Expert: James Ball - 2/25/2011

Question
Iv'e been a general contractor for almost 30 years.My best client has an incredible fireplace.The fireplace is all masonary with a heatilator corrgated insert,that has 2 feeders(approximately)3 to 4 inch tubesfeeding into a common grill,driven by 2 whisper fans that are located on each side of hearth that sucks in air and pushes it out the heat.recently,the sweeps came out to clean the flue.I vacumned the entire area around the 4 to 5 inch area between the corrugated and the masonary.just recently Neil built a fire as usual,but from the heartilator grill, a very strong smoke came billowing out and the heatilator fans were not even on.If I block the main heatilator grill,this doesn't happen.But they want to use the heatilator for a warmth source,but they can't.I'll do anything to make them happy.Russell E. Jackson Construction.

Answer
Hello Russell, it sounds like a fire grate that also heats? was it disconnected? rusted/burned through? is it sitting in the same place as  before? it might be time for a replacement, maybe a wood stove insert?
I would have a local Certified Chimney Sweep www.csia.org, (there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have, they should be able to help.
Hope this helps
James