first shot at a hearth

[PJacobi]

Hi, enjoyed reading all the great posts on this site.

I just bought a house, and it has a fireplace. A great feature for a lifelong apartment dweller like myself. It looks like a pretty old (maybe 20 years) Majestic - with folding glass and brass doors. It has a gas starter, which is cool. Additionally, there is a fan/blower that appears to be broken. The fireplace is in the houses only "great room" and is the obvious room where we'd spend most of our time. I'm in North Atlanta, so winters aren't too bad, but one would have a good 3 months of so of potential heat enhancement from burning. What would you do?

- Should I seek a replacement fan? And just go with the current set-up, but with a fan?
- Forget the replacement fan (they appear circa $200+) and use it for ambiance only.
- is an "insert" worth it? It appears that inserts give up some ambiance, in exchange for efficiency, is that true?

Just like to hear other people's thoughts.

 

[Stump_Branch]

PJac,

Congrats on th purchase, I did the same some months ago and while the renovations take theri toll, money and sanity its just great owning my first home.

I had a fireplace as well, ugly blonde brick, with a fan. Had maybe three total fires in it and the fire always was hard to keep going and hard to get any warmth from the thing. I had the same brass doors, and used them to "dampen" the fire down, worked so so.
My wife and I had planned on a woodburning insert (which I finally got in and had my first fire in it last night, Awesome, but for another post), you may think that some of the romance is taken out with the notion of an insert, but I must confess, with the EPA stove with Ceramic "glass" doors, I can assure you that it is just as pleasing to view. I actually would go so far to say its better with secondaries burning if so equipped). you can walk away from a stove, cant so much with an open fireplace. And oh yeah...THE HEAT...it can drive you out of the room if you want.

If I Had a vote here I'd say get yourself a stove..