21-07-2003, 07:32 AM
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How to Keep the Corn Standing in Winds? (was: Thank you Pat Kiewicz!!!)
writes:
Wow, how weird! There has been a lot of weird weather lately. We've
only been in this home for a year and a month now and, in that short
time, have lost several 30-40 foot trees to storms. I wish we had a
Franklin stove though we do have an inefficient fireplace. Regards,
This is way off topic, but I'll risk being yelled out to pass this on
considering your circumstance (lots of wood and an inefficient fireplace).
There were passive heat exchangers on the market many years ago. I plan
to have one built when the muffler shop that was recommended to me
re-opens after being closed by a fire. I searched locally and on-line for
them but found nothing, only electric-powered heat exchangers of various
types (I gave up after viewing nearly 300 pages!). Of course, when you
really need the fireplace, the electricity is out which is why you need
it, making the electric heat exchangers worthless.
This unit is all free-standing within the fireplace. It consists of two
horizontal heavy bars slightly off the floor of the fireplace. To that
are welded several (3, 4, or 5) pipes which run parallel to the sides of
the fireplace and bent to roughly follow the "curve" (not really a curve,
of course, but the tubing/pipe is curved as it is bent at the "corners")
of the fireplace back. Basically the top and bottom sections of the
tubing/pipe are straight as is the back with the corners curved as
necessary (no sharp angles) for air flow. The pipe is very thick,
necessary with the extreme heat, with an outside diameter of possibly
1-1/2 inches.
The lower ends of the pipe/tubing must have some way of covering them to
stop the air intake to control the outtake of heated air. The pipe/tubing
pieces also have a bar welded at the top to hold them in place. The one I
saw in a house for sale also had a grated "bottom" on it to hold the wood
up off the fireplace floor for more efficient burning. If you are
interested in one, you'll have to find an old-timer that knows what they
are. I have a B&W copy of one I printed before my digital camera was
stolen (so don't have the photo). I don't know how well the copy will scan
or photograph, but I'll send it to you if you want it
The principal behind it is that the cold air is pulled into the
tubing/pipe, heated as it goes through the fireplace, and is forced out
the top of the tubing/pipe. I've not used one myself, but my boss who
died in 2000 had one in his vacation home at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
and said they'd have to close off some of the tubes because it would get
so warm. I wish I could pass on personal experience as I had planned to
have one built a year ago but was delayed because of the muffler shop
going out of business for months. I was fortunate to have found a welder
who had seen them and knew what I was talking about; it was him who said
I'd need a muffler shop to build it because of the extremely high
temperatures involved.
I was quite puzzled as to why they aren't readily available on the market
now but finally figured that it might be because of mis-use. It might be
easy to not have one sized/built correctly for a particular fireplace
resulting in potential carbon monoxide problems because of the positioning
of the unit in relation to the fireplace causing them to be taken off the
market. That is pure speculation on my part but is the only reason I
could imagine since it makes such a great passive heat exchanger and were,
at one time, very popular.
You might be lucky enough to find one at an estate sale. I couldn't talk
the owner of the house in which I saw one into selling it. He had never
lived in the house and didn't intend to, only bought it to fix it up and
re-sell it. Apparently, he figured if someone wanted it, it had to have
value. Likely what happened was the house's buyer tossed it. :-(
Glenna
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