Fireplace 101 for a new homeowner?

[Aurock]

We purchased a house this year with a fireplace in the living room. Opening the damper is about the limit of my fireplace knowledge.
It's your basic brick fireplace, with a metal curtain and glass doors on the front. Is there an article or thread around here that covers the basics?

We like the fireplace for atmosphere for the most part, but it would be nice if it could actually help heat the house as well.

 

[Slow1]

I think you will find rather quickly that the answer is going to be "No" on any real heat value from a standard fireplace. There are several reasons for this; the amount of air that gets pulled through has to come into your house somewhere and will cool the rest of the house is the most obvious. Add to that the fact that the firebox area of the fireplace just can't get hot enough to really fully burn the smoke and other gases and you have an inefficient burn. Fireplaces are nice pretty things, but they are not efficient heaters.

You can get a nice insert to put in there that will not only be an efficient heater, but will also be a nice pretty thing. In fact the flame show of secondary combustion systems can be much more interesting to watch than a few logs in a traditional fireplace.

 

[tradergordo]

I second that. If you do the research, you'll find that fireplaces are only good for two things, ambiance, and housing an insert. You should definitely consider an insert, especially with the 30% tax credit.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I second that. If you do the research, you'll find that fireplaces are only good for two things, ambiance, and housing an insert. You should definitely consider an insert, especially with the 30% tax credit.

or for rear venting a free-standing stove.

 

[Pagey]

Here's a link to some fireplace basics: (broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/technology/bpfireplaces.htm)

But, as others have suggested, don't expect to generate significant heat with an open fireplace. They just suck too much warm air out of your home, unfortunately. However, the good news is that with today's EPA approved fireplace inserts, you can use that existing fireplace to get heat and a beautiful fire!

(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/technology/inserts.htm)

 

[Fsappo]

If you want to use the fireplace more than once or twice a month, and are interested in saving on energy, I second the idea of an insert. If you have natural gas available, a high efficiency natural gas insert can be very tempting when you consider the cost to use it compared to buying cord wood.

 

[Aurock]

If you want to use the fireplace more than once or twice a month, and are interested in saving on energy, I second the idea of an insert. If you have natural gas available, a high efficiency natural gas insert can be very tempting when you consider the cost to use it compared to buying cord wood.

I have considered putting a gas log in the existing fireplace, so if I were to go with an insert, that would almost certainly be the way to go.

I gather from what little I've seen here so far that a fireplace insert isn't a 'do it yourself' project, but something that would have to be professionally installed, is that correct?

 

[Pagey]

Many people do it as a DIY project. Just make sure to check with any local codes/insurance requirements before tackling it yourself.

 

[TreePapa]

Until some future time when we can afford a nice freestanding EPA-II stove (w/ chim, install, etc.), we use our traditional brick FP quite a bit. However: (1) we live in sunny So. Calif. Cold here is 40 deg (F). (2) the FP is in the den, which is just about the smallest room in the house. While the FP (w/ Grate Wall of Fire and fireback) will warm up the room nicely, it DOES suck in cold air from the rest of the house, and it does nothing for heating the rest of the house. However, we usually don't heat the rest of the house. Last night, which only got down to about 54(F), my wife, daughter, and I all slept in the den.

Other than living in a mild climate, and using the "GrateWall," I have found that the key to getting heat from the FP is to use WELL SEASONED (dry) firewood. Split fairly small. And "structure" the wood in the fire to make sure it gets lots of air.

One of these days we'll get a stove. We're not likely to get an insert for the FP, 'though, since an insert w/ 1/2-decent performance would prolly roast us out of the den!

I'm sure that if you live somewhere it actually gets cold (a Yahoo! address doesn't tell us anything about where you live or your climate), you'll be much happier if you can put a nice insert or stove in the FP. Read through these forums, esp. this one (Heath Room) and you'll get lots of (mostly great) info doing this. Read the woodshed forum for info on properly seasoned firewood.

Peace,
- Sequoia

 

[oconnor]

Give the Guide to Residential Wood Heating a read - link in my signature. A great way to start you thinking about heating with wood. That and the site Pagey linked you to are great resources, as well as simply asking away right here with any questions that come up. Doing it yourself can be easy only if you do your research and plan it out well ahead of time. Lot's of good folks here willing to lend a "finger". Type away....

 

[Aurock]

Okay, I guess first of all I should get a better understanding of what I have. Looking at insert pricing, that's not a realistic option for this year at least.

Here's a picture of my fireplace. I'm told the vents to the side are called heatilators, and are supposed to help with heat? I don't think the doors are considered an 'insert' like you guys are talking about, but there does seem to be some kind of metal liner across the back wall inside the fireplace, that follows the diagonal up to the beginning of the chimney.

Does my description, combined with the photo, make sense?

 

[Dix]

Yes, it does..and welcome to the forums

Looks like a heatalator FP to me. I have one of it's cousins

This is it stripped down, with an "insert"

The heatalator system is a passive system, in that it draws cooler air from the floor up thru the tubes, where it gets heated by the firebox, and is passively sent up thru the top grates. My FP threw a decent amount of heat, but, alas, alack, only into the den. The rest of the house was COLD, and even with the damped closed, still pulled heat out of the house during the times it wasn't being used.

I don't know your location, but for me, it wasn't a help at all in January. Hence the insert.

 

[Aurock]

That does look quite similar. Though, I wonder if this is all original, or if there was something redone on the fireplace at one point. On the back side of the chimney, there is a metal door that I assume was for cleaning. Unfortunately I can't get the door open (and it's very hard to get to), but I don't see anywhere on the inside of the fireplace that looks like the other side of the door. Also, the bricks moving the opposite direction above the center of the fireplace -- would those be where the fireplace was bigger at one time and they fillled it in with bricks to make it smaller? Or am I way off base?

 

[Dix]

That does look quite similar. Though, I wonder if this is all original, or if there was something redone on the fireplace at one point. On the back side of the chimney, there is a metal door that I assume was for cleaning. Unfortunately I can't get the door open (and it's very hard to get to), but I don't see anywhere on the inside of the fireplace that looks like the other side of the door. Also, the bricks moving the opposite direction above the center of the fireplace -- would those be where the fireplace was bigger at one time and they fillled it in with bricks to make it smaller? Or am I way off base?

My guess is "artistic License", but I am not an FP expert.

My den is 20 X 12, it would get 78 in here when it was 20 outside, but the rest of the house was 55.

Dry wood is going to be a requirement, I agree with that.

 

[weatherguy]

What if you guys with the heatilators put air tight doors on your FP? wouldnt that control the amount of cold air being pulled from the house and slow the burn down enough to get the fire hotter?