[BabyPeanut]

Does anyone have any experience with these setups? I am interested in passive models that do not have electric blowers since there might be blackouts sometime during the winter when you really need extra heat from your fireplace.

This is the one I'm looking at the most now:

http://www.fireplacesnow.com/_details_/ ... ower/view/

I have talked to a few people in the flesh about these but this is my first online post.

I have been told that it is important for the air exit tubes to be high enough that the hot air is not sucked back into the fireplace and up the chimney.

I have been told that blasting hot air into a room might be undesirable. My house has a split foyer and it's right over the fireplace so the ceiling in front of it is the second floor ceiling. That just cries out for hot air from the fireplace to feed the bedrooms. My fireplace is also not against any exterior walls so the heat from the back is not thrown away.

I have been warned that the tubes may have oil or varnish coatings that need to be burned off prior to use. I'm not sure if that's still done but someone bought one in 1979 to find it smoked up their livingroom unexpectedly on the first use.

Does anyone have any experiences they could add?

Thanks,
BP

[BabyPeanut]

The unit has caps with holes on them on the tubes at the top (one hole in the center of each cap.) Cold air enters the bottom of the tubes through larger openings and squirts out the holes in the caps on the tubes so as to accelerate the air so it will head away from the chimney and not be sucked back into it. There is also a plate which extends over the hot air exaust so that the hot air jets are not allowed to head upward until they are a few more inches away from the chimney.

[BabyPeanut]

I have been warned that the tubes may have oil or varnish coatings that need to be burned off prior to use.

The pipes do feel a bit greasy. I went out and got a cheap ($25) propane torch to burn the unit in.

[BabyPeanut]

I have been warned that the tubes may have oil or varnish coatings that need to be burned off prior to use.

The pipes do feel a bit greasy. I went out and got a cheap ($25) propane torch to burn the unit in.

The bright blue flame of the propane torch ran back and forth across the aluminum tubes as smoke wafted out of them into the night sky.

I'm also thinking of doing a secondary burn-in by not attaching the extention plate to the end of the tubes and sealing the unit up behind the glass screens with a "paper" log (the kind of pseudo-log you get in the grocery store.)

[BabyPeanut]

Now that the unit is in operation it is clear to me what the fundamental flaw with this device is. Convection into the fire provides the air that drives up the burning rate. Trying to get convection out of a fireplace works against this.

I'm thinking about moving on to this now:

http://www.gratewalloffire.com/

[BPinOR]

Was wondering if you had any experience with "grate wall of fire"-- did you get one? Did it work? A convection tube set up is very expensive from what I can see. This seems like a cheaper alternative, and even if it doesn't deliver as much heat to the room, it's better than nothing, if their website can be believed. I have a whole cord of mill ends I got from a recycling company and I'd like to use them as efficiently as possible.

[BabyPeanut]

Was wondering if you had any experience with "grate wall of fire"-- did you get one? Did it work? A convection tube set up is very expensive from what I can see. This seems like a cheaper alternative, and even if it doesn't deliver as much heat to the room, it's better than nothing, if their website can be believed. I have a whole cord of mill ends I got from a recycling company and I'd like to use them as efficiently as possible.

It's actually very nice. While it doesn't 100% relieve the need to poke the fire I see that a small poke in the right spot can make a big difference now. I've had fires for as long as 13 - 15 hours at a go and it holds up quite nicely. I did find that it worked best if I remove the glass fireplace screen entirely while burning and re-install it to deal with the smoke from dying embers. The heat from the grate wall of fire comes out right at the floor level and the screen had 4 - 5 inches (10 - 12 cm) of metal at the floor which blocked the heat.

I also added a 56 lbs (25.4 kg) cast iron fireback. The way it seems to me is that the bottom of the fireback is heated by the coal bed (charcoal from the burning wood) and that heat is carried up by the iron where it radiates (infrared) into the room.

[BPinOR]

I also added a 56 lbs (25.4 kg) cast iron fireback. The way it seems to me is that the bottom of the fireback is heated by the coal bed (charcoal from the burning wood) and that heat is carried up by the iron where it radiates (infrared) into the room.

Is this the fireback that this company sells? Yours sounds heavier-- you must have gotten it locally??

[BabyPeanut]

Is this the fireback that this company sells? Yours sounds heavier-- you must have gotten it locally??

I'm not selling any fireplace equipment. I'm an end-user.

I bought the fireback from Plow and Hearth over the web.

I have uploaded four pictures of the fireplace here:
http://www.geocities.com/baby_p_nut/fireplace.html

[The_Virginian]

BP,

I think it depends on the construction of the fireplace, was it made for looks and safety, or does it give a reasonable amount of warmth when you fire it up (usualy an OLDER fireplace).

If your FP give you some heat in return (rather than sucking it out the chimny) then it would be worth it to have as a back up. If not, get a cheap wood stove for emergency use:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... =796&R=796

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... 66841&Ne=2