Stone Fireplace with built-in vents

[fortress0824]

Hey,
I have this tall (16ft) fireplace with 2 vents built into it... Ive not used this fireplace yet. It will be renovated this spring. The 2 vents are above the opening... one is about 2 ft above it and the other is almost at the very top of the fireplace. The lower vent (when i take the vent cover off its just a shallow opening that is concreted on the bottom and sides so it must lead straight up. The upper vent has a fan. This common? Just looking for info on it and how it works. This whole fireplace will be renovated soon and will be looking at another insert as well. Thanks

 

[_CY_]

wow .. that could be a masonry heater like a Russian Stove ... exhaust instead of going straight up chimney is routed through all sorts of passages made of tons of rock. heat is handed off almost completely. heating the house all day from a single fire.

 

[BrotherBart]

Or just a masonry fireplace with heat ducts. Which is what it is,

 

[mellow]

With that Buck sending most of the heat up the flue those vents probably worked pretty good, if you switch out to a new EPA stove you might as well cover those vents as they won't be any good with the lower exhaust temps of a newer insert coupled with an insulated flex liner.

 

[fortress0824]

Thanks guys. All I know about the insert is the name mountain ridge stoveworks is on it and its just pushed into the fireplace... Not connected to a liner. Replacing the insert is something we plan to do soon. But wanted to make sure if it was worth it or was this constructed to be efficient without an insert.

 

[dougand3]

Nice looking masonry fireplace. What part of Bama? That A-frame looks like Valley Head or Mentone.

 

[fortress0824]

Its on sand mountain .. Between attalla and Boaz. Looking forward to redoing this fireplace.. Haven't been able to use it as its not up to code... The main living area is the a-frame part of the house and as u can imagine its cold inside a-frames due to lack of insulation. Rest of the house has typical walls and ceiling and is insulated well but we spend most of our time the coldest part of the house.

 

[owingsia]

wow .. that could be a masonry heater like a Russian Stove ... exhaust instead of going straight up chimney is routed through all sorts of passages made of tons of rock. heat is handed off almost completely. heating the house all day from a single fire.

Ok my question about those set ups is this. I have seen them, they look cool and I get the idea. My issue is this. Do they not get a ton of build up in the stone and how do you clean it? When you have a fire (Not if) will it hold up to it and how dang hot will the house get?

 

[mellow]

Ok my question about those set ups is this. I have seen them, they look cool and I get the idea. My issue is this. Do they not get a ton of build up in the stone and how do you clean it? When you have a fire (Not if) will it hold up to it and how dang hot will the house get?

Plenty of info on here about masonry heaters, use the search feature, if you have additional questions start a new thread.

 

[fortress0824]

This is what it looks like inside the lower vent (ignore the spider webs and spider). All concreted in except maybe upwards...wasn't able to see up into it.

 

[bholler]

it is hard to tell from that pic but it looks like the back of that opening is the clay liner am I right? if so I would say it is unsafe without an insulated liner in it. I might be wrong I cant tell for sure but it looks reddish and those dark lines down the right look like creosote.

 

[fortress0824]

Good question. I'll have to look and see if that's the clay liner. I believe that is creosote u see there.