Open wood fireplace question

[Cehalo]

Hello all. Just found this site. Looking to learn more. Just tried my first fire as i recently moved to a new home. Its an original 1985 open to room wood fireplace. It has these two side vents (see pics) that both lead to the same vent behind open to air. I assume they are for fresh air.

Should they always be open fully, when the fire is burning? Thank you.

 

[Cehalo]

Just upping this in case someone has an answer. Thank you.

 

[bholler]

Yes open fully. Anything you can do to reduce the amount of room air used to supply the fire will help. But it will really never be a very effective heater regardless.

 

[ctyankee]

Are those air vents top left and right in brick? Does warm air come out of them when you have a good fire going? Be warned you will be chastised for having an open fireplace and not installing an insert or stove.

The irony is of course this is 2020 and you have many options for heating your home. You do not need wood or wood pellets to keep warm on a continual basis. So, if you like the idea of sitting in front of a hot, beautiful, crackling fire from time to time (or whenever) by all means keep and enjoy your open fireplace. Just make sure the setup is in good operating (safe) condition.

A fire screen will inhibit some air from getting to the fire, so depending on what is going on in house (kids, leaving the fire, etc) you may not want to have screen in place for the best fire.

 

[bholler]

Yeah absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying an open fireplace. Just don't expect to heat your house with it. Infact many times they offer a net heat loss.

 

[semipro]

That's some nice brickwork.
Assuming those outside air supply vents actually connect to an inlet outside, yeah, you should open them when burning.
A nice, tight-fitting ceramic/glass fire screen may increase efficiency by forcing more air to enter via the side vents rather than through the house. It may also prevent coals from being blown out of the firebox and onto the hearth/floor should the air inlet outside catch a big gust of wind.

We burned a prefab unit like this in our house before installing a wood stove. It warmed up the room great but the rest of the house got colder when we used it.

 

[Cehalo]

Thanks all for your help. Based on the pictures provided, is it possible to relatively pain free convert this open fireplace into a stove/insert? I will certainly do more research.