thoughts on heat reclaimers

[vasten]

I am considering getting a heat reclaimer for my stove pipe, also known as a magic heat. What thoughts do we have out there regarding them.

I am running the Regent FS1100 with a 6" flue that is running straight up and out at about 16-20' of length.

My reasoning is to maximize heat output while, minimizing cost, the name of the game right. Magic heats sell for 99.00 the blower unit for my stove sells for 300.00. At one third the cost it seems more cost effective to do the magic heat/reclaimer.

My concerns being is that it has been known to take too much heat out of the flue allowing the gases to drop into the danger level allowing creosote build up. I have also heard that codes doesn't like them installed for this reason, but they are still available from my local hardware store so assuming still able to be installed.

Give me your opinions good bad or indifferent all feed back helps in making the decision.

Thanks

 

[begreen]

With an old smoke dragon putting a lot of waste heat up the chimney, these might work a little. But with a modern stove I wouldn't install one. You are correct in your concerns about increasing creosote. Search on Magic Heat for other past responses.

 

[Todd]

Like BG stated, they are more for the older stoves that ran hot stack temps. The newer stoves run low stack temps, and can be very draft sensitive.

I had one back in the mid 1990's installed on an EPA Energy King steel stove. I ended up with dripping gooey black mess on my hearth, and a very dirty chimney. Go with the blower or try ordinary house fans.

 

[begreen]

BTW, is the interior pipe single or double wall? If single wall it's already cooling down the flue gases.

Get the blower, it will be much more efficient, but shop around $300 seems a little steep. As an alternative you might be able to get the fan Roospike has. It is generic, but as long as there is a straight shot up the back heat shield, it should work like it did for Roo. Look down the middle of this thead for pictures and on the second page for buying info. There's one on eBay now. Search for Heat-Glo or Gfk-160A.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/6609/

 

[stoveguy2esw]

all good advice, i would suggest not using one on an EPA unit as they are restrictive in drafting already , adding a reclaimer could (a) rob too much heat from the stack as epa units tend to run a bit lower temps than older units, (b) the restriction in the pipe could adversely affect the performance of an already restricted unit

smoke dragons, yeah they arent going to be affected so much and reclaiming heat might be a good thing, not epa units

 

[vasten]

Thanks for the advice on this one, I wasn't keen on the idea of the magic heat, that is why I wanted the feed back. But I didn't know about the heat and glo product, so it worked out. Do we know if that mounts to/ or can be mounted to the stove or does it sit below and pump air up at the stove?

I have the heat sheild on the back with a knock out for the factory blower, just wondering if I could drill and mount that to the heat sheild some how.

I am going to look locally for one of these from a hearth shop 27.00 for shipping seems a little steep.