fireplace heat recovery systems

I have spent well over 10 years listening to salespeople say (and in writings no less) that wood fireplaces are no good, and should be replaced with expensive inserts, electric or gas units.

Truly the words of an unknowledgeable person, who thinks they know what they are talking about. Just ask them what data do they have to show that to be true in a fireplace system where proper use and heat recovery is being used, and you get a blank stare back!

Let’s get one thing clear right up front: Wood fireplaces can be made to generate inexpensive heat with good efficiency if updated using modern inexpensive equipment, and the owner is made aware of how to set up and use their fireplace to accomplish that goal. This is based on years of DATA, not hearsay, or the writings of the uneducated.

We are in the business of making fireplaces more efficient, and to use less wood to make more heat, all in hopes of helping you save money, and to save our forests for future generations to come.

You can participate in this goal… we strive to educate fireplace owners, whether they buy from us or not.

Need help? We will send you what we teach our Heat Recovery System buyers if you contact us for that information, and send us a picture or two of your fireplace and surround.

My Regards,

Hank

Now in our 3rd year of production. Thank you Purchasers!

This is info on our standard wood burning fireplace heat recovery system (19″ cube or less in size), with an off / on variable speed fan control added

Would you like to cut down on your use of wood taken from our forests? Fireplace too small to heat the room? Cost to heat getting expensive? This fireplace heat recovery system will help you and our forests ……

by recapturing lost “out the stack” heat, recapturing approximately 35% of the heat that is normally lost up the fireplace chimney. A vast improvement over a regular fireplace, the system adds 24,000 BTU /hr (see actual calculations below) for each 60,000 BTU /hr generated by the fire. If you spend $600 a year on wood your payback for this system is less than two years, and the wood carrying and cleaning chores also become easier for the same amount of heat produced. This is no toy; read what my customers say by looking at my actual feedback. To do that you just click on my name, and look at “buyers feedback”. Note that it is 100% positive ….. and I intend it to stay that way. If you aren’t completely satisfied with this system you can return it no questions asked; please see my return policy above!

This is not a car muffler or iron pipe set. There are 7 aluminum heat exchanger tubes in this system, the material of choice when it comes to the ultimate heat exchanging efficiency. If you believe that a steel tube set makes a good heat exchanger, then you should consider they don’t make a steel car radiator; they are aluminum. All the aluminum tubes are adjustable in length by cutting them to any length 19″ or shorter using a tubing cutter. Longer lengths of tubing can be purchased, adding $21.00 for a 24″ set (7 tubes per set).

The BTU per hour out of a fireplace heat exchanger is simple to calculate:

Heat exchanger BTU output is: heat recovery unit CFM X heat recovery unit tube air temperature RISE/6400 X 12000 BTU/Hr

Look for specific air flow and tube air temperature rise; both should be stated.

This unit flows air at 100 CFM, with an air temperature rise of 130F (real life example: 70 degree air into the fan housing from the room, and 200F air coming out of the tubes). This unit performance is: 100 X 130 X 12000 /6400 = 24,375 BTU/hr. That’s over 2 tons of additional heat per hour from a 3 log fire.

The bottom ash plate is made of 20 gauge stainless steel to handle the hot ash temperatures produced by the log ash ( aluminum tubes would melt in the heat produced by hot logs / ash if in direct contact with the tubes). The ash plate is 17″ wide. The grate is usually wide enough to straddle the ash plate in front. Ash that accumulates on the plate is easily cleaned away. The plate does not require removal to clean the ash off, but the grate has to be removed as usual for cleaning.

A 100 CFM fan is necessary to provide adequate, efficient and gentle heat removal. The fan in this design draws less than a 25 watt lightbulb, and can run continuously after the fire goes out without causing heat loss, as it draws air into the fan from the room, and then puts it back into the room, pulling heat from the fire and ash till it has all extinguished. The air exiting the heat exchanger tubes is about 200f when the fire is burning, producing a gentle horizontal column of warm air flow you will feel when standing in front of the fireplace. Note that blowing any harder only drops the air temperature, does not add heat energy (the air temperature rise in the heat exchanger drops way off), and the noise level of a big blower is an issue when compared to a fan, not to mention the looks.

The air box where the fan is located is a 20 gauge satin finished stainless steel to prevent rusting. The face is painted black to match fireplace surrounds. The air box stainless areas offer good reflectivity of heat away from the fan housing, reflects heat into the room, and minimizes the heat conducting into that section of the system. The fan must run once a fire is burning or hot ash is present, as the heat from the logs / ash could damage the fan if it cannot disperse the heat away from the enclosure and into the room.

This system never requires soot cleaning, and in fact as the tubes darken from the soot in the fires (about 5 fires) the system will actually improve in heat recovery performance. The top tubes that bring the hot air out into the room end behind the fireplace curtain / damper arm so that the curtain can close and the damper arm is free to move past the tubes.

The system comes with tube assembly instructions including simple assembly pictures on a CD, all parts, and a 1 year parts warranty.

To see the assembly pictures click this link: https://fireplacerecoverysystem.wordpress.com/ and go to the assembly link.

Please contact us if you would like a system at hanjan2@bellsouth.net, and attach an overall picture of your fireplace so we can see which fireplace you are looking to improve.

Please do not buy our Hotbox II-W system just yet if:

1) your fireplace is a zero bench drop fireplace. There must be at least 4.5 inches of height from the bench or floor up to the fireplace floor to buy the above system.

A zero drop fireplace means that the fireplace “floor” and “Bench” are at the same height. We do sell a system for zero drop fireplaces! Please send me an email at hanjan2@bellsouth.net for info on our zero drop systems, along with a picture of your fireplace.

2) If you have glass doors. We do sell systems for glass door fireplaces! Please send me an email at hanjan2@bellsouth.net for info on our glass door systems, along with a picture of your fireplace.

Thanks for looking at the fireplace heat recovery systems we offer!

Hank