To screen or not to screen

[Wood Wules]

I have an old Vermont Castings superchamp fireplace insert aka winter warmth. They offer a screen to replace the glass door. I always thought I would get a lot more heat in the room with a screen.

What do you think. Is there a downside to it. If I used the screen could I still turn the damper control way down.

 

[Grisu]

With a screen you could not damper down the air anymore. The insert would essentially work like a fireplace and send most of the heat up the flue. You will get more radiant heat sitting right in front of the insert but overall you can easily have an energy net loss due to the large amount of (cold) outside air that the insert will then pull into the house.

 

[Fastdonzi]

in an emergency you can use it that way, but for Max Heat and Efficiancy you need to govern the air going in to the stove. Does your stove have a fan on it?? some stoves with a fan will suck smoke out of the firebox if the fan is on with the doors open..