Claims
- 1. A gas fireplace unit comprising a wall forming a combustion chamber, a burner in the combustion chamber for producing heated gases, and a heat exchanger connected to the combustion chamber through ports in the wall of the combustion chamber said heat exchanger including an exhaust pipe opening in a heat exchanger wall spaced from the combustion chamber wall, and said combustion chamber wall having at least one first outlet port oriented so that hot gases passing therethrough are offset from the exhaust pipe opening when gases from the combustion chamber enter the heat exchanger, and at least one second outlet port in the combustion chamber wall in alignment with the exhaust pipe opening sufficient for substantially direct flow of the hot gases from the at least one second outlet port through the exhaust pipe, and a damper for controlling the substantially direct flow through said at least one second outlet port to selectively alter the exhaust gas flow patterns of the gas fireplace.
- 2. The gas fireplace of claim 1, wherein said wall of the combustion chamber is an upper wall, which inclines to be over at least a portion of the burner in the combustion chamber.
- 3. The gas fireplace of claim 1, wherein said exhaust pipe opening is in the heat exchanger wall, and the combustion chamber wall is the upper wall of the combustion chamber, the heat exchanger wall being parallel to the combustion chamber wall.
- 4. The gas fireplace of claim 1, wherein said at least one second outlet port comprises a plurality of ports forming a second set of ports aligned with the exhaust port, and said damper comprising a flat damper plate slidably mounted on a surface of an upper wall of the combustion chamber, the damper plate being movable between a position covering the second set of ports and a position uncovering the second set of ports.
- 5. The gas fireplace unit of claim 4, including a handle on the exterior of the heat exchange unit for moving the damper plate between the damper plate positions.
- 6. A gas fireplace unit comprising a combustion chamber having an upper wall, side walls joining the upper wall, a rear wall joining the side walls, and a front wall joining the side walls and spaced from the rear wall for viewing an interior of the combustion chamber, an air flow chamber at least in part surrounding the combustion chamber for providing a discharge of heated air into a room, said air flow chamber including a portion wall of the combustion chamber having exhaust gas ports therein, an exhaust chamber being formed at least in part by a portion of the wall of the combustion chamber having the exhaust ports, an exhaust pipe for discharging products of combustion open through an exhaust pipe opening to the exhaust chamber on a side thereof opposite and spaced from the wall having the exhaust ports, the exhaust chamber having wall surfaces larger than the exhaust pipe opening for conducting heat to air flowing in the air flow chamber, and a damper for blocking flow through at least one of said ports from the combustion chamber to the exhaust chamber to alter the heat exchange patterns of the gas fireplace.
- 7. The gas fireplace of claim 6, wherein the upper wall of the combustion chamber includes an inclined portion that overlies at least a portion of a burner in a combustion chamber, said ports being formed in said inclined wall portion.
- 8. The gas fireplace of claim 6, wherein said ports includes at least one port substantially aligned with the exhaust pipe, and said damper being positioned to selectively cover and uncover said at least one aligned port.
- 9. The gas fireplace of claim 6, wherein said damper operates to cover and uncover only selected ports, the rest of the ports being unaffected by movement of the damper.
- 10. The gas fireplace of claim 6, wherein the ports include first ports and second ports, the first ports being offset from the exhaust pipe opening, said second ports being separated from said first ports, said damper operating only in conjunction with said second ports.
- 11. A gas fireplace unit comprising a combustion chamber having side walls, a rear wall, and an upper wall assembly joined together to form the chamber, a burner in the combustion chamber producing heated exhaust gases, an exhaust pipe for carrying exhaust gases from the combustion chamber, the upper wall assembly comprising two spaced walls, including an outer wall and an inner wall, the exhaust pipe being coupled to an exhaust pipe opening through the outer wall and being spaced from the inner wall, the inner wall being larger than the exhaust pipe opening, said heat exchanger chamber providing a heat exchange surface, said heat exchanger chamber having a surface area larger than the exhaust pipe opening, a plurality of first openings from the combustion chamber to the exhaust pipe including an alternate opening in the inner wall in alignment for direct flow of gases from the combustion chamber to the exhaust pipe a damper movable to control flow through the alternate opening in the inner wall, at least one of the plurality of first openings, other than the alternate opening being offset from a central axis of said exhaust pipe opening and remaining constantly open so the distance of travel of exhaust gases from the at least one opening to the exhaust pipe opening is greater than the path of travel from the alternate opening to the exhaust pipe opening.
- 12. The gas fireplace of claim 11, wherein the inner wall of said combustion chamber has said plurality of openings and is an upper wall of the combustion chamber.
- 13. In a gas fireplace having a combustion chamber with side, upper and rear walls, a duct around at least portions of the walls including the upper wall for providing heated air into an exterior space, an exhaust pipe fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber, and a gas burner in said combustion chamber providing heated gases to transfer heat to air in the duct, and the heated gases flowing from the combustion chamber to the exhaust pipe, the method of controlling heat transferred to air in the duct comprising providing a first wall with a first opening from the combustion chamber aligned with the exhaust pipe, providing a second exhaust opening from the combustion chamber laterally offset from the exhaust pipe, selectively controlling flow of heated gases through the first opening to change the length of the path of travel for some heated gases into the exhaust pipe to control the amount of heat transferred to air in the duct.
- 14. The method of claim 13 including the step of providing continuous flow through the second exhaust opening leading from the combustion chamber.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 08/688,604, filed Jul. 30, 1996 now abandoned, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
47565 |
Mar 1982 |
EPX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
688604 |
Jul 1996 |
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