DerRoman
2017-09-19 14:00:17
- #1
Hello dear home builders and renovators,
My wife and I bought a house built in 1978 in the winter of 2016. Now, last winter we did a lot of remodeling, so the fireplace, which is located in the living room in the basement, was never lit.
We now live in the valley of gloomy weather and the smell of burnt wood drifts from the neighborhood - and of course, we would also like to use the fireplace.
However, since I have only ever rented up to now and always lived in apartments without a fireplace, I have to familiarize myself a bit with the subject.
I know: A fire needs a lot of oxygen and the combustion should be as complete as possible so that no harmful gases are produced.
I bought a CO detector and after some research lit a small fire.
The whole thing worked quite well, the flame burned strongly yellow, later blue, the wood burnt completely and in the end only ashes remained, which fell through the grate into the ash pan.
So far, so good. But I have noticed that adjusting the air supply doesn’t seem to make any difference at all. There are 3 "levers" on the fireplace. One obviously opens the flue to the outside; this lever is inside the firebox. Two other adjustment options are located under the fireplace. One apparently opens room air, the other air from "below". To explain: In the basement, directly under the fireplace, there are 2 holes: One seems to let ashes fall (there is a metal collection tray here), the other seems to suck in air (a simple hole in the ceiling, apparently also leads directly to the fireplace).
On both sides of the fireplace there are recesses in the casing. Air is obviously supplied here.
For me, the following is now clear: Left lever: air from "below." Right lever: room air.
Now I have the following problem: I have no idea in which position the levers are "open" or "closed." Is it like with water valves? Turning to the left: open - turning to the right: closed?
No matter how I set the levers: the flame always burns the same and no more or less smoke is produced.
The second problem: The fireplace burns quite wonderfully, but it hardly generates any heat. True, I only filled it with two appropriately sized logs, but heat development was only noticeable directly in front of the fireplace. The flame burned strongly, but the fireplace was far from warming the living room by a few degrees.
Unfortunately, I can no longer contact the fireplace manufacturer as they no longer exist.
Maybe you can give me some advice. The chimney sweep is not coming until November and I plan to ask him as well.
My wife and I bought a house built in 1978 in the winter of 2016. Now, last winter we did a lot of remodeling, so the fireplace, which is located in the living room in the basement, was never lit.
We now live in the valley of gloomy weather and the smell of burnt wood drifts from the neighborhood - and of course, we would also like to use the fireplace.
However, since I have only ever rented up to now and always lived in apartments without a fireplace, I have to familiarize myself a bit with the subject.
I know: A fire needs a lot of oxygen and the combustion should be as complete as possible so that no harmful gases are produced.
I bought a CO detector and after some research lit a small fire.
The whole thing worked quite well, the flame burned strongly yellow, later blue, the wood burnt completely and in the end only ashes remained, which fell through the grate into the ash pan.
So far, so good. But I have noticed that adjusting the air supply doesn’t seem to make any difference at all. There are 3 "levers" on the fireplace. One obviously opens the flue to the outside; this lever is inside the firebox. Two other adjustment options are located under the fireplace. One apparently opens room air, the other air from "below". To explain: In the basement, directly under the fireplace, there are 2 holes: One seems to let ashes fall (there is a metal collection tray here), the other seems to suck in air (a simple hole in the ceiling, apparently also leads directly to the fireplace).
On both sides of the fireplace there are recesses in the casing. Air is obviously supplied here.
For me, the following is now clear: Left lever: air from "below." Right lever: room air.
Now I have the following problem: I have no idea in which position the levers are "open" or "closed." Is it like with water valves? Turning to the left: open - turning to the right: closed?
No matter how I set the levers: the flame always burns the same and no more or less smoke is produced.
The second problem: The fireplace burns quite wonderfully, but it hardly generates any heat. True, I only filled it with two appropriately sized logs, but heat development was only noticeable directly in front of the fireplace. The flame burned strongly, but the fireplace was far from warming the living room by a few degrees.
Unfortunately, I can no longer contact the fireplace manufacturer as they no longer exist.
Maybe you can give me some advice. The chimney sweep is not coming until November and I plan to ask him as well.