Woodburner advice

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Personally I think the bigger the opening the better off you are with heat coming in to the room, I'd go as far as saying if it's feasible simply remove the chimney breast.

I understand the idea of the chimney breast acting as a thermal store but the fire goes out, you go to bed, what's the point of heat slowly releasing into the living room? 

I would have the inside of opening a light colour to reflect heat as well rather than the current black (although I'm not sure if that makes any real difference). 

As as side note a stove top fan is a good idea IMO, we have 3 stoves and 2 fans so juggle about a bit and there does seem to be more heat in the room with the fan going. 

stuart45

Were you thinking about leaving the stone surround as it.is, knocking out the boards and some brickwork of the original chimney jambs away?

RomfordNavy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Personally I think the bigger the opening the better off you are with heat coming in to the room, I'd go as far as saying if it's feasible simply remove the chimney breast.

I understand the idea of the chimney breast acting as a thermal store but the fire goes out, you go to bed, what's the point of heat slowly releasing into the living room? 

I would have the inside of opening a light colour to reflect heat as well rather than the current black (although I'm not sure if that makes any real difference). 

As as side note a stove top fan is a good idea IMO, we have 3 stoves and 2 fans so juggle about a bit and there does seem to be more heat in the room with the fan going. 

Don't really want to remove the whole chimney breast, it is in the center of the house so removing would be a substantial undertaking.  Was hoping to keep that York-stone fireplace but just knock out a bit of the internal fireplace to provide more air flow around the wood burner.

Allowing the whole chimney breast to warm is not such a bad idea in this situation as that will also warm the rooms behind the chmney.

Undortunately I can't see there is going to be any room for a stove-top fan.

FreeBear

If you were to remove that stone surround, you could probably make the opening much bigger - If it is anything like my fireplace, there are two walls either side about 215mm thick and the opening around 1m high. Copious quantities of rubble filling the void

I'd suggest drilling a hole through the cement board and having a look to see what is behind. A word of caution - That cement board might contain asbestos, so ideally you want to get it tested before doing any drilling. In the absence of testing, wear appropriate PPE and clean up afterwards.

RomfordNavy

stuart45 said:

Were you thinking about leaving the stone surround as it.is, knocking out the boards and some brickwork of the original chimney jambs away?

Yep, keep stone surround just knock out some of the bricks inside the fireplace to provide greater airspace arounf the woodburner.

RomfordNavy

FreeBear said:

If you were to remove that stone surround, you could probably make the opening much bigger - If it is anything like my fireplace, there are two walls either side about 215mm thick and the opening around 1m high. Copious quantities of rubble filling the void

I'd suggest drilling a hole through the cement board and having a look to see what is behind. A word of caution - That cement board might contain asbestos, so ideally you want to get it tested before doing any drilling. In the absence of testing, wear appropriate PPE and clean up afterwards.

Interesting suggestion.  Have been poking about through the gap at the front of the top blanking-stone and it appears that there is about 12" free space either size and about the same above.  Depth is probably limited as the back of the fireplace is only 11" away drom the face of the wall in the room behind.

Wanted to keep the York stone fireplace as not only do I quite like it but it has some centimental value, however might have to reconsider that.  Perhaps best thing is to knock out the board and bricks around the inside and see what I am left with.

stuart45

You'll probably find that the masonry behind the boards is the infill that was inbetween the jambs and the fireback. This can usually be easily removed.

RomfordNavy

Just to add more complication I have been reading about stoves which have this Active Baffle Plate which opens as the door is opened to prevent smoke coming out into the room.  Are these any good or it is just a bit of spin and perhaps very little smoke escapes when the door is open anyway?

FreeBear

RomfordNavy said:

Just to add more complication I have been reading about stoves which have this Active Baffle Plate which opens as the door is opened to prevent smoke coming out into the room.  Are these any good or it is just a bit of spin and perhaps very little smoke escapes when the door is open anyway?

Depends on how quickly you open the door, and if the wood is smoking.

With my stove, if it isn't up to temperature and you open the door too quickly, there is a chance of getting a face full of smoke. With a hot bed of "coals", open the door slowly, and very little smoke escapes.

Grenage

RomfordNavy said:

Just to add more complication I have been reading about stoves which have this Active Baddle Plate which opens as the door is opened to prevent smoke coming out into the room.  Are these any good or it is just a bit of spin and perhaps very little smoke escapes when the door is open anyway?

As Freebear mentions, it really isn't necessary.  The door should only really be opened when it's mainly embers, so no smoke.