Need Fireplace Door recommendations

[Flatbedford]

Some of you all may recognize me from a few years ago. For 14 years I heated my house in NY mostly with wood. First with the crappy, and probably dangerous Franklin style stove that came with the house and over priced unseasoned wood that I bought and ending up with a Woodstock Fireview and 3 plus years reserve of wood that I personally scrounged and processed, and all the support tools, trucks, tractors, etc. 2 years ago we gave it all up and moved to Las Vegas, NV. In case you all didn't know, it actually does get cold here in the high desert. Not bitterly cold, but the high 30s, very low humidity, and some wind can make for a chilly night in December thru March.
The house we bought is a "vintage", by Las Vegas standards 1982 split level with a nice big old fire place in the ground floor den. It has a gas burner in it, but the chimney sweep (trained in Chicago) that we had to the house yesterday says that the fireplace and chimney are "real" and capable of safely burning wood. He did suggest either removing or replacing the gas burner after this season as it is old and somewhat degraded from use. The sweep suggested we get a set of glass doors to improve efficiency and to have some sort of draft control. Kinda like the little sliders on the doors on my old Franklin stove. I have never really dealt with a traditional fireplace before and I know nothing about these doors or where to get them. Any suggestions or anything I should know when I shop? The opening is 36" wide by 24" high.
One other thing. Is is normal for the house to smell like burnt wood after using a fireplace? We almost never had smoke smell in the house with the crappy Franklin stove or the Fireview.

 

[Woody Stover]

Some of you all may recognize me from a few years ago....normal for the house to smell like burnt wood after using a fireplace? We almost never had smoke smell in the house with the crappy Franklin stove or the Fireview.

Yep, the username rang a bell, then I saw NV and said, whaaaat??
Yep, chimneys get downdrafts and are stinky; You need to slap a stove in there instead. A little Keystone would be perfect since you are already spoiled on Woodstocks.

 

[Flatbedford]

I'd love to install a real stove, but right now I just want to get what I can out of this thing. I don't intend to heat the house with it. We just want to see, feel and hear a fire on the chilly nights. Firewood doesn't just grow on trees here either. Scrounging opps are few and far between and it looks like folks sell it for around $300/cord.
From what I have seen so far, the glass doors are only for use when there is not a fire in there. I guess that would reduce the smell a bit tough.

 

[wooduser]

There are a number of manufacturers who custom build fireplace doors to your needs, in a wide variety of styles. Or you probably have a stove shop who can measure, order and install such doors that they probably purchase from these same manufacturers.

This is the first one that popped up when I googled "glass fireplace doors:" https://www.woodlanddirect.com/Fire...EDJ_3WF4_WWY9pKsBMQYjta_ubH2RWk4aAuEbEALw_wcB

Custom doors are very nice, but expensive. You can get inexpensive fireplace door kits you can fit to your fireplace from Home Depot type stores pretty inexpensively.

The problem with gas logs is that the damper in the fireplace has to be wired open ----so you have a constant stream of warm, heated room air going up the chimney 24/7 and being replaced by cold air from out doors.


Different during the summer, probably. Then you probably have a constant stream of cool, air conditioned air being sucked up the flue 24/7 and being replaced by hot air from your furnace like summer temperatures!

So what do you WANT to do? You could replace the gas log set, they don't cost a lot and often have very attractive flames, at the price of losing all that hot and cold air as described above.

You could install a manufactured gas insert, which would eliminate much of that warm air cool air loss, and give you a nice fireplace appearance and usable heat.

You could install a wood insert and burn wood if you want to go that route again, although it sounds like you moved 3,000 miles to get away from that!

Or you could pull out the gas burner and put the fireplace out of operation. Plug up the chimney to end the losses and wall it off in whatever way suits you, just so it can't be operated.

You could consider a pellet stove, too.

What do you WANT to do?

 

[wooduser]

<<. Firewood doesn't just grow on trees here either


Heh, heh!

 

[bholler]

If you plan on burning with the doors closed you need to get a set with pyroceramic glad in them. They are very pricey. And if they actually do seal and control the air it will make a mess of the chimney due to not enough air volume.

 

[bholler]

There are a number of manufacturers who custom build fireplace doors to your needs, in a wide variety of styles. Or you probably have a stove shop who can measure, order and install such doors that they probably purchase from these same manufacturers.

This is the first one that popped up when I googled "glass fireplace doors:" https://www.woodlanddirect.com/Fire...EDJ_3WF4_WWY9pKsBMQYjta_ubH2RWk4aAuEbEALw_wcB

Custom doors are very nice, but expensive. You can get inexpensive fireplace door kits you can fit to your fireplace from Home Depot type stores pretty inexpensively.

The problem with gas logs is that the damper in the fireplace has to be wired open ----so you have a constant stream of warm, heated room air going up the chimney 24/7 and being replaced by cold air from out doors.


Different during the summer, probably. Then you probably have a constant stream of cool, air conditioned air being sucked up the flue 24/7 and being replaced by hot air from your furnace like summer temperatures!

So what do you WANT to do? You could replace the gas log set, they don't cost a lot and often have very attractive flames, at the price of losing all that hot and cold air as described above.

You could install a manufactured gas insert, which would eliminate much of that warm air cool air loss, and give you a nice fireplace appearance and usable heat.

You could install a wood insert and burn wood if you want to go that route again, although it sounds like you moved 3,000 miles to get away from that!

Or you could pull out the gas burner and put the fireplace out of operation. Plug up the chimney to end the losses and wall it off in whatever way suits you, just so it can't be operated.

You could consider a pellet stove, too.

What do you WANT to do?

Very good post with lots of good info. I just have to correct one thing. Cooler air conditioned air would not go up the chimney. That simply is not how draft works.

 

[MAD MARK]

I've ordered fireplace doors off of woodland direct.

Was around $750. Got exactly what I wanted, custom fit, black finish, can burn with them shut.

 

[bholler]

And yes woodland direct is the best place I have found for doors

 

[Flatbedford]

We do not want to burn gas in the thing! It sort of looks like a fire, but makes a hissing noise. I'd rather waste money buying gas to keep the pool heated. I just want my traditional fireplace to not make the house stink and possibly not send all the heat up the stack.

 

[begreen]

One other thing. Is is normal for the house to smell like burnt wood after using a fireplace? We almost never had smoke smell in the house with the crappy Franklin stove or the Fireview.

A fireplace in the lowest section of the house can have a reverse draft situation if there is negative pressure there. This could be caused by open windows or doors upstairs and/or exhaust from fans or a dryer.

 

[wooduser]

We do not want to burn gas in the thing! It sort of looks like a fire, but makes a hissing noise. I'd rather waste money buying gas to keep the pool heated. I just want my traditional fireplace to not make the house stink and possibly not send all the heat up the stack.

It sounds like your preference is to
1. Keep the gas log set,
You shouldn't have a hissing noise, which suggests somethingn that needs to be cleaned or adjusted.
Gas log sets often have attractive flames. And old set may need to have the sand and embers material replaced, the soot vacuumed off the logs and fireplace and the burners cleaned and adjusted and the pilot burner cleaned.

That wouls take me less than an hour to do when I was in the business, which would include getting rid of the hissss. You ought to have an attractive fire when that is done. Having old parts is probably not a problem as long as they work OK and are in safe operating condition.

If you'd like to include some pictures of your fireplace, gas logs, gas valves and the fire when it's burning, I can comment on it if you like and perhaps improve on this general evaluation.

Getting the glass doors ought to do a lot to reduce air flow up the chimney, but it's not going to produce much heat, because fireplaces are notoriously inefficient. All you can really expect is some radiant heat off the gas logs when they are burning.

If you want a nice fire +heat+reasonable efficiency, you'd have to install a gas fireplace insert, which would cost a couple of thousand dollars or so to throw out a number. But then you've really got something.

But you can get a nice fire to look at and enjoy by doing the needed maintenance work as described above.

Do some serious thinking about whether you are happy with what you have or whether you might be interested in the gas fireplace insert. Local stove shops would be delighted to show you samples of those.

 

[bholler]

It sounds like your preference is to
1. Keep the gas log set,
You shouldn't have a hissing noise, which suggests somethingn that needs to be cleaned or adjusted.
Gas log sets often have attractive flames. And old set may need to have the sand and embers material replaced, the soot vacuumed off the logs and fireplace and the burners cleaned and adjusted and the pilot burner cleaned.

That wouls take me less than an hour to do when I was in the business, which would include getting rid of the hissss. You ought to have an attractive fire when that is done. Having old parts is probably not a problem as long as they work OK and are in safe operating condition.

If you'd like to include some pictures of your fireplace, gas logs, gas valves and the fire when it's burning, I can comment on it if you like and perhaps improve on this general evaluation.

Getting the glass doors ought to do a lot to reduce air flow up the chimney, but it's not going to produce much heat, because fireplaces are notoriously inefficient. All you can really expect is some radiant heat off the gas logs when they are burning.

If you want a nice fire +heat+reasonable efficiency, you'd have to install a gas fireplace insert, which would cost a couple of thousand dollars or so to throw out a number. But then you've really got something.

But you can get a nice fire to look at and enjoy by doing the needed maintenance work as described above.

Do some serious thinking about whether you are happy with what you have or whether you might be interested in the gas fireplace insert. Local stove shops would be delighted to show you samples of those.

I am curious what about the statement we don't want to burn gas in the thing tells you they want to keep the gas log set???

 

[MAD MARK]

Reading....who needs it.

 

[wooduser]

I am curious what about the statement we don't want to burn gas in the thing tells you they want to keep the gas log set???

Ummm. Perhaps I was reading that wrong:

<<We do not want to burn gas in the thing! It sort of looks like a fire, but makes a hissing noise. I'd rather waste money buying gas to keep the pool heated. I just want my traditional fireplace to not make the house stink and possibly not send all the heat up the stack.

The cheapest way to avoid the down drafts that are making the smell and avoid heat losses up the chimney would be to decommission the fireplace. Remove the gas log set, cap the gas line, plug the chimney vent and perhaps put some kind of cover over the fireplace opening so that a fire can't be built in it.

Perhaps our fireplace Xperts can detail how to decommission a fireplace safely.

Thanks for correcting my mistaken interpretation.