Seeking Advice: Preparing Old Fireplace Insert for Use

[joeyz101]

Hi All - I am very happy to have found this community over the wknd !

My wife and I purchased our first home (split-style) this time last year. The house has a brick chimney and there is an old wood burning fireplace insert inside that we would like to use this winter. It is a Sierra Model 4200 Regal Fireplace Insert.

We just had our chimney repaired (top rows looked loose so we had them removed and rebuilt, installed 2 new clay flues and caps).

Our house was built in 1953, and the wood burning fireplace was installed by the original owners in Dec. 1982 (the year I was born !). The people we bought the house from lived there from 1989 - 2014 and said they never used the insert.

Fireplace is located in our living room. We have a pretty open floor plan. Dining room is right next to Living room and if your back is to our fireplace you would be facing a small stair case leading up to our bedrooms (no door in the way). In my very limited knowledge I am thinking that is good because the heat will be pushing out into the living room, rising and making its way straight up to the bedrooms - does this sound realistic ? Also, my insert does not have a blower currently but the old product brochure I have says:

"The Regal has not one, not two, but three large air convection channels, completely surrounding the combustion chamber. The aerodynamic design (patent pending induces the flow of air through an air chamber under and behind the firebox and out over the top, into your room.

But unlike any other make, each side of the Sierra Regal fireplace insert is a venturi-style airflow chamber in itself. Unique air guide vanes pull cool air in at the bottom front of the firebox, moving it back and up along the heated plate steel sidewalls. there it picks up heat and expands, and warmed air is thrust forward and out into your home at up to 75 cubic feet a minute - without a blower ! More than any other fireplace insert."

The brochure goes on to say OPTION: Blowers (designed to attach after initial installation) are available for those desiring increased output of Regal Insert. Do you think I should consider purchasing a blower - if so which one do you think might work with my insert ?

Attached is a picture of the insert we have. It is a Sierra Model 4200 Regal Fireplace Insert - specs are below.

I would like to replace all door gaskets but I am not sure how to determine what size I need. Also aside from the door gaskets are there other gaskets (glass gaskets ?) I should look at replacing ? It looks like the unit has the standard 4 1/2" x 9" x 1 1/4" gray fire bricks and I don't see any that look cracked (some are pretty clean and some are pretty dirty though). I do not see any cracks in the body of the unit but maybe I'm not looking carefully enough - where should I be looking ?

Lastly, my father in-law and I pulled the insert out and there wasn't any chimney liner connected to it so I want to make sure that IF this unit can be used I put a very good chimney liner connecting the unit all the way up the chimney to the clay flue.

Pls take a look at the specs below when you can and let me know if there are any other parts I should test or replace. I very much appreciate your time and advice - if you have any additional questions pls let me know.

Thx again - joeyz101

Sierra Model 4200 Regal Fireplace Insert:

• 26"D x 28 1/2"W x 23 3/4"H - 500 lbs
• Heating Capacity - 2,000 Sq. Ft.
• Accepts 22" logs
• Front Loading and Air Tight
• Holds fire 8-12 hrs. on 1 load (seasoned hard wood, closed down ?)
• Extends on hearth 8"
• Shield 34"H x 48"W

 

[jb6l6gc]

Ya like your said your definitely gonna want to run a liner from insert all the way up. Clean and inspect inside of unit for any signs of damage broken fire bricks etc. Dollar bill test will let you know if you need to replace door gaskets.

 

[mellow]

You don't say anything about wood supply, this late into the season your only option will be expensive Kiln Dried firewood for REAL seasoned wood, not what you find on criagslist.

I would recommend sitting this year out and figuring out what NEW / NEWER Used insert you want to put in that fireplace.

Reasons Being:

• You will need an 8" insulated liner for that old insert (more expensive than 6" insulated liner)
• You will need to buy a rectangle to round insert boot (expensive)
• When you do buy new with 6" the 8" might not work (this varies per install)
• Running existing insert with no liner is no longer approved and CO poisoning is a real threat
• Old pre-epa inserts will eat work like no tomorrow since they lack reburn technology
• You will need to clean the liner more with an older pre-epa insert
• That thing was built in the early 80's, there was a reason they didn't use it

 

[joeyz101]

You don't say anything about wood supply, this late into the season your only option will be expensive Kiln Dried firewood for REAL seasoned wood, not what you find on criagslist.

I would recommend sitting this year out and figuring out what NEW / NEWER Used insert you want to put in that fireplace.

Reasons Being:

• You will need an 8" insulated liner for that old insert (more expensive than 6" insulated liner)
• You will need to buy a rectangle to round insert boot (expensive)
• When you do buy new with 6" the 8" might not work (this varies per install)
• Running existing insert with no liner is no longer approved and CO poisoning is a real threat
• Old pre-epa inserts will eat work like no tomorrow since they lack reburn technology
• You will need to clean the liner more with an older pre-epa insert
• That thing was built in the early 80's, there was a reason they didn't use it

Hi Mellow - thanks for your time.

As far as wood supply, I forgot to mention that my father-in-law has wood for us to use this season.

I am looking into the other points you mentioned - thx again.

joeyz101

 

[mellow]

Trust me, when I bought my house I was in the same position, an old non-epa insert, I tried running it with no liner for the first year and had a chimney fire, the next year I had a chimney fire, then I found hearth.com and got schooled after getting a $4000 quote to install a liner. I installed the liner myself to that old smoke dragon and ran it for a season till I found a used epa insert I could afford, I wish I had just gotten a newer insert from the beginning, all the frustration I went through and now I try to save people from making the same bad decisions.

Don't waste your time and money on that old insert, study up on here and make an informed purchase that will last for many many years, I know I am glad I finally did that.

 

[joeyz101]

Trust me, when I bought my house I was in the same position, an old non-epa insert, I tried running it with no liner for the first year and had a chimney fire, the next year I had a chimney fire, then I found hearth.com and got schooled after getting a $4000 quote to install a liner. I installed the liner myself to that old smoke dragon and ran it for a season till I found a used epa insert I could afford, I wish I had just gotten a newer insert from the beginning, all the frustration I went through and now I try to save people from making the same bad decisions.

Don't waste your time and money on that old insert, study up on here and make an informed purchase that will last for many many years, I know I am glad I finally did that.

Wow ! I hear ya - in my head I was thinking if the original homeowners bought this insert in 1982 and used it up until 1989 and it hasn't been used since then maybe it still has some life left but I do appreciate you sharing your experience with me and I think I will take you up on it !

Looks like we'll have a bunch of white candles instead of an insert this season as my wife suggested

In the meantime, I will definitely be reading up on here to learn as I think I have the fireplace bug !

Thanks again Mellow,

joeyz101

 

[bofire14]

ive always looked at that one as a free standing stove more so than an insert. never seen one with a surround. perhaps ive never seen a sierra insert.
the sierra stoves ive seen already have a 6" round outlet. rear exit.
cool stove. if you dont use it in the house, use it in the shed. jeff.