Fireplaces, Heating Stoves, Flues and Chimneys - Does my fireplace have a blower

Hi all........

I just moved into an older house, 1940's. The house has two fireplaces, one in living room and one in the basement. Both of them have 4 6x6 vents around the opening. My question is, do these have blowers? I've not found a switch or electric running to either of them. The fireplaces were gas, but have been capped off, the fireplace itself is a metal surround. I'm sorry for being ignorant, I was just curious.

Thanks,
Terry

Probably no blower. My parents had a similar one in the den of their house in OH as well. There were 2 vents down low on the sides, then 2 more up high in the front. After a fire had been burning for a while natural convection caused by the heated interior firebox would literally blow hot air out the upper vents. You could easily feel it on your hand 3 ft away.

This was a wood burner, but you may have had the heavy cast iron burners in there at one time, which would have done the same thing.