Hello, I wanted to share an idea with you: heat recovery from a fireplace.

When one heats a house, an apartment, or any living space with a fire in a fireplace or stove, heat is emitted and radiates around it, warming the room where the fire is located.

The idea I am presenting is that by recovering the hot air from the combustion in pipes, this hot air, then circulated through a system of pipes around the living space and out of the room, can carry the heat. This heat, radiating from the pipes themselves, will spread around them and be able to heat the entire space, or at least a portion of it, beyond the room where the initial fire was located.

Several applications of this idea are possible. First, it is important to avoid capturing combustion fumes and catch only the hot air. This can be achieved by carefully positioning the hot air intakes and using a filter, for example. Next, the heating system’s circulation pipes must be made of a suitable material, such as a heat-conducting metal like lightweight aluminum, to maximize the system’s performance. Finally, the hot air, being naturally mobile, must be directed either to a cooler outside outlet or, potentially, to a storage system, as properly conditioned hot air is known to retain heat well.

In the installation of these two, hot air outlet and storage systems, I believe a small turbine, either propeller-driven or powered by a dynamo, could be installed. With the right equipment, this could generate a small amount of domestic electricity. In the case of a domestic dwelling, having a stock of hot air will easily serve, if installed for this purpose, to heat water for the inhabitants’ use.

Thus, by recovering heat in the truest sense of the word, we can save firewood, firstly to improve our living conditions, and secondly, we can see it as a potential source of responsible electricity and hot water!

We could easily imagine this system on the scale of an entire building, or even a group of houses…

You’ll probably need to be a bit handy or a “DIYer” to install such a network of pipes, but I think it’s within reach of many people around the world.

And having already seen it installed at a friend’s house who followed my advice, I can guarantee you it’s remarkably efficient!