Replacing an Insert fire

[Mac]

We have an Insert fire in our lounge.I think it is quite old-maybe 15+ years. It vents heat into 2 of our bedrooms -very effectively-and heats our lounge-less effective. It is built into an old larger fireplace and the old fire opening is filled with a nice brick surround. I have 2 questions.

1. Are modern inserts more efficient than the older ones,and how difficult are they to fit(wouldn't be doing it ourselves but get a local fire-fitter(?) to do it)

2.Would it be possible to remove the insert-open up the fireplace and put a new free standing fire in its place? And would that mean that we would loose the advantage of the heat going into the bedrooms?

Need to do some planning now and looking to get work done in the summer. The insert we have in at present seems to use a lot of wood despite turning the dampers down.

[Quillan]

It depends on who's insert yours is. We have a René Bresach insert which is now 30 odd years old. When we moved the location of the fire before we reinstalled the insert I called the local guy who is their agent. He took it away, sand blasted it, replaced the glass and seals then re-blacked it for us for just over €200. That may be expensive to some, you could buy half an insert for that in one of the Brico's but ours is very large (78cm wide) and pushes out 18kw of heat, cost new around €2,800. I believe it is supposed to be one of the best makes in France. Anyway once reconditioned it performs very well. Three logs about 10" round will last from 22:00 to about 08:30 in the morning. Yesterday I intended to clean the fire out at around 16:00 but it was still glowing a little from the night before. Shoved some twigs and a bit of wood on and it was back fully alight inside 20 minutes.

So if it were me and the fire showed no signs of falling apart and is a 'named' make I would see about getting it re-conditioned because with a stand alone unit you won't get that heat in to your bedrooms. Even if your insert only gets the temp up to 12 deg in the bedrooms it's cheaper using an alternative energy source to go from 12 deg to whatever than from five or six degrees.

The other thing is did you replace the door seals this year. Some say you should do this every year, we do ours every other year. You buy the seal, it's like a cord in a packet with glue from your local Brico. Rip the old door seals out, clean the 'seat' area with a wire brush, make sure it's dry then apply the glue and then the seal (you can cut it with scissors no problem). Takes about half an hour.

[Mac]

Its a Jotel but I don't know what model or kilowattage. But thanks for the tip about the seals as we could do this at small cost and see if it makes a difference.

[Jo]

My friend has a free standing fire that vents heat into the bedrooms, I think that the vents were put in at the same time as the fire and come off the chimney liner?

[Quillan]

[quote user="Mac"]Its a Jotel but I don't know what model or kilowattage. But thanks for the tip about the seals as we could do this at small cost and see if it makes a difference.[/quote]

If you have never done the seals before then that's probably why it's gobbling wood. They should be supple and not solid. When you put the glue on a 'bead' you need it about  3 to 4mm wide if a lot comes out the tube. You want it to stick the seal and not impregnate it through to the front else it all goes hard and does not seal properly.