The 36" masonry fireplace tested by Myren Labs, using the manufactured fireplace fueling protocol, was built by Jerry Frisch. It's just like the masonry fireplaces taught for many years by the union apprenticeship programs and commonly built since the 1950's. It has an opening in the front 36" wide in and 24" tall. The depth of the firebox at the hearth is 21" to the front of the surround or 17" to the rough opening behind the surround. The fireback is 24" wide at the hearth with a break forward 13.5" above the hearth so that the dept narrows to 10" at the base of the damper 8" above the fireplace opening. Interesting to note, the 36" masonry fireplace is much larger than the Heatilator E-36 "low mass" fireplace used to develop the fuel crib. The E-36 has an opening of only 30" wide by 18" tall and is 16" deep with a 18" wide fireback. The E-36 has an area of 540 sq.in. compared with 864 for the masonry fireplace. The hearth area of the E-36 is 384 sq.in. compared with the masonry hearth of 510 aq.in. and the volume of the E-36 is 6,912 cu.in. compared with the volume of 12,240 for the 36" masonry firebox.

Myren Consulting Report
Testing the Fireplace
The Apparatus

Building the Fireplace

RMCA standard fireplace for comparison

Buckley Rumford Fireplaces
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