Option for small fireplace

I'm trying to figure out a solution for what I believe to be an awkwardly sized fireplace that is in my home. I've been trying to put in as much research as I can but just can't seem to come up with a great option. I have an existing fireplace in my home that has a set of old doors on it and is about as efficient as using the $$ itself to burn in it. It's pretty much for Christmas Eve/Anniversary fires for some ambiance.

I'd like to upgrade it with something that will burn coal and thereby wood if I need it. I have a stoker but I'd like a hand fired for power outages and something that burns wood so I can always self-reliantly feed it for warmth if needed.

However, I'm starting to learn that the original builder of the fireplace didn't really give thought to an insert. I have AT MAX 22" height for the opening when the doors are taken off and that just seems to be too short for most inserts being 24-26 inches tall. AND, it also seems a bit low to put a freestanding hand fired stove in front of the opening on the hearth and vent through the existing fireplace. Most rear vents I'm seeing still have flues that exit higher than 22" from feet to vent. I could gain about 6" by dropping in front of the hearth where I would of course extend the non-combustible surface but I'm trying to keep from sticking too far out in the room. I could have someone drill a new thimble in up above the fireplace I guess but there again I would have to come out in the room more to meet clearances.

What options do I have? Does anybody else have this situation? What kind of stove or insert are you running? Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

You might have to modify the fireplace. You should have a stove guy look at it to see whats possible. Perhaps its not exactly a DIY project.

How bout some pix R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course Fred...should have done that from the start!!

Also not sure, thinking out loud....but I never gave it thought before....could I come up and drop my stove pipe first so I can make clearance (on a freestanding on the hearth) and then go up? It's a good solid masonry chimney with a clay liner. The liner is in 100% good condition, no issues. No issues for height or draft with the coal stoker attached to the adjacent flue in the same chimney. Just not sure what the effect that that three 90 degree turns would have.

It would work, but it's not best case scenario..

rocketjeremy wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 27, 2022 3:31 pm

Also not sure, thinking out loud....but I never gave it thought before....could I come up and drop my stove pipe first so I can make clearance (on a freestanding on the hearth) and then go up? It's a good solid masonry chimney with a clay liner. The liner is in 100% good condition, no issues. No issues for height or draft with the coal stoker attached to the adjacent flue in the same chimney. Just not sure what the effect that that three 90 degree turns would have.

You cannot have any part of your stove pipe going downhill if that what your asking.

Yes this is what I was thinking of....for most stoves it wouldn't be much of a drop....probably just over the distance of the elbow despite the image looking like a lower drop....just to illustrate....most times I look it's 2-3 inches short of what would be needed to go straight.

Coal maybe, but for wood I wouldnt want to try it.

You would want to extend your pipe up into the chimney flue and then pack fiberglass insulation around it to seal it to the chimney. This will give you the best chance for a good draft. It will work but it's not legit with codes. If you've ever syphoned gas out of a car you know that it has to go up the tube, defying gravity, before it can come down. Your proposed pipe arrangement would work the same in reverse.

What a great lookin hearth. It seems to be deep enuff for a free stander. Could you find a stove with a top exiting pipe, and put a 90° to the wall above. Maybe bore a hole thru the rock? (Just thinking out loud too.)

Joeq,

It is an idea I've considered....I do have the height and the setup to do that.....I'm just used to everything around the house being DIY and I'm not sure if I'm ready to start hammer drilling and hoping it doesn't all crumble apart. I didn't put the stone veneer on so I'm not sure what all I'll find if I start trying to open it up. My wife tells me to just pay someone and have things done but I usually resist. However, I guess it would give me the most options...

double post.
(give me a break, it's late)

joeq wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 27, 2022 10:01 pm

If the face is veneer, can you open the lintel a little higher, (to fit an insert) or does the firebox limit that?
(Once again, it is a beautiful setting)

Oops

Joeq,

I think I am limited by the lintel. As best as I can see there are steel cross pieces just behind the door surround that form the lintel even though the firebox itself is a bit higher in the back where the damper is. It is to that metal cross piece/lintel I am measuring when I say I only have a height of 22" to work with if I were to take the doors off and try and put in an insert or run a stovepipe in through the fireplace. I'm just speculating but I think I'd be more successful in tapping a thimble higher up than trying to cut out and raise the entire lintel. Again, this was all here when I bought the house but I'm imaging that the metal is fairly secured into all of the masonry.