Fireplace Heat Exchanger

[@mark1952able]

Hell YES! Just finished doing one with exhaust pipes.....works great......all negative comments are from people who don't know how to be creative...............Common sense!

[@MrCPPG]

What I love about yours is it is thick steel plate. I am looking at replacing an old manufactured grate heater that used thin wall that ended up corroding out.

[@ruckuswethepeep4384]

Great job, fellow Texan, I have been looking at the ones you mentioned, like your style much better! Thnx, north of Dallas.

[@briccc4why518]

What I love about this DIY is it is built to last. Others are so thin there is no way they will last very long.

[@LamLawIndy]

NICE setup! Great thinking on putting the metal tubing inside for structural support too!

[@johnsassano8728]

Should have made a baffle with plates inside so the air fully travels around and picks up the most heat

[@gman6352]

Wondering how this is working and how it served during the big freeze a couple years ago. Just stumbled on this and looking to build a heat exchanger

[@tedhall2277]

Not to pop your bubble but your design has a flaw, the longer the fire burns the less heat you will get out of your heat exchanger. The ashes as they build up will insulate the heat from reaching the heat exchanger. That is why others use tubes that go up and out since heat rises.

[@cjmallory40]

Ted Hall that's a good point, I have not experienced that yet and I burn it for several hours all day on some days.. and i always clean the ashes out before I get started which is probably why I have not noticed any heat loss but I have burn this fireplace all day and I haven't noticed any heat loss just yet but that's a good point. I could see how that could possibly happen.. I have a small fireplace which that's one of the things I hate about this house because I do enjoy burning my fireplace.. if I had a bigger fireplace I would definitely have design this a little different but I'm just trying to work with what I have but your point is well taken.

[@darrylt1031]

ted hall....while your statement is true....the majority of the heat produced comes from the bed of hot coals.....so simply scrape the ashes to the sides....

[@Aweber87]

Did you just say 1/2 a chord of wood a year? You’ll spend more in electric and materiel than just burning wood..

[@zack41564]

Great engineering skills, I wonder if you could scale your design to a box to use the extra surface area.

[@cjmallory40]

Hey sorry for the late response... I’m not sure I quite understand what you mean by the extra surface area via the box design.

[@aroshell]

I'm Arlington Texas with the same size fireplace. I have no welding experience. How much would you charge to build this.

[@fernandobatista5773]

Fire it up

[@cjmallory40]

I can't wait she still going strong

[@michaelbermudez1363]

Just a question if you don’t mind: would you please consider telling me where you purchased the blower used in the video? I need to replace one that is very similar but from the 1970-1980s. It’s been hard to find.

[@cjmallory40]

Oh gee I dont remember where I got it, I know I ordered it on line some years ago but i just can't remember where.. I've had it for a long time just sitting around from another project. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[@bsh21wash1]

How'd it work? Looking at options for mine.

[@cjmallory40]

Brian hey Brian thanks for commenting, but to answer your question it actually worked pretty good we had a cold night since this video and my wife wanted to burn the fireplace so we tried it out for the first time and it worked pretty good. Now we were only able to burn it for a few hours I can only imagine if we were to Burn it like we normally do during the winter I can definitely see us benefiting from the heat gain even more. I'm thinking we ran our fireplace for about 3 to 4 hours not much wood and it warmed up our living room 10° I was really impressed. I would love to see your design, what you come up with I just hope this help someone else.. but it works.

[@kodywallace9827]

Everyone keeps making these things man for fire places and they are going to get someone killed if your chimney catches fire witch they do if not cleaned properly and you can't shut the door and close the air ways off it's just going to burn and burn and people say so it's brick well hot ashes landing on a shingle roof it never good so plz man for your sake make sure you have a way to close the air off of any such thing happens.

[@cjmallory40]

Kody Wallace thank you for your comment but Kody let not your heart be trouble I get my chimney clean every two years because my wife and I like to burn our fireplace a lot during the winter. I've had my chimney cleaning about 4/5 times since I've been in this house and I agree if chimneys are not properly cleaned and yes you can have creosote build up and you could possibly start a fire in your chimney I personally never seen it but I know it could happen. I grew up with a fireplace we had our chimney clean every so often but we never had a problem but I agree they can be very dangerous if you don't take care of the proper maintenance and yet they can be so enjoyable and romantic and culminating which is what my wife and I like about a fireplace but you're absolutely right.

[@kodywallace9827]

cjmallory40 I agree mine has caught fire a time or two in twenty years time mostly from neglect or lack of cleaning and it's not fun whatever you do if it catches fire do not put it out with water close all vents and doors and let it burn it's self out if anything just wet roof

[@truefacts904]

@@kodywallace9827 Please tell me why you shouldn't put it out with water?

[@vinquinn]

@@truefacts904 It makes a real mess, stinks up the house, and it can cause the fire bricks to crack or crumble.