This is our standard glass door system (Depth and opening height 19" or shorter ), with our off/on/ fan speed control, which in this design allows you to set the fan assembly aside (uncouple from the internal tubes) and close the glass doors if desired when there is no fire or hot ash to contend with. It is designed to use your existing glass doors; we do not sell glass doors for fireplaces, only heat recovery systems for them.
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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; if not, ask for it!
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 was: 100 X 130 X 12000 /6400 = 24,375 BTU/hr!
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 light bulb, 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: http://fireplacerecoverysystem.wordpress.com/ and go to the assembly link.
Please do not buy our Hotbox II-W system just yet, and contact us if:
* 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. A zero drop fireplace means that the fireplace "floor" and "Bench" are at the same height. Please see the last photo in the gallery for further reference. We do sell a system for zero drop fireplaces, so send me a note if you are interested in one.
*If you do not have a smoke shield and sliding mesh fire screen you can use. We can direct you to sites to correct that, which helps eliminate smoke issues!
Please take the time to read what I have to say about inserts and closed glass door systems at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/An-Explanation-of-an-Alternative-to-a-Fireplace-Insert-for-your-consideration-/231246349405?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35d75b445d
If you contact us for help we will help you modernize your fireplace to include a smoke shield (and mesh screen if you'd like) very inexpensively if you do not have them, so you can safely use your fireplace at night while asleep.
If you do not have, and choose not to add a smoke shield, then the top tubes will sit freely (not firmly attached to the smoke shield) in your fireplace.
If you are interested in a system for your fireplace please follow these instructions before buying:
1. Send us a picture or two of your fireplace and surround, including the bench area
2. Take measurements of the depth and height of your fireplace opening per the pictures in the gallery above
3. If the floor of your fireplace is not flat please tell us that, and take a picture of what your floor looks like
4. If your back wall of the fireplace is not vertical (meaning it tilts in as it rises) tell us that, as it will change the depth measurement
Thank you for looking!
Hank