How do we use our fireplace with cast iron insert?
We live in a circa 1900 bldg with original fireplace/mantel. Anyone else have a cast iron fireplace insert (?) like the one shown here? Logistically, how do you use it? The rectangular piece in the center lifts out. Presumably we would need to leave the center piece out when burning a fire in order to…
We live in a circa 1900 bldg with original fireplace/mantel. Anyone else have a cast iron fireplace insert (?) like the one shown here? Logistically, how do you use it? The rectangular piece in the center lifts out. Presumably we would need to leave the center piece out when burning a fire in order to be able to add wood, so we figure we need a screen when the fireplace is in use. Do you use a screen? If so, where do you keep the screen when you are not using the fireplace?
If all you see are bricks, it’s almost certainly not lined (there are exceptions to this statement, but they’re very rare). When a chimney is lined you will see either sections of terra cotta pipe, usually three or four feet long stacked on top of each other, usually either a square or rectangle with rounded corners or you will see cement, either smoothed over the bricks in a uniform coating or what’s obviously been poured in place with a space in the middle where a form went, usually round, that was removed after the cement or concrete was poured. If it’s been done more recently, you may see a metal pipe that sort of looks like a dryer vent hose on steroids.
Hi, this might be a bit of a stupid question, but how can you tell if your chimney is lined or not? We have a bricked in fireplace that I would love to have opened up and looking down the chimney from the roof all I can see are the bricks on the four sides of the chimney.
Of course, I would definitely get a professional in to do the job, but just wondered if there was an easy way to tell if it is already lined or not.
Advice much appreciated.
Thanks!
I don’t have the front with the round hole, mine are fancy grills and they tilt out and are removed to use the fireplace. My fireplaces are rebuilt to be woodburning (firebrick, damper, terracotta lined to the roof) and they will burn wood but are so shallow that the fires must be very small, tended constantly and have a fp screen. After testing each fp, I now use only Duraflame logs in a cradle(other brands make more residue) which burn in a very controlled way and in over 20 years I have never needed a screen. They don’t pop and in a cradle, they don’t shift.
Stonergut and Bond have it right. Back in the day (you know, when your house was built) coal and/or woodburning stoves had their flues exit through the roundel, while the stoves actually sat forward of the chimney. Often these stoves were removed during summer for cleaning. Certainly the stovepipes/flues were disassembled for cleaning. The chimneys were cleaned by chimney sweeps. Decorative flue covers were often placed over the openings on the summerfront. A&A and Big Apple Chimney are reliable and knowledgeable. Call them in before using this fireplace, and be sure to get bids from both.
how do you know it is a wood burning fireplace? i recently learned myself that most in this area at turn of the century were gas or non-wood.
in a previous house of mine which had a “WBFP” – converted from something but unclear what – the flue was rather narrow but newly relined w/ fan – and so much smoke came into the house it was beyond ridiculous, even with fake low-smoke logs. in fact, the mantle developed pretty evident smoke damage. could have been a ventilation issue with the house being too tight, but the flue was quite narrow.
my advice is to start with very very small logs.
We have the same round thing in one of ours. Manny the fireplace expert said he thought maybe it was forced air. I thought that was a little surprising. But I would also be surprised if it were for a coal stove. Why add a coal stove to an existing fireplace that has a proper mantle and was itself most likely a coal fireplace in the first place. Doesn’t make any sense.
My theory (about ours) is the guys went down the street to get a replacement cover around 1900 and this is what they had for sale, so they installed it. In other words, it wasn’t for anything and they weren’t using the fireplace any more.
+1 get an expert to look at this. Many if not most of these “fire places” were not ever meant to be used as fire places. Get an expert out there to look at it and give you more info.
The flue has been relined and a fan installed. Agree that depth could be a problem. Is there a fire code re: depth? Any recommendations re: screen and logistics? Tks.
Summerfronts don’t have the hole.
That’s an opening for a flue pipe and if it’s original, your fireplace probably isn’t deep enough for a woodburning fire.