Note: An extensive article written by John Gulland in cooperation with Hearth and Home Magazine and HPBA.

The article is available as a PDF – File:BestPractices.pdf

From the Article:
Introduction

The ideal wood-burning fireplace is a pleasure to use. It doesn’t smoke when lit or spill cold air and odors when not in use; it doesn’t back draft when the kitchen fan is on, and it works well regardless of wind speed or direction. For obvious reasons, everyone involved in putting fireplaces into houses, including manufacturers, architects, builders and installation contractors, want every fireplace to give pleasure and never frustrate the home owner. But sometimes fireplaces don’t work well and the results are costly, not only in lost time but in the reputation of everyone concerned. Over the years the fireplace industry has spent a lot of time and money investigating problems and working to improve fireplace performance. We now know how to prevent problems through effective installation design. This paper provides a concise overview of the characteristics of good design.”