What's the Best Way to Replace a Fireplace With a Stove?

I currently have a wood burning fireplace insert in my finished basement family room, and I would like to replace it with a hand fired coal stove. What method(s) and options will work for this sort of conversion with regard to tying the stove into a chimney that once housed a fireplace? The chimney is on an outside wall of our home, and it is tile lined.

the is a previous post that might help " removing pre-fab for hand fed coal stove", being a tile lined chimney an insert may be best, I think a hitzer 50-93.

Larry, what size is the flue liner? Does it draft well?

How about some pictures!?

My father took a large piece of asbestos / cement board back in the 70's, cut a 6" hole in it for the pipe, lined it with rope gasket, and bolted it to the brick mantle. We burned wood with that setup for 30 years. When he switched to coal, he made the mistake of getting the town inspector involved. That cost him several hundred dollars in materials that this clown wanted in place in order to pass.

He's got the same setup, minus the asbestos board (some type of fire proof board in it's place) ... but the guy made him run stainless behind the fireboard, AND made him seal off the built-in chimney damper completely, and run the SS pipe through that. A recipe for hard-to-repair pipe corrosion if you ask me.

What he had worked for 30 years with wood .... but get the state involved and they'll screw your whole setup up! Inspectors have ZERO knowledge of coal use. I'll bet that pipe is perforated right now .... but I digress.

I would prefer the method that provides the easiest servicing of stove, smoke pipe, and chimney. Except for the chimney that would be to cut a new hole above the smoke shelf and install a thimble there. Depending on how you seal the damper area a brush can be slid up from below. Much easier than climbing on the roof and no wrestling a 3 or 4 hundred pound stove out of the way.

Better natural convection with a free standing stove rather than one slid partially into the fireplace opening which needs a blower to be effective. Even if you elect to go through the damper area a free standing stove is the better option. The free standing stove also will give a wider choice of stoves.

SMITTY wrote:My father took a large piece of asbestos / cement board back in the 70's, cut a 6" hole in it for the pipe, lined it with rope gasket, and bolted it to the brick mantle. We burned wood with that setup for 30 years. When he switched to coal, he made the mistake of getting the town inspector involved. That cost him several hundred dollars in materials that this clown wanted in place in order to pass.

.....did the simular thing last yr. and it worked the balls. I was going to tile the cement board, glad I didn't it was too hot in livingroom so stove was easily moved to basement.

sealed off "throat" area with insulation......
works great!

Here is what I'm working with from the inside and the outside. What you are seeing inside is below ground level from this view, and in our walk-out basement.

On my first conversion, I had a nice piece of heavy steel that covered the opening using rope gasket in the back and bolting to the frame which held closing glass doors which were removed. I also removed the damper. This setup burned wood for 15 years. Then I went back to open fireplace for a few years. When I went to coal, I shaped some sheet metal to cover the damper opening. Last year I replaced the metal with fiberglass insulation, works much better and is easier.

Hi lsayre
Maybe I'm missing something here but why reinvent the wheel. I have a Hitzer 503 insert and I think that would serve you well in your set up. True for max efficiency you need to use the blowers but it would allow for an attractive and safe installation.
Just my 2 cents
Gian4

Gian4 wrote:Hi lsayre
Maybe I'm missing something here but why reinvent the wheel. I have a Hitzer 503 insert and I think that would serve you well in your set up. True for max efficiency you need to use the blowers but it would allow for an attractive and safe installation.
Just my 2 cents
Gian4

I thought of it, but the whole idea is to have a stove that requires no electricity. Would a coal fired stove insert need a blower just as for my wood stove insert?

Lsayre,
I have been running a Hitzer 503 insert after removing a previous Quadrafire wood burning insert. The Hitzer works great and heats our entire home, but does definitely require the blower on a routine basis to move heat out of the stove, which is the whole point. Pushing the stove hard in cold weather and then losing power can let the stove temp drift up too high. Good to have a backup power supply, including possibly one that kicks in automatically if you are not home when power is lost. Tripp Lite makes a good one--search for thread on that topic if interested. Freestanding stove avoids some of these issues, but pros and cons with each stove option. Good luck!

I agree with beeman. In a pinch you can run without the blowers, the stove is just less efficient that way. Never over fired mine in non blower mode but I think you would have to watch temp. more carefully.
Gian4

franco b wrote:I would prefer the method that provides the easiest servicing of stove, smoke pipe, and chimney. Except for the chimney that would be to cut a new hole above the smoke shelf and install a thimble there. Depending on how you seal the damper area a brush can be slid up from below. Much easier than climbing on the roof and no wrestling a 3 or 4 hundred pound stove out of the way.

Better natural convection with a free standing stove rather than one slid partially into the fireplace opening which needs a blower to be effective. Even if you elect to go through the damper area a free standing stove is the better option. The free standing stove also will give a wider choice of stoves.

I agree with this approach Larry. You get what you want, a stove that will heat your home well in a blackout, and you have lots of choices for the style of stove.

This is my Hearthmate wood/coal combo sits infront of the fireplace has block off plate was a craigslist find some time ago . heats my raised ranch no problem. Between this and the 5 tons of coal I found on craigslist I feel pretty lucky