Zero Clearance fireplaces

[Chad S.]

I have a raised ranch with 1500sf on the main floor and a 700 sf rec room in the basement the rest of the basement is garage. There is a p.o.s. heatilator in the basement now and the only way it heats is probably if you can get the chimney to start on fire! I also have a heated air solar unit which puts out about 140 deg air in the hallway via a ceiling vent and fan that easily gets the house to 75-85 when the sun is shining even on a 0 deg February day (THe record was 91 and it was a couple degrees below zero but very sunny out with lots of reflective snow on the ground). The house is 2x6outside walls and is half underground so the basement or garage never freezes. My plans are to replace the old unit with a new rsf, cover the face and use two gravity vents upstairs to the min living area directly abovr the fireplace. Then possibly put in the central heating fan with one duct exiting in the hallway (from the floor) in the same area as the solar vent in the ceiling. There is no ductwork in our all electric house. Does anyone have experiance with how much heat actually comes out of the gravity vents if the louvers are coverd up on the unit? Or how much heat comes out of the central heating duct? Temps possibly?(I used a meat thermometer to measure the air from the solar vent) And for you wood stove nazi's, yes I do have room for one upstairs, but it would be nice to heat the whole house if possible, and I know I can put two stoves in, cut vents through the floor..............

 

[woodracerx]

Chad I just ripped out my pos heatalator and am installing a new heatnglo northstar that is in the lower level of my split foyer home.I got the optional heat zone kit for it, it connects to the air camber and you can run ductwork to the suppied outlet that has a fan in it to help distubute the warm air. From reading on hear I do not think gavity vents work very.You can look at my post new fireplace project there is some pics and I will be updating it soon.Mark

 

[jkupcha]

Chad
Can you tell us about your heated solar unit? Would like to know the make and where I might learn about it maybe from a website. THanks -Joe

 

[Chad S.]

The solar unit is from when the house was built in 83 and is a custom design facing south and covers pretty much of the south side of the house. There is a setpoint thermostat in the house so when thew air temp reaches what you set it at (100 deg for me) the fan will blow that air into the house. It actually works great when the sun is out errrrr only when the sun is out.

 

[Chad S.]

Chad I just ripped out my pos heatalator and am installing a new heatnglo northstar that is in the lower level of my split foyer home.I got the optional heat zone kit for it, it connects to the air camber and you can run ductwork to the suppied outlet that has a fan in it to help distubute the warm air. From reading on hear I do not think gavity vents work very.You can look at my post new fireplace project there is some pics and I will be updating it soon.Mark

If you get that going soon definitley post how well it works. I would like a stove upstairs, but a new fireplace that could heat the whole house makes much more sense as I already have the inside chase from the basement, it is all insulated and the hole is already in the roof.