Fireplace heat exchanger?

Jabroni

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Anyone have experience with them , or even make one before? Kinda debating making one out of cast iron pipe, some tees and nipples, etc. Not quite sure what Id do for a blower, still looking at options there.
 
Personally I would not put home made stuff in my fireplace. The insurance liability is too big for me to handle and the last thing I want is to give them an excuse to deny a claim due to fire.

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They work great though, they can turn a decorative fireplace into a viable heat source for your whole house. My grandfather had one that got so hot you couldn't sit in front of it but heated the whole house.

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That surplus center site has all sorts of awesome fans and blowers.. I think Id go a 12v dc fan and use a potentiometer to control speed..maybe a metal project box to hold it all, but then would have to figure out how to connect that to piping..hrm...
 
Unless it’s an engineered unit with blower I wouldn’t attempt to make one. A regular AC spec fan would never tolerate that much heat below it. There are lots of manufacturers with insert heat exchangers that are UL approved.
 
Typically the fan is mounted a few feet away from the insert and away from the heat. I’ve had two units; one an insert and the other a tubular rack that goes into the fireplace.

You don’t need a lot of CFM on the fans. Too fast a speed will reduce the time that the air can transfer heat.
 
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