What would you put in this weird fireplace?

[RIWonderer]

Hi --

I just bought a house that has a stragely designed fireplace with a setback between the top of the fireplace opening and the mantle. I want to try to heat the house - or at least the great room this fireplace is in - with wood this coming winter (in southern New England)

Here are the dimensions of the fireplace: Fireplace opening is 35" w by 30" tall, and is set back from the hearth 13". It is 23" from the top of the fireplace opening to the mantle. The space it will be heating is a room with cathedral ceiling and a loft - footprint of about 800 square feet, and on one side, 4 feet below ground level (thus the knee wall you see in the photo).

I've looked at a lot of inserts and I am not sure if they will work, given the design. But maybe they would. Or is it possible that the fireplace was orginally made this way to accomodate a wood stove? Or can you not put a stove into a space with such small clearance?

Have you ever seen a fireplace like this? What would you put in it?

I would be nice to have something we could also cook on if we wanted to, which makes the stove idea appealing.

 

[ANeat]

I would give everything a good scrubbing and sit a free standing stove in front of it. Either add on or do a seperate hearth pad, it seems wide enough that a stove might tuck right in there but you still would need some ember protection in the front.

All that will depend on getting a suitable connection to the chimney

 

[BrowningBAR]

I agree with ANeat. Looks like plenty of room for a free standing stove.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Oh, that is beconing a free standing stove....an insert will be a PITA, and with a free standing stove you don't have to worry about electricity for a blower.
I have an insert, and love it...but if I had your setup I'd be going with a Jotul F3cb we had at our old place.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[burntime]

I am the odball. I would put a steal lintel in there and brick it up, use the insert of your choice...

 

[Todd]

Yep, freestanding stove would look real nice in there. You could sit a Woodstock stove right up to the edge of that hearth and not have to worry about the front clearance but you might not have the room to use the side loading door?

 

[cmonSTART]

+1 for the freestanding stove idea. I've never seen a fireplace quite like that.

 

[SteveKG]

If you can accept a free-standing stove, you will find a number of models which will fit there just fine. Some won't, of course, and you'll have to keep the measurements of the openings in mind while looking for one you like and that will work. I don't see anything which raises any sort of red flag for me. There are many stoves from which to choose. No problem.

 

[webby3650]

I would definitely go with a free standing, it looks like if you were to put in a steel lintel and fill in the bricks, the oulet of the insert would be directly under the bricks. If an insert would fit in there it would be a lot of work and not produce as well for you.

 

[tickbitty]

That would gorgeously spotlight a real "looker" stove like a colored enamel Jotul or something of the sort.

 

[RIWonderer]

webby3650 -- You are correct about the opening of the insert being in the wrong place if you brick up the front. I found one insert that has flexible spacing, but I wasn't sure how that would work. Can't remember the brand.

Thanks for the votes for the stove idea.

Do you think it will get enough air circulation to heat properly?

The hearth is 12" deep, and there is a concrete floor in front of this, so clearance is not that big a deal.

Thanks !

 

[webby3650]

You could get a stove with a blower, although, I dont like to hear the noise. You will be surprised what a free standing is capable of!

 

[BrotherBart]

I am concerned about how hot that mantle will get with a free standing stove and how much heat that wall behind it can take.

 

[tickbitty]

I am concerned about how hot that mantle will get with a free standing stove and how much heat that wall behind it can take.

Appears to be a stone mantel and rather tall - no?

 

[BrotherBart]

I am concerned about how hot that mantle will get with a free standing stove and how much heat that wall behind it can take.

Appears to be a stone mantel and rather tall - no?

Appears to not be a stone wall behind it -no?

 

[RIWonderer]

The mantel is slate. The wall behind it is... wallboard, but then the chimney. The wall to each side of the fireplace is a knee wall built 12" out from the concrete foundation.

Would it be possible for the mantel to get so hot it would be a fire hazard? Most of the stoves I am looking at are less than 30" tall, so there would be a min. of 23 inches between the top of the stove and the mantel.

If we pulled the stove forward onto the hearth, so that at least part of the stove is out from under the mantel, would this reduce the problem?

 

[elmoleaf]

The brick pillars are quite odd. I'd demo them and redo the hearth extension to make it suitable for a freestanding stove.

 

[webby3650]

I think this fireplace looks weird because it is not original, I bet it was added to an existing flue. I think BB is right, below the mantel, behind the brick, is most likely a combustible wall. You will likely have to extend your hearth to reduce the distance to that wall.

 

[BrotherBart]

I can't tell you if it is going to be a problem or not. I can tell you I would not put a free standing stove inside that cage. I have a free standing stove half in and half out of the fireplace with no mantle and brick from floor to ceiling. And when that puppy is burning the bricks above it are at around three hundred degrees. And that is without something trapping the heat from the front half of the stove.

It may be fine and I don't know the answer but I have to raise the question because it concerns me. But man oh man would I love to have that brick heat store on each side of my stove. They are going to be radiating heat a long time after the fire goes out in a stove. The brick face of my fireplace does.

 

[tickbitty]

The picture in this thread below was one I was thinking of - a freestanding that looks nice -

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/47453/

or if the clearances do turn out to be an issue for a freestanding for you as bb mentions, there are some inserts by Lopi and others that extend out onto the hearth so they work a little more like a freestanding stove, they can easily go without the surrounds and the look is pretty much similar to a freestanding, and the back part that extends into the fireplace opening is shrouded so the clearances are smaller than a freestanding. Pics of this type are on this thread.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/50201/P22/

Lots of folks on here have done major demos and etc to fit the kind of stove they really want, with great results. I tend to stick more with what my house will safely accomodate, and then look for the best thing in that category, to each his/her own depending on your budget and capabilities.

 

[begreen]

With a soapstone or castiron clad freestanding stove in there I don't think I'd worry too much about the bricks heating up.

 

[RIWonderer]

I haven't fired it yet. Just bought and moved into the house. The chimney is FILTHY. Inspector told us that the flue was broken, a little poking around and I found that "broken" in this context translated to "stuck open by giant chunks of creasote." I shop vacced as far as I could reach and manged to close the flue -- but I'm not going to try to fire it before getting it cleaned out.

What do you mean by a Rumford fireplace?

Also, in response to the demolition comments -- it's hard to get a sense of this from the photo, but the "columns" are actually flush with the knee wall, or rather, stick out about an inch. It would not work to try to push the fireplace back farther -- then it would be recessed behind a flamable wall. I thought about trying to bring the recesed part in the middle there forward to make it flush, but then I'd need an insert, and the depth of the chimney opening is an issue.

I think if putting a cast iron stove in there, bricking in that space would make for less air circulation.

BrotherBart -- I was hoping that I'd get radiant heat from the fireplace bricks. I just saw a massive soapstone stove in action in a demo eco-house and I was really impressed -- 24 hours after loading it, it was still radiating heat.
I concerns me that folks seem to think I could get too much heat in the bricks. It's presumably designed to have an actual fire built inside it and not burn the house down, so should I be concerned that a fire inside a stove inside the fireplace is going to heat the fireplace to the point it will be dangerous?

 

[laynes69]

Sounds like there was a chimney fire. I would have it swept and inspected by a sweep if its that bad. Theres always concern about heat on the bricks. Just because its a fireplace and has a fire doesn't mean it was built properly. My sister found that out one night when heat transfered through brickwork and ignited what was under it. The fire spread under her bed in the basement from the fireplace above. She was very lucky.

 

[RIWonderer]

Oh, and tickbitty -- Thanks so much for the links to photos. I love the way that Jotul looks. I am hoping that the specs work out for us for one of those.

Thanks!

 

[BrotherBart]

You really need to get a competent chimney sweep, and I don't think there are that many but that is just me, to clean that flue and give you an evaluation of its safety before you do anything else. That inspector could not have known what the hell he was talking about if the flue was that stuffed full of creosote and ash. He would not have been able to see any problems above the damper.