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80s Heatilator

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Posted by 1980sDIYer (My Page) on
Sun, Jan 20, 13 at 17:54

We currently have an old 80s heatilator fireplace, model FP36. I'm trying to research it, but to my understanding this is a wood burning insert that vents with a 8" diameter ducting up through the chimney to the outside. It has bifold glass doors and metal screen, and around the doors is a black mesh metal face, perhaps for circulation/venting?
Ultimately, we'd like to have a gas burning fireplace down there instead. Does anyone know if we could place a gas burning kit inside this existing insert, rather than having to replace the full insert with an expensive new one? If you have any information on these heatilators that could better help me understand what I'm dealing with that would be great. Thank you!

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RE: 80s Heatilator

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You have 2 choices: install a gas burning insert into your fireplace, or tear out the wood burner and install a gas one in its place.

An insert is essentially a high-efficiency stove, shaped like a fireplace that installs inside of your existing fireplace. This option will be much less expensive that replacement, though your fire view will be somewhat limited. A new chimney liner, downsized for the requirements of the gas insert, is installed inside of your existing 8" metal chimney to provide high heating efficiency.

If you replace the fireplace with a new gas burning model, just make sure you compare efficiency ratings. A high efficiency model will use no more gas yet give you MUCH more heat, and the difference in price is usually not more than $100 - $200.

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