make a fireplace grate blower??
I have a fireplace that is open on both sides and this has made it very difficult to find any type of blower that would blow air to both sides. So I have resolved to make my own. I am planning to make the type of system that has the pipes running under the grate where the coals are should fall around them and heat the pipes which in turn will heat the air running thru them that will then blow into the room. My question is what type of pipes can I use?? I already have two fans and I was thinking of using black pipe which can be easily put together from any handyman store. But will these pipes be ok to have in the fire, I'm a little worried about fumes they might give off. I would guess stainless steel would be best but they are much harder to get. Any suggestions or advice about what pipes wont give off bad fumes would be great. Thanks Any fumes given off initially by the finish on any pipe should go up the flue. You will be creating an amazing amount of heat between the coals and the grate, but moving the air in the pipe should help heat sink the pipe. Have you figured on what you will move the air with, yet? Yeah I actually had a good set up with galvanized pipe and an bathroom exhaust fan. Unfortunately the fan need to be farther away than just in front because it was sucking smoke into the room pretty bad. But that baby was kicking out some heat too. You are right about the finish burning off, the pipes smoked for a little while but after the finish, grease, etc. burned off it was good. Now to perfect it I've gotta get the fan and piping farther away. So I got a bigger fan off an exhaust hood from a buddy but havent figured reduce it down to 2 or 1.5 in. Still a work in progress. I questioned whether 1.5 in. copper pipe would work. Does anybody know if silver soldered pipe work stand up to the heat in a fire??? I kinda doubt it but then again silver solder is heated to like 1200 degrees and I dont think a regular fire is that hot. I love your idea about the black piping. Easy to get and easy to put together. I do agree that any fumes you may experience will be gone after the initial burn. Here's an idea. For your flex tubing, use flex tubing commonly used for auto exhaust. Cheap and easy to find. As far as a blower with slower speed, an inexpensive hair dryer should do the trick. I am most certain you can find one that doesn't look to girly. Hi all! I have worked out a solution from off-the-shelf components you can buy in most any hardware store. Nothing to cut, weld, thread or bend. I am offering the design, parts list, photos, etc. in an electronic file. If this violates the rules here, please consider it a donation. My intent is to form a community of users who will share ideas for improvements. I am already working on one such upgrade. All who purchase (donate?) will receive access to such upgrades, and will have the ability to share same with others. Component costs are aprox. $100. I built this thing the store, re-fit a couple of connections at home, and had it blowing warm air into my house in about 30 minutes! Hi, I read your post on doityourself and I am interested in getting your plans. We have a fireplace and have used the u shaped pipes that help circulate the pipe but we would really like a grate with a blower that we can use to heat our house instead of all the heat going up the chimmney. Did you say the parts cost approx. $100.00? thanks, my email address is suxanmayr@yahoo.com or you can post your commets on the doityourself web site. Originally Posted by jsxpress I have a fireplace that is open on both sides and this has made it very difficult to find any type of blower that would blow air to both sides. So I have resolved to make my own. I am planning to make the type of system that has the pipes running under the grate where the coals are should fall around them and heat the pipes which in turn will heat the air running thru them that will then blow into the room. My question is what type of pipes can I use?? I already have two fans and I was thinking of using black pipe which can be easily put together from any handyman store. But will these pipes be ok to have in the fire, I'm a little worried about fumes they might give off. I would guess stainless steel would be best but they are much harder to get. Any suggestions or advice about what pipes wont give off bad fumes would be great. Thanks Did you find any info about this? I have some ideas that I want try in my freestanding 1960's style fireplace but not enough. I would not mind paying for plans if I knew it would work for at least three years and if it looked fairly professional. I have done a lot of fabricating but I do not have a bender yet. I do not know what kind of pipe that would hold up that would be that inexpensive. Of course I suppose the blower would keep pipe temperature way down so that it would not burn up rapidly. You may want to look at the start date of this thread. It was started Dec. 2006. I don't like that idea of a DIY blower, you risk blowing ashes, carbon monoxide and soot into your home. I have concerns about using galvanized pipe. Any welder will tell you that heating zinc will give off toxic fumes. I would prefer black pipe(I'm not aware of any fumes with BP?). I am also thinking that it should have the threads well sealed, probably with heat resistant silicone caulking. As for copper, I suspect it will soften in that much heat. (What temperature does a fireplace burn at?) Welcome to the forums! You are responding to a 7 year old post, so it probably is falling on deaf ears. Check the dates for current status.
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