I have a heatform fireplace that was installed or remodeled with bricks covering the warm air outlets and cold air inlets. I had a professional chimney sweep come clean the chimney and they were concerned about this installation. They were not sure whether it is safe to operate this way. Does anyone know if this is an acceptable way to use this fireplace, or should I tear the face bricks off and redo it with proper ventilation?
Superior Heatform Obstructed outlets/inlets
- Thread starter hputman
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jetsam
Minister of Fire
Is it just decorative, or are you trying to heat the house?
I'd look into getting an insert into it either way personally, but a lot of the "ambiance" crowd don't want to get into cutting stuff up and pulling liners.
If it's for heat, it would be worse than nothing even if it was working right, so either put a heater in there or close it off.
If it's for decoration, I think there's some possibility that the ductwork for air inlets and outlets could heat up much hotter than they were meant to , which could be an issue if they are near combustibles rather than just buried in masonry. Best to trust the opinion of the guy who came out and looked at it, I think.
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