
253D9028
5
opeRation guidelines
When a AK4 combustion air assembly and a combustion air duct are attached to the connecting point on the left
of the replace, combustion air may enter the rebox through a dampered opening behind the left side panel.
This feature is designed for your benet to reduce the room air used for combustion and to prevent excessive
loss of heat from the room. When the replace is in use, this damper should be open. When the replace
is not in use, the damper should be closed to prevent cold air from entering the rebox. The combustion air
damper is open when the lever, located on the left side of the rebox near the top of the left rebrick, is up and
closed when the lever is down.
Outside air for combustion is optional unless required by federal, state or local building codes. See the section
of this manual providing the instructions for installation of the combustion air assembly. The design of the
replace allows the routing of the combustion air duct up, down, or horizontally to obtain the outside combustion
air. This permits exibility in planning your installation. See Figure 23 for typical installation methods. Review
the precautions and recommendations in this manual pertaining to outside combustion air installation.
Glass doors should be installed to receive the maximum benet from your replace. For large res, the
maximum heating benet from the replace will be obtained with the doors open due to the high amount of
radiant heat being emitted out of the front opening of the replace. With a small re, or before retiring in the
evenings, it is best to operate the replace with the doors closed to prevent excessive room air form being
drawn up the chimney. When the doors are open, the mesh screens should be closed to help keep burning
embers from popping out of the rebox.
The replace should also be equipped with a ue damper, which must be open when the replace is in use.
The ue damper control lever is located inside the replace. The counterweighted damper is operated by
simply pushing up to open or pulling down to close the damper. When the replace is not in use, the damper
should be closed to prevent cold air form entering the chimney as well as preventing warm air in the room
from escaping up the chimney.
NOTE: It is normal for a small amount of smoke to be released from the upper portion of the replace the rst
few times you use your new replace. This results from an oil residue on the metal. Open a door or window
to allow the smoke to escape.
The grate included with this replace helps to appropriately locate and contain the burning wood. Failure to
use this grate may cause overheating of parts of the replace and allow large pieces of burning wood to roll
forward out of the rebox. If the grate becomes warped or damaged, it must be replaced with grate number
050456 only.
WARNING: Fireplaces equipped with doors should be operated only with the doors fully open or doors fully
closed. If doors are left partly open, gas and ame may be drawn out of the replace opening, creating risks
of both re and smoke.
All replace chimneys are in direct contact with cold air on the exterior of the structure. Consequently, when
the replace is not in use, cold air can fall down the chimney of the replace to cool off the replace chase.
Therefore, the replace chase must be insulated to minimize the risk of cold air inltration to the home.
Even if the replace chase is adequately insulated, this cannot completely ensure that cold air inltration
into the structure will be eliminated. Cold air inltration is a possibility with any replace or device that freely
communicates with the air on the outside of the structure. Today’s homes are more energy-efcient and,
therefore, better insulated and tightly constructed. Unfortunately, when air is removed from the house, as by
a bathroom fan, or consumed by a furnace, additional air is needed to replace the air consumed. Unless the
additional air is supplied, this can cause a negative pressure in the home. When this happens, the house will
draw in outside air form the cracks in the windows, down the replace ue or other locations of air leakage in
the home. Because cold air inltration may be unavoidable in some structures, MHSC is not responsible for
heat loss or air inltration through or around the replace.