Acucraft Fireplaces

New Product Announcement - EcoMAX Wood Burning Insert by Acucraft

2011-12-17T11:29:00.000-06:00

Acucraft is proud to announce the new EcoMAX wood burning insert.

Offering two perfect size inserts:

EcoMAX 28 viewing area 28" W x 16" H - MAX Btu's of 109,000

EcoMAX 20 viewing area 20" W x 12" H - MAX Btu's of 79,000

EcoMAX 28

Why Did Acucraft Design the EcoMAX?

According to the National Energy Administration - Heating fuel costs are expected to rise dramatically this winter. Homes using natural gas, propane, heating oil or electric may see increases over 30%.

For years we have been designing and building custom single and see through inserts with the goal of maximizing the viewing area and heat output. Sometimes the cost is outside the budget or the lead time is too long, please note a custom product has alot of design time and each part needs to be drawn in CAD and is unique ( appx 45 parts per insert and 4 weeks from design approval)

The EcoMAX offers

1. An economical choice for converting an inefficient open fireplace into a efficient fireplace insert with a full return on investment within the first year of burning. Cut your heating bills by 75% or more. EcoMAX 28 is $2,495 and the EcoMAX 20 is $2,295. Buy Direct from the manufacture and we ship direct to your home – worldwide.

2. Eco Friendly - Heating your home with wood is the most sustainable renewable energy source in the world. Greatly reducing your reliance on electric, natural or propane gas, heating oil all drilled/ mined and shipped to Power Plants and Refinerys. Then delivered to your home. Wood is natural and renewable; in fact, a log burned efficiently in a fireplace produces less carbon than if it were left to rot. Let us reduce our dependence on the grid and foreign countries, while positively impacting our world.

3. MAXimum View – The EcoMAX 28 & 20 offer the largest viewing area for your opening in a standard insert

4. MAXimum Heat – the EcoMAX 28 is capable of 109,000 MAX BTU’s per hour and the EcoMAX 20 is capable of 79,000 MAX Btu’s per hour. The average wood insert available is half the EcoMAX.

5. MAXimum Log Length - The EcoMAX 28 & 20 allow a 27” and 19” log length, respectively.

6. MAXimum Warranty – Since 1979 Acucraft has offered a lifetime warranty on everything we manufacture including the glass. Nothing comes close to the quality and they are designed for the hard core user.

We are really excited about the opportunity to offer customers a well built and designed wood insert for a great price. Providing a safe solution to the old drafty open hearth fireplace.

Happy Burning!

Determine Proper Chimney Height Using The 10 -2 Rule

2011-12-05T14:15:00.001-06:00

The 10-2 Rule is the guideline for determining the amount of chimney required for proper operation and draw of your wood burning fireplace or stove. This guideline is the same for exposed "naked" chimney's as it is for enclosed chimney's in a chase.

This guideline has 3 main components:
1. Is your chimney within 10' of your peak?
If you are within 10' of the highest point of your roof, typically the peak, the chimney needs to extend 2' above that point. Therefore, if you draw a 10' Radius around your chimney the flue needs to be 2' above everything within that radius. The minimum length above the roof is 3' ( this is why some industry people use the term 2-3-10 which means 2' above anything within 10' and a minimum of 3')

2. Is your chimney farther horizontal than 10' away from the peak?
If you are farther than 10' away from the peak, your chimney needs to be 2' above the highest point within 10'. For example, your chimney is exiting 20' away from the peak and you have a 6/12 pitch roof. If you draw a horizontal line 10' the chimney will be 6' from the shingles and you need to add 2' from that mark, therefore you will have a total of 8' of chimney above your shingles. Please note: if your chimney is exposed and is greater than 5' tall, a Roof Brace Kit is required to keep it supported.

3. Does your chimney have more than 2 pair of elbows and/or is your chimney being installed higher than 4,500' above see level?
All rules and guidelines have exceptions, the more offsets you have and the higher the elevation the taller your chimney will need to be. For example, if you are building in Breckenridge, CO which is appx 9,600' ft above sea level OR you have two pair of offsets, we would need to analyze the fireplace opening, the total chimney run in feet, the distances between the elbows and how much is offset.

It is amazing that if your chimney is 6"-12" short how the draw is impacted. As always, if you have any questions please let us know.

Happy Burning!

5 key decisions for designing a Linear Gas Fireplace

2011-11-04T14:33:00.002-05:00

This Linear Gas Fireplace is installed in a Houlihans Restaurant

Linear Gas Fireplaces have a wide 4' to 16' viewing area and normally are not very tall 18" to 36". Although, some of our clients want a taller viewing area of up to 48".

There are five key decisions in designing your custom linear gas fireplace.

Drawing of a Custom See Through Gas Linear Fireplace

1. Linear Gas Fireplaces can be single, see through or multi sided, what fits your commercial building or home the best?

Custom Linear Front and Side View

Outdoor Custom Gas Linear Fireplace

Custom Linear Peninsula Gas Fireplace

2. How big do you want your viewing area to be? Width and Height and Depth. Remember, this can easily change as we go through the design process with you. The majority of the designers and architects we work with design the linear to be 3-4x wider than tall, therefore an 8' wide linear is 2' tall. The rules are not steadfast, many of our 12'-16' wide fireplaces are 2'-3' tall.

3. Flame, How big of a flame are you looking to achieve and are you looking for heat? The flame height is variable, however the bigger the flame the more heat generated and the more BTU's the fireplace will consume. We offer two types of burners:

Option 1: is a single line burner and the media does spread it out a little.

Option 2: is a pan style burner that more evenly distributes the flames.

Heat - If you are not looking to achieve any heat from the fireplace we design a heat relief duct to transfer it outside, you can then have the large flame without having to worry about the heat.

4. Media Selection. Media is the material used to cover the base of the fireplace and the burner. There are 4 main media styles to choose from and they can be combined, for example the stones on top of glass, and they are:

-Recycled Glass

-Glass Crystal

-Stones

-Log

Recycled Glass - available in all colors and are irregular shaped designed for fire in 1/2" to 3/4" size

Glass Crystals are round and smooth. They are designed to be used with fire, the mirrored reflection from the fire and the radiant heat is great!

Stones mixed with Black recycled glass

This outdoor has a mixture of logs and stones

5. Glass/ Fronts - we offer three choices a. single pane of glass b. dual pane system with outside air traveling between the panes to keep the glass cooler or c. Open - no glass or front

This linear fireplace is open - no glass or front. The view is front and right side.

Listed above are the 5 main decisions required to complete the design of your custom linear gas fireplace

1. number of sides

2. viewing area

3. flame height

4. media

5. glass / fronts

There are a couple additional installation items

1. How are you going to vent your fireplace? - vertically through your roof, horizontally out the side wall or down in through the floor. All our linear fireplaces use class A insulated stainless steel flue.

Downward vented 16' wide fireplace

2. Combustion Air - all our fireplaces with glass fronts use outside for combustion, this is typically brought in the floor from below the fireplace

3. The fireplace will require a gas line and some require electrical for the ignition of the pilot.

As always, the Acucraft Custom Fireplace Design Team is there to guide you through the process. Please comment on this post to let us know if we answered all your questions.

Happy Burning.

What is the difference between a fireplace and an insert?

2011-11-01T13:34:00.004-05:00

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between a fireplace and an insert. The actual definitions vary by region, I will try to explain the main differences between the two categories.

Category I - Fireplaces

A fireplace is a self operating system that is able to burn fuel. A fireplace will have its own chimney flue system. There are two main types of fireplaces:

1. Factory built fireplace - Acucraft manufactures factory built fireplaces that are pre - engineered systems where the chimney system and combustion air inlets along with controls for both are incorporated. The factory built fireplace is set in the home and built around, with framing and stone.

The fireplace on the right is a factory built fireplace by Acucraft and the fireplace on the left is the same fireplace with our insulated panel system.

The fireplace installed above is the completed factory built fireplace. This fireplace has the rustic arched doors with grids.

2. Open hearth fireplace - Open hearth fireplaces are typically built on site by a mason. The firebox is lined with real firebrick. Open Hearth Fireplaces provide alot of ambiance, however, the efficiency is appx -35%. The average open hearth uses very little outside air combustion and appx 300 cubic feet of air per minute is pulled from your home and goes up the chimney flue. Please note: all Acucraft wood burning fireplaces can be operated as an open hearth by simply removing the doors or burning with the doors open, providing your home has adequate make up air.

Open Hearth Fireplace - They will provide some heat for the area around the fireplace, however they are very inefficient and alot of the heated air in your home will go up the flue. Turn up the furnace prior to starting a fire.

Category II - Inserts

Inserts are units that are designed to fit inside a fireplace. They are most popular inside the open hearth fireplace type. Acucraft manufactures custom inserts that are designed to fit within a specific opening, we are able to create the largest viewing area possible while maximizing the viewing area. The advantages of a custom insert from Acucraft are a dramatic increase in efficiency ( from -35% to 70%) and with the insert custom designed it will look like it was installed from the beginning. Many Inserts require a lot of steel around the insert, called flashing, to close off the area between the little insert and the fireplace opening.

Custom See Through Wood Burning Insert by Acucraft Fireplaces

Below I have a link to a blog post where I show the before fireplace and the after with the custom wood insert.

Custom Wood Insert Installation

We hope this post helped explain the difference between a fireplace and an insert. As always, if you have any questions please call us to further identify the perfect solution for your needs. 763.263.3156 and ask to speak with a selection specialist.

Happy Burning

Whole Home Heating

2011-10-27T14:47:00.000-05:00

Acucraft's whole home heating technology is a great way to maximize your fireplace and its heating potential! With the use of Remote Ducting and the Water Loop, you can heat both your air and your water with just your fireplace! The two options cost very little to install and they offer a huge return. Many wood burning customers who install both options use very little gas or electric to heat their air or water all winter long.

Let's start with the most popular option -

Acucraft's Remote Ducting option aids in the goal of heating your entire home as evenly as possible, with the elimination of cold spots. The Remote Ducting option uses B-Vent pipe to vent heated air to other areas of your home. You can vent to another

room on the same floor, upstairs or even below with the use of an in-line blower (this is different from the fireplace

blower). You can even connect your Remote Ducting system into your cold air return and use your furnace fan to evenly

distribute the heated air throughout your home, eliminating cold spots!

The diagram above shows the remote ducting taking the heat from the fireplace and transfering it to the furnace for distributing heat throughout the home using the existing ducts. Many of our customers have the duct end at the basement ceiling. With an in-line blower in the basement ceiling when you want the heat in the basement just turn on the in line blower.

The Z-MAX Fireplace photo above shows the remote ducting, the 8" duct on the right of the fireplace flue, transferring the heat from the fireplace to the other end of the home. The customer also installed an in line blower with variable speed to control the amount of heat transfered to the other end of the home. The duct can transfer up to 70% of the heat generated by the fireplace. The Z-MAX is capable of 130,000 BTU's an hour, so we are talking about a lot of heat - the average furnace is under a 100,000 BTU's an hour.

Now lets discuss one our customers' favorite options -

The Acucraft Water Loop is a stainless steel loop/ coil that is factory installed into the fireplace that can be used to heat your domestic water and/or your radiant in floor heating systems. The loop is designed to be a supplemental system. A small thermostatically controlled pump is installed that will automatically start circulating the water when your firebox becomes heated, providing supplemental heat for your water.

The above photo shows the Water Loop in one of our see through fireplaces, the loop is located in the center of the firebox.

The photo shows the exterior of the fireplace, the water lines connect to the water loop where there are currently the red proctective caps. One line bringing the water in, the other bringing the hot water out.

The remote ducting and the water loop are part of the Acucraft's whole home heating technology. The options are all hidden within your fireplace and with the thermostat control, they turn themselves on and off.

If you have any questions, please contact Acucraft and we can assist with your specific whole home heating plan.

What is your favorite option, the remote ducting or the water loop?

Happy Burning

Test Fire - Custom Linear Gas Fireplace

2011-05-25T11:58:00.000-05:00

Acucraft just finished test firing a large custom linear gas fireplace. Prior to shipping all custom gas fireplaces, we burn and test every fireplace. The below fireplace has a huge 120" wide x 24" high viewing area. The customer wanted a large 12" -18" flame and has propane as the fuel source.

The pictures do not do justice to how awesome the flames look.

Viewing Area is 10' Wide x 2' High

Propane Gas and huge flames from a gas fireplace are difficult to achieve. Propane is heavier than air, Natural Gas is lighter than air. Propane needs to be delivered at 3X the pressure of Natural Gas, which requires much more outside air for combustion to be mixed with the Propane Gas. The addition of more outside air turns the flame blue. Acucraft and our customers desire tall slow moving yellow flames.
Therefor we at Acucraft, Custom designed a long 100+" elevated burner with the gas entering the burner in 3 areas, middle and both ends. This will evenly distribute the Propane. The design included 3 large 200,000 BTU valves, with variable flame height control via remote control.

100" + Custom Propane Burner Pan

Below is a link to a video of the fireplace in action.

The Customer selected recycled glass as the media, which will be installed at the site to hide the burner and more evenly distribute the flame.

The outside combustion air will be distributed to the firebox in the slotted openings, shown above along the front flange. There is two panes of glass, this will keep the glass cooler to the touch with air transfering between the glass.

This Fireplace along with another large custom fireplace are being shipped to there new home in Indiana.

The fireplaces just keep getting bigger, below is a photo of a huge gas fireplace we are testing tomorrow. The dimensions on this fireplace are 11' wide and 3' tall = 4,752 square inches of viewing area.

The firebox is completed and the insulated panels are being installed. Tomorrow we burn and test.

If you are interested in learning more on Custom Linear Gas Fireplace, please view the November 4th blog post on The 5 Key Decisions in Designing your Custom Linear Gas Fireplace

Happy Burning!

Free Shipping Ends May 31st

2011-05-24T12:59:00.001-05:00

Click on the image to Expand to full view

Only 7 days remaining for the free shipping promotion. Place your order now, take delivery when you need your fireplace. Our production schedule for the summer and early fall is filling up fast. With the cost of heating on the major increase, many more people are looking to wood as a secondary heat source for there existing or new construcion home. This promotion is valid with all Acucraft Manufactured Wood and Gas Fireplaces.

Happy Burning

Before and After Story

2011-05-20T12:17:00.005-05:00

The Before and After story is one of our favorites at Acucraft. We had a customer with an outdated, very inefficient fireplace and they wanted to heat there entire home and wanted a unique look. The customer selected our New Hearthroom 36 Wood Burning Fireplace, BTW at $3,200 this is the best value on the market for a High Tech Wood Burning fireplace. The average market price for this type of fireplace is $4,400.

Ever time the customer used there old fireplace all the air and heat went up the flue and left the house very cold. They were not able to use the fireplace in the winter, just in the fall and spring. With the cost of heating continuing to rise there desire was to heat with wood as a supplement all winter long.

The customer also wanted to cook with the fireplace using our BBQ Grill featured in the after picture below. The Acucraft BBQ Grill is made from Kitchen Grade 304 Stainless Steel and is so much fun to use.

Before

The customer selected our Hearthroom 36 Fireplace with a custom patina finish on the doors only

Happy Burning from your friends at Acucraft

The installation of the fireplace and the beautiful stone work was all done by Richard Krogh

4 Stages of a Fire

2011-05-11T12:43:00.000-05:00

In response to many requests from my last post, the purpose of this post is to discuss the 4 different stages of wood burning. We at Acucraft have adopted these standards and this post will differ from the chemical breakdown of wood.

These stages are very important to understand when using an efficient wood burning fireplace or stove to maximize the BTU's per pound of wood. Many people new to efficient fireplaces stay in the creosote stage with wet wood, focus on getting your fire to be in stage 3.

Stage 1 - Start Up Stage
- The start up stage involves warming your fireplace flue and creating draw to begin pulling in the combustion air. We recommend starting with dry kindling and a fire starter, do not use newspaper. Many chimney sweeps will say the majority of creosote build up is caused by newspaper along with a cold flue.

"Simple Wood Moisture Test" which anyone can do:
"Add one large piece of wood to the top of an established fire. If it starts to burn on three sides within one minute, it is dry and seasoned and right for burning, If it turns black and starts to burn in about three minutes or more, it is damp. If it turns black and does not start burning until five minutes or more, it is green and wet. If it hisses at any time, the wood is soaked and will not burn until the excess moisture is boiled away."

Stage 2 - Creosote Stage
- Always start with dry seasoned wood, preferably under 20% moisture content. Add the dry split wood above the burning kindling fire. Always ensure there is proper flow for the smoke and heat to exit up the flue. The goal is to get out of this stage, the wood temperature will rise as it begins to burn. The moisture will be evaporating from the wood as it reaches 212 F and all the moisture will be out of the wood between 400 and 414 F. During this stage the wood will be hissing and bubbling on the ends. Keep the damper and combustion controls wide open during this stage, until you see the wood cleanly burning with out grey smoke etc..

Stage 3 - Heating Stage
- Once the wood has burned out the moisture and you have the combustion control dialed in, the flames will take on a slow moving orange flame. Maintain this type of burn for maximum heat and minimal creosote build up on your glass and flue. This stage can be maintained for 6-10 hours between loads of new wood, depending on your wood and your fireplace.

Perfect Looking Flame

"Simple Wood Moisture Test" which anyone can do:
"Add one large piece of wood to the top of an established fire. If it starts to burn on three sides within one minute, it is dry and seasoned and right for burning, If it turns black and starts to burn in about three minutes or more, it is damp. If it turns black and does not start burning until five minutes or more, it is green and wet. If it hisses at any time, the wood is soaked and will not burn until the excess moisture is boiled away."

Stage 4 - Die Down
- If you are going to let your fire go out in your fireplace, open the damper. During this stage, your flue will be getting colder at the top and when the cold meets with slow moving smoke creosote can occur. By opening your damper during this stage you are able to keep the flue warmer until the fire goes out.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to requests topics for the next blog post, please email them to chris@acucraft.com

Happy Burning.

Maximizing Wood Burning Fireplace Performance

2011-04-23T18:46:00.003-05:00

How do I maximize the BTU output per pound of wood burned?

What are some techniques for me to burn my Acucraft Fireplace even better?

Those are the questions on Acucraft high tech efficient fireplace owners' minds. We love burning questions! We have been researching, testing and sharing tips since our first fireplace was designed in 1977 during the oil crises. All Acucraft fireplaces have their own unique installation. Below are tips for calibrating your fireplace for optimum performance - the last factor is always changing.

5 main factors impacting your fireplace performance:

1. Wood - the quality of wood we all know is so important for a good burn, however the moisture content of the wood is the wild card. The only way to truly know moisture is to measure it! We recommend the moisture content of the wood to be close to 16-18% to maximize heat output and keep your glass doors and flue clean. You can have split wood stored for 1-2 years and the moisture content can be well over 20% - this is NOT good for burning (less heat and more build up on glass). We love using wood moisture meters. They are inexpensive ($35.00) and a great tool. Please email info@acucraft.com if you are interested in buying one. We have tested all the different meters and have found some to be much better than others.

Stay tuned - the next blog post is covering the stages the wood goes through. answering questions - what stage do you get the most heat and what problems occur with wood that has a moisture over 20%.

Moisture Meter

2. Combustion Air- The outside combustion air controls the amount of fire / heat your wood is going to produce. The combustion air enters the firebox through our airwash system at the top of your door opening. This keeps the glass cleaner. A good hot fire in combination with the right combustion setting will CLEAN THE GLASS. You will need more combustion air when you are starting a fire and if your wood is wet. If you do not have enough air to the firebox your glass may darken. The length and diameter of your combustion air run is a variable to consider.

3. Damper Settings - The damper controls the burn time. The more you damper down, the longer the burn. But there is a point of diminishing return by the creation of creosote in your flue. Please inspect and clean your flue as often as you can.

4. Flue System - The length of total run, the amount of offsets, type and condition of flue are all important factors.

5. Outside Air Temperature - Once you have your Acucraft all dialed in for the burning season, the fireplace starts burning hotter and producing more heat than before. What happened? The outside air temperature changed. The colder it is outside the smaller the air molecules become hence more air into the box. Also, the temperature differential between the damper and the top of your flue changed. Once that difference is greater than 200 degrees the plane takes off so to speak. You will need to adjust your Damper and Combustion Air based on the ever changing outside air.

We welcome your thoughts and tips. Please comment below on what has worked best for you. Also, we would like to know if there are any specific topics you would like for us to discuss on this blog.

Happy Burning!

Custom Wood Burning Insert with Patina Finish

2011-04-18T14:11:00.003-05:00

Beautiful Log Home with a VERY inefficient open hearth fireplace

The Firebox and flue were built incorrectly and smoke was entering the home,
note the smoke damage on stones above opening

Custom CAD Drawings Designed to fit existing opening and maximize viewing area

Custom Patina Finish on door to match existing steel fixtures within home

Close up view of door

Custom Insert Installed producing tons of heat

Close up of insert - the bottom left knob controls the amount of outside air allowed into the firebox
and the bottom right knob controls the blower speed

This customer had an existing large open hearth fireplace in their home. The problem was every time they had a fire the home got cold. A typical open hearth fireplace consumes a minimum of 300 cubic feet of air per minute and after the fire goes out, the flue is still warm pulling a lot of room air up the flue for the next day.The approximate efficiency of an open hearth is -35%. The open hearth fireplace was consuming all the air within the home and then started pulling in air through the window and door seams.

The customer wanted a custom wood burning insert to fit within their existing stone opening, large viewing area, patina finish to match existing design elements, ability to burn with the door open or removed, long burn times and a ton of BTU's. The custom insert shown above is capable of 95,000 BTU's an hour, 9 hour burn time and is 75% efficient. They are now able to heat their entire home, 3,200 sq ft, with wood by loading it twice a day. The furnace has been turned off except for the fan to evenly distribute the heat. The propane company will be calling soon wondering when they will need more propane.

Happy Burning!

Custom Outdoor Linear Gas Fireplace by Acucraft

2011-04-14T17:08:00.000-05:00

Concept Drawing for Outdoor Custom Gas Fireplace

Fireplace being manufactured

Custom Decorative Flue and Cap Enclosure

Completed Fireplace

Welcome to Acucraft Fireplaces' First Blog Post. We love working on unique one of a kind fireplace projects. An Architect asked if we could manufacture a custom outdoor gas fireplace with a decorative flue and cap enclosure and we started designing. The location of this fireplace is at Fort Bliss, a United States Army Air base in Texas. The viewing area is 102" wide x 13" tall, with a true clean face look with removable glass. The media inside the fireplace is a mixture of ceramic logs with recycled black glass. We support our Soldiers and are proud we were able to be a part of the base.

If you are interested in learning more on Custom Linear Gas Fireplace, please view the November 4th blog post on The 5 Key Decisions in Designing your Custom Linear Gas Fireplace