# Heating a house



## broncocasey (Nov 7, 2011)

We are planning on building and have heard of fireplace inserts that can be ducted into the central heat an air ducts. My question is can this be done and if so what is involved. The house will be about 2200sq'.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Never heard of such (so far) There are furnaces that can be included in the duct work and thats fairly straight forward with a couple of ducting methods. Either flow through both furnaces or by sharing the return air and merging the supply side down stream. It would be against code to harvest stove or fireplace heat with a return air inlet (Here) but its done.


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

Yes, several years ago my parents had a fireplace that had blowers on it and was ducted into the CHA then when the air from the fireplace cooled down or the fire went out the CHA took over. My fireplace has a catalytic combustor and a fan that blows heat and can also be ducted to other rooms.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

I had a friend who has his fireplace ducted into the central heat ducts. Also has his hot water lines uinning through the fire place. Saves his quite a bit of money.


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## broncocasey (Nov 7, 2011)

Thanks for the reply's. Seems like a man could save some money this way. I will keep looking for ways to do it and let yuns know what I find.


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

Good insulation and proper sealing of the house to reduce the heating load is the most important thing to do. A good woodstove will do a better job than a fireplace insert in most cases.


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## MN Gardener (Jan 23, 2008)

I have been in a few houses with Quadra woodstoves / fireplace inserts. The are very nice looking and the homeowners gave them great reviews. If I can ever talk DH into it, I will be getting one!

Here is their website, the can be tied into a forced air heating system and burn really clean and long.

http://www.quadrafire.com/Browse/Stoves/Wood-Stoves.aspx

There is also a feature on these that allow it to blow heat without electricity (I looked into them really thoroughly when we were building, but it had to be cut out of the budget and will be added later - I hope!)


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## broncocasey (Nov 7, 2011)

you've been a big help mn gardener thank you.


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## MN Gardener (Jan 23, 2008)

you are welcome....glad I could help you out.


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