Direct vent fireplace hot

[Robert Jones]

I haven't run across this until now. New construction, direct vent fireplace located in the bonus room. Tile surround and hearth. So, when the fireplace was on, the tile in front of and above the glass was extremely hot to the touch. While I can somewhat explain away the heat on the tile on the floor directly in front of the fireplace, I am left wondering what might be causing the high heat above. The heat is not effecting all of the tiles, just the ones directly in the middle and above the glass. Is this being caused by the flue? The fireplace(located on the second floor) vents through the roof rather than out the wall. There is no fan installed.

Click to Enlarge

45.26 KB

[Terence McCann]

Any heat going out the sidewall vent?

[Robert Jones]

It's vented up though the roof.

[Terence McCann]

Sorry, read it too quickly. [:-dunce]

Were you able to check the roof vent for flow? Able to pull the front to check for obstructions?

[hausdok]

Hi Robert,

I'll bet that the opening is slightly lower on it's vertical axis than it's supposed to be. When those things are on, convection pulls a lot of air in at the bottom, heats it and pushes it out across the top of the box. Drop that surround too low in front and all of that heat strikes the back of the top row across the top of the fireplace and heats it.

Tell 'em to use the back of their hand placed against that surround as a means to gauge heat. When they can't comfortably hold their hand there after the fireplace has been on for 15 minutes, they need to reach down underneath and crank the heat back.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Robert Jones]

Thanks guys. Terry I was not able to get to the vent exit on the roof.