QUESTION FROM Joan Rogers

We recently moved into a home with a Superior gas fireplace (model DS-36TN) insert with a forced air blower attachment (I believe the model for the blower is a FAK-1500). The fireplace works fine but when I turn the switch on to the blower, located at the bottom of the fireplace, it just blows out cold air from below the fireplace. There is no warm air circulating from the upper "vent" area at all. Even when the fireplace is on for a while, you can feel the warm air radiating from the glass but the air blowing out at the bottom is cool to luke warm and no air comes out at the top. Needless to say, it does not heat the room at all. Is this a venting problem? I have looked in the manual and it shows the blower (aka a fan) but it doesn't seem to attach to any vent system. Is it just supposed to blow air around the insert and hopefully in the process blow out heat? I am hoping for a more efficient use for heating a cold room.

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Joan:

Typically, a gas fireplace with a blower would draw air from the room through the vents at the bottom of the fireplace, and then blow out the air warmed by the fireplace back into the room through the vents at the top.

Since you are not getting anything out of the top (and I assume that you also do not feel any air being drawn in at the top either, right?), then it sounds to me like there could be something blocking the blower, so that when the blower is running the air is being forced back out of the bottom without ever circulating around the fireplace to be warmed up.

You might want to call Lennox Hearth Products (1-800-953-6669, Mon-Friday, 8am-8pm), who manufactures the Superior brand fireplaces, and ask them if they have had this kind of problems with their blowers before, either because of improper installation or if something later could happen that would block the airflow.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com