Enclosing Open Fireplace.

[STAR]

I have a large brick open fire place approx. 950 mm wide 850 high and 800 deep.

Because in the past I have had access to plenty of firewood I have not been concerned too much about the loss of efficiency. However, now wood is likely to become scarcer for me in the future I was thinking about putting a glass front on it to improve the efficiency.

Years ago i think i saw something similar in some old English renovator's magazines. is what I am contemplating an achievable project or do we have to get a complete fire box and have it inserted by professional fireplace fitters.

Is their somewhere in Australia that might specialize in these products other then the normal fireplace companies like Jetmaster etc.

[ian]

go the whole hog and get a proper fire box

with a glass front — assuming you can source the correct sort of glass and mount it so that you can open it to add timber and air still gets to the fire — most of the heat will still be going to go up the chimney


ian

[Border boy]

I can recommend Nectre inbuilt fireplaces, built in Oz to handle hot burning Ozzie firewood. Maybe not the look you're after but very efficient - pumps heat into a room rather than up the chimney. Simple to DIY install
Man I've just noticed where you live, does it get cold enough up there to warrant a wood fire?
Cheers.

[STAR]

Border Boy.

I live in the hinterland. The Green behind the Gold. Yes it does get cold here. At least for us in the Sunshine State. normally, we would only need the fireplace on between May and August.

And during that time, only for about five days at a time then a few days break and then for another three days or so. Normally, the excessive loss of heat up the chimney does not worry me as we like the look of an open fireplace as our house has been built with a brick colonial, federation, Victorian theme about it.

As I live on a small acreage, generally the pruning of the trees and what i can easily scavenge from my suburban friends will get me by quite well, but this will not happen forever so I have been looking into improving the fireplace efficiency.

[STAR]

Border,

I just googled that fireplace you mentioned. because you are in Albury I thought it would be a Victorian location.

I could not believe that they have a distributor at Maleny which is on the hills on the Sunshine Coast. I will follow them up after I have a good look at their site. The Maleny Wood festival is on early next month so it might be a good excuse to go there and ( kill two stones with one bird ):D


Maleny is only about 20 kms from Monteville which is an upmarket art and craft centre on the Sunshine Coast with Bed & breakfast accommodation and local wineries nearby. It is the sort of place that is not difficult to get my wife and daughters to come to as Long as it is my shout.

[STAR]

Have had a quick look at the site. It appears they can only convert a wood fireplace to gas.

We want to use wood, but improve the efficiency.

[Bloss]

There a a number of companies offering conversions to slow combustion wood form open fireplaces.

I have seen some done using these http://www.jetmaster.com.au/page/jetmaster_open_fireplaces_wood_or_gas.html

and there are others. A cheaper and effective alternative is to have a steam-pipe air moving open fireplace bed made up. These used to be available, but I haven't seen one for a long time. Very effective.

They comprise a series of curved/ bent and welded 50mm-65mm diameter steam pipes that form a base, back and top of the fire bed. They sit in the existing opening. The fire is set on a heavy mesh grid on the bottom and as the pipes heat up room air is drawn to the fire - as it does normally. In this case a good proportion is also drawn through the pipes and is so directed back out into the room.

Same principle as described for the fireplaces at the above site, but simpler and once constructed simply sits in place and can be removed for cleaning etc (although can be quite heavy). I used to have some pictures of a couple of examples, but no longer.

Anyway - there are plenty of options for inefficient wood to efficient wood fireplace conversions.

[Border boy]

Hi again Star,
If you check out the Nectre website http://www.nectre.com/index.php?page=nectre-inbuilt - I like these units because they are manufactured using thicker steel compared to most of the others.
Cheers.