r/Fireplaces

We have lived in our 25 year old house for approx 10 months now and it's starting to get cold again, we haven't used our insert wood heater in around 7 months and in that time I've replaced the door rope, glass retaining frame and sealed the glass up with new tape Ive also replaced the baffle plate as the old one was a bit worse for wear. The fire has never burned longer, hotter and more efficient (we are burning dry seasoned Redgum here in Victoria Australia) and in the morning after an overnight burn there is still a nice bed of hot coals.

One issue, it's not heating our room. Even with the convention fan off and running it feels like the fire is pulling more cold air into the room and creating a craft than it is radiating the heat. It's night and day to last year even though the fire is burning hotter than ever. Our house is on stumps so unsure if it's settled and moved and creating drafts around the place, there are no cracks in plaster and huge gaps around doors etc

I've also checked the firebox surround to ensure its enclosed and not losing heat up the brick chimney stack. There is a single skin stainless flue up to a complete sealed chimney crown

Does anyone have anything they would like to input?

Attached are the photos of the replacement parts which are as per manufacturers specs

Hi guys, I'm hoping to get some advice on this...

We are renovating our 1920s house and have just stripped the living room, we want to restore the fireplace to be bare brick. After knocking off all the old plaster and taking out a load of infill blocks above we were left with this big ugly concrete beam... Now I know it's there for a reason but can I replace it for a smaller/slimmer one to support the 'behind' course of bricks and then just have 2(ISH) courses of bricks in front for show? I hope this makes sense, hopefully the pictures will explain it better😂😂

Hey r/Fireplaces, got a b30NTR here that I'm self-diagnosing as the home-owner. Can get the pilot light on, but when I turn it to ON from PILOT, only the pilot light stays on. I need your help to sort out how intense of a fix this might be.

The photos show the fireplace itself, the light switch (with the light brown cable) that traces down into the housing underneath the fireplace. You can't tell in the photo too clearly but it is the same wire.

When I flick the light switch, I can hear a mechanical click happening in the fireplace so something is working properly there. I listed out the voltage readings, pink text represents if the light switch is ON or OFF position (or rather, this is the educated guess, it's technically possible the builder installed in backwards lol).

Any thoughts on this? I feel comfortable DIY-ing electrical, or simple part replacements. If it's gas / valve related I'll probably hire a pro.

Sorry for the baby noise in the background lol

Taken all of our downstairs walls back to brick, built a new floor and set a concrete base on the fireplace. We’ve been using it as an open fire over the winter but now want to put a log burner in. I’ve been holding off from plastering the chimney breast whilst we decide on a design for the fireplace… I’m not a lover of the modern floating oak beam mantle look (a bit too Etsy for my personal taste) and my wife doesn’t like the old style formal wooden surrounds. I’ve seen some nice limestone looking ones but they are quite pricey! It’s an old house (1890s) so would like to give it some character if we can.

Fireplace opening is c. 78cm across and brick walls either side are c.28cm each

Any ideas would be very much appreciated thank you 👍

I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa.

And looking for ways to improve the heat distribution from my fireplace.

Feels like most of the heat goes up the chimney.

You can feel a difference between rooms.

Like is the gate too tall?

I saw fans, but concerned that it will blow smoke into the house.

Do you think the built in bookshelf on the left would be too close? Wanting a wood burning insert.

We have lived in our 25 year old house for approx 10 months now and it's starting to get cold again, we haven't used our insert wood heater in around 7 months and in that time I've replaced the door rope, glass retaining frame and sealed the glass up with new tape Ive also replaced the baffle plate as the old one was a bit worse for wear. The fire has never burned longer, hotter and more efficient (we are burning dry seasoned Redgum here in Victoria Australia) and in the morning after an overnight burn there is still a nice bed of hot coals.

One issue, it's not heating our room. Even with the convention fan off and running it feels like the fire is pulling more cold air into the room and creating a craft than it is radiating the heat. It's night and day to last year even though the fire is burning hotter than ever. Our house is on stumps so unsure if it's settled and moved and creating drafts around the place, there are no cracks in plaster and huge gaps around doors etc

Does anyone have anything they would like to input?

I know there’s a lot to read through but can someone tell me if what is being said is legitimate or not? We spent a lot of money to fix our chimney and fireplace and make it functional and after only a handful of burns we noticed a smoke smell in our upstairs. We had them come out to inspect it (after several failed communication attempts) and they’re saying there is creosote build up as if we burned 2-3 cords of wood and loose joints. I even had one of the guys test the wood we use with my tester to prove the wood was dried enough and that we weren’t burning wet wood. I’ve included copies of the work we paid to have done and then texts of what the owner of the company is saying. They think it’s a draft issue but my question is how did a draft issue that severe go unnoticed until we burned a few times and how did this much damage happen? When they attempted to apply the heat shield it took them many attempts. I don’t have photographic proof of what the work looked like when they were finished. We feel very frustrated and like we are out a lot of money. He is saying because we didn’t do a yearly inspection on time essentially one year exact to the date it’s not really his problem. We contacted him 3 months from the one year mark. We rarely used the fireplace maybe a handful of times because it was more for an aesthetic and not a functional use. It pulls heat out of the rooms and makes it colder so we only use it for a cozy night in here or there. But apparently this much damage and creosote has happened after only a few burns and he’s making it sound like we didn’t draft the fire properly or some other reason it’s our fault. If someone with knowledge could let me know if this is all legit or not I’d appreciate it. How after spending $13,000 did $5,000 worth of damage happen after a handful of fires? Also, when they were doing the work they hit our house with their truck and damaged the roof and gutters which they fixed. We could have made a big deal out of it but didn’t. Also, when I tried scheduling the inspection after we smelled the smoke he ignored my attempts for almost 3 weeks. He then scheduled an appointment for a Wednesday and when that day came and went and we sent a text questioning his integrity he said he was on a job with no service. We felt like he was evading us. So all of this together just feels like our level of trust is waning. He’s basically comparing this to mechanic work and saying it’s not his problem and making us out to be Karen’s. Please let me know if what he is saying is legit or not.

I have a 40yo zero clearance wood burning fireplace. The seal on the damper has deteriorated and bugs keep getting in. I'm trying to figure out if I can replace the damper, the seal, or if there's something else I can do here.

Flue is round and about 7" - 7.5" in diameter. Damper opens and closes by simply turning a knob on the front. The specific manufacturer and model number are unknown as the original manufacturer tag has been removed and the association has no record of it.

I made a short post back in the Fall looking for advice on paint/powder coating for a Malm Firedrum 3 restoration. There were for sure some helpful people on here, but I wasn’t totally satisfied with any of the answers I could find online about how each brand of paint held up, and how well it would lay, and if it would cure right on the malm porcelain coating. I wanted to put this out here for anyone in a similar circumstance as me.

We could not powder coat the unit for economic reasons, which would have been ideal, but I did find a stove paint that worked extremely well, held up really nicely to daily use, even the occasional over-firing, and if I have to refinish it every few years, which is often the case with stove paint I am still very satisfied with the result.

I picked this unit up in New Orleans, and it had accumulated a good amount of rust, as well as damage to the original refractory.

For the prep I spent approximately 40 working hours tediously removing rust with a wide set of wire brushes, grinder brushes, rust removal pads, steel wool, extremely cautious and sparing amounts of acid (quickly neutralized), and kept all the pieces in a dry place so that rust wouldn’t reform. I did leave the original porcelain finish intact. After I was satisfied with how clean everything was, I did two carefully applied coats of Thurmalox stove paint, sanding the first one after drying, and following the application directions on the cans. I wanted the fireplace to stay matte, so I didn’t end up using their clear coat. The paint off-gassed for about four firings. The first two being just long enough to heat the whole unit up. YOU NEED TO OPEN DOORS AND WINDOWS DURING THIS PROCESS.

On the refractory, Malm does sell replacement refractory pieces. They are outrageously expensive, but if you have it in the budget it’s for sure the way to go. I did not, but I plan to save for them. In the meantime in order to replace the missing refractory panels I used firebrick and refractory mortar. I cut the brick to the shape of the dome/semicircle with an angle grinder using existing refractory as a sort-of template. I assembled the refractory I did have, and then filled the gaps with layered firebrick and refractory mortar. Once the mortar cured, I cleaned it up with an angle grinder, and fit the metal body of the unit onto the finished refractory dome.

For the chimney I had to reduce the pipe down from the original 10”, to 8” to fit the Class A chimney I had available locally, but I have had no problems with draft. I get perfect draft from the time I light the match.

As I said before the paint has held up perfectly. We regularly kept the fire going for days on end, and I haven’t had any discoloration, or inconsistencies in the finish. I was warned that these units are largely decorative, and don’t heat efficiently. In our case that is wrong. This thing CRANKS heat out, and looks cute af while doing it. The amount of thermal mass it has is ridiculous, and it stays hot for hours after the fire has gone out.

And yes, I understand these units are not up to code by and large. If it ever becomes a concern I can swap it with a modern stove.

This group was very helpful during this process— I hope my experience can be useful to someone.

Dogspeed to you all

Just bought a house and it has this beautiful tiled mantelpiece with an electric heater in it which is just lousy

I was thinking because of this half built brick extrusion on the side of the house that it may have been an old fireplace?

Can I get an opinion?

If so im planning on restoring it to its former glory.

With the half chimney, rather than rebuilding it i would install a metal over with a flue and run it straight up?

Hello, I have a fire place that obviously leaks a ton of air into the house. These photos are from last year, I removed the cap to access the inside with the attempt to plug it for the winter. Photo 3 of the inner insert can be pulled out, I made a foam plug and put the insert back in. There is an air gap around the chimney inner pipe that I did not seal, think that air gap around the inner pipe allows cold air into the fire place as it is still leaking with the plug installed. I had a fire place company stopped by last fall and quoted a top mount damper, but I believe he said that would seal the air gap space? Does that make sense? Also if this is DYI-able what would I need, literally open to all suggestions and would like this to be a functional chimney.

Looking for design ideas for a renovation Im doing on a property I just purchased. The wall this fireplace sits on is not symmetrical as you can see making it difficult. Looking for suggestions as to how I should design it. I was thinking of going with a Kozy heat Nordic 36 DV based on the size of what can fit in the wall.

First fire at the new house. 48” Isokern magnum full masonry fireplace. This was quite the project and a cornerstone of the home build. I think it turned out nice.

Most importantly, it has been cat approved.