Refractory panels and prefab fireplace parts replaced in West Colonial

Finding the rating plate on your fireplace

Every listed factory-built fireplace carries a rating plate with the maker, the model and the serial number. One maker's manual places it on the smoke shelf, just inside the top of the opening, and the manual for your model shows where yours sits.

We find and read that plate before discussing any part. With the fireplace cold, you can often spot it yourself with a flashlight, and writing down the model and serial number before you call speeds up the parts search.

• Maker's name
• Model name or number
• Serial number
• Listing information

Doors fully open or fully closed

Door habits matter on a prefab unit. One maker's manual says that while the fireplace is burning, glass doors must be fully opened or fully closed, because doors left partly open may draw flame out of the opening.

The same manual notes that a fireplace with glass doors has a limited air supply, and that too large a fire behind closed doors builds excessive heat. We go over those habits after any door repair so the new glass lasts.

Replacing broken door glass

Door glass on a factory-built fireplace is tempered and sized to the maker's door frame. Chips at the edge and cracks across the pane mean the doors should stay out of use until the glass is replaced.

We order the replacement for your door model, fit it with its gasket or clips as designed and check that the doors swing and close the way they should afterward.

• Glass ordered for your door model
• Gasket or clips fitted as designed
• Door swing and closing checked

How high a factory-built chimney must reach

One maker's instructions follow a familiar rule for the top of the chimney. The top has to stand 3 feet or more above the highest point of its roof penetration, and 2 feet taller than any part of the roof that lies within 10 feet.

Additions and roof changes can put a higher roof section inside that 10-foot circle. If the chimney no longer meets the rule, we explain what the manual allows for extending it with listed sections.

• At least 3 feet above the roof penetration
• At least 2 feet above roof within 10 feet
• Extensions with listed sections only