Wood Peninsula Fireplace

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HydrordyH

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Jan 27, 2010
15
U.P.
We are building a new house and kicking around the idea of a wood burning peninsula (3-sided) fireplace between the dinning and family rooms. This is not going to be the primary source of heat but more a backup if power goes out/add a little more heat/cozy. I'm not so much worried about it making a mess from wood debris or it not being super efficient but concerned about them being overly smokey and/or other problems. Does anyone have experience with one who could give a little insite? Thanks for your time.
Brian
 
If it were MY house, I wouldn't do it, especially not a site-built unit.
Mullti-sided units can be problematic , although I believe the peninsular types may be less so.
Some houses have different pressures in different rooms & while one side might draft well, the other side may not.
When the time comes to try to modify it or remove it for energy reasons, your options will be limited
& not inexpensive. If you want fireplace doors, you will be buying 3 instead of 1.
If you want to install an insert - WOOD, GAS, or PELLET, you will have to fabricate panels for the sides
to hide the back of the insert, & these generally don't look as good as you want them to.
As far as back-up heat, forget it. You will suck more air OUT of your house than you will put heat INTO it.
Nature of the beast. Open fireplace is probably MINUS 10% efficient. You HAVE to leave the damper open
until the LAST spark goes out & you will lose whatever heat you have inside out thru that open flue.
Your call...
 
I agree. If the intent is to have a fire to look at, Heatilator makes peninsula fireplaces, but I wouldn't put in one as a source of heat. If that is the intent, work a good woodstove into the plan. It will give you a nice fireview and real heat when it is burning. Or perhaps consider a masonry stove as an area divider?
 
DAKSY said:
As far as back-up heat, forget it. You will suck more air OUT of your house than you will put heat INTO it.
Nature of the beast. Open fireplace is probably MINUS 10% efficient. You HAVE to leave the damper open
until the LAST spark goes out & you will lose whatever heat you have inside out thru that open flue.
Your call...
Click to expand...

Well, I wouldn't go that far. People heated their homes for hundreds of years with nothing but open fireplace's. George Washington's estate had something on the order of 15 open fireplaces in it, it kept the whole place warm. (IIRC it used like 3 full cords/day though!).

They can heat, they just aren't very efficient at it. When I was a kid, we had an open masonry fireplace and when the power went out for days at a time, it kept the house somewhat warm, well, like 55 in the back, 60-70 near the fireplace. Sure, we had to keep it fed, but it worked.

My buddy has a three sided pre-fab, not sure which brand, it *looks* like a cheap builder special though. It works however, they only use it for some ambiance when guests are over and he does use it for heat when power is out, but that's only happened once for a few hours since he's been in that house. He said it worked just fine for backup heat. Not the warmest, but by far and away better than nothing. Of course, a simple small generator could run his gas furnace and he'd have all the heat he wanted..but...that's another topic.
 
I've sold a number of prefab 3 sided wood fireplaces in the past. If they are installed with the glass doors, outside air kit, proper chimney height, etc, I have never had a problem. If you want to build a 3 sided from brick and mortar, make sure the mason is in contact with a good structural engineer who can apply the proper ratios between the square inches of fireplace openings and the chimney specs. Its a nice look. Go for it and make sure it gets done right.
 
Franks, how well do the prefabs heat? II have never burned in one, but wonder because we get a few posters here every year that want to put a stove/insert in place in the peninsula fireplace so that they get some real heat. Usually these are masonry units, not prefabs.

Not sure what is required for power outages in the upper peninsula, but if they are like ours, they can be over a week long. That's when there is nothing like a good woodstove that can heat the house regardless of the weather. We have a generator too, but you need to watch fuel consumption, especially if the gas stations are also without power. So it usually is only run to keep food in the freezer from thawing.
 
Hydro,

I would never recommend putting in any fireplace unless it was an EPA certified fireplace. In a nut shell, an EPA fireplace is clean burning fireplace which means that you are not sending unburnt fuel up the chimney (unburnt fuel up chimney = pollution). Essentually, an EPA fireplace is an EPA wood stove that has a large glass viewing area. However, please understand that with a fireplace you will be sending much more heat up the chimney than with a wood stove. So while an EPA fireplace and EPA stove may both be clean burning, the stove will be a much better heater (higher efficiency).


One recomendation that I have for an EPA fireplace that divides two rooms is the Oracle Fireplace made by RSF.
Here is the link:

http://www.icc-rsf.com/en/rsf/oracle-fireplace


Good luck,

heatxchangerny
 
Interesting and good suggestion.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I guess I should have been more clear that primary heat is not the main goal. We are looking at it more for ambiance. It is going to be an insert on an island wall that will breakup the dining from the family room. I guess I'm looking for some more specifics like 73blazer gave on how well they function. Thanks again.
 
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