You can read more about it at (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/xdraft.htm). The best fix is to install an outside air feed to the new fireplace: if you eliminate room depressurization, no return air will be drawn down the adjacent flue.

Well said, which is exactly what the installer should have told the OP, in my opinion.

Pete

 

[begreen]

To further reduce the chance of crossdrafting, also terminate the new chimney at a higher height than the oil furnace one.

 

[gerrythegreat]

To further reduce the chance of crossdrafting, also terminate the new chimney at a higher height than the oil furnace one.

he mentionned this to me , thank you