What are the vents for in the bricks?

[Vwzoey]

This is a stick built home from 1942 the open bricks on the top have about 4 big round holes behind them. And there are holes on both sides on the bottom. I was thinking hot air would be coming out of these. But I don’t really feel anything. Do we need to put a fan somewhere for this fireplace to heat the house? Seems to still be quite cold when we have a fire. Thanks for any help about what kind of fireplace this is.

 

[kennyp2339]

This was and still is a design for natural convection (very inefficient) colder air at the bottom since its more dense gets warmed and rises, more cold air enters the bottom bricks and replaces the warm rising air coming out the top, today some fireplaces have a blower to assist this, but in reality its not an efficient process at all.

 

[bholler]

This is a stick built home from 1942 the open bricks on the top have about 4 big round holes behind them. And there are holes on both sides on the bottom. I was thinking hot air would be coming out of these. But I don’t really feel anything. Do we need to put a fan somewhere for this fireplace to heat the house? Seems to still be quite cold when we have a fire. Thanks for any help about what kind of fireplace this is. View attachment 270707

You will never heat your house with that fireplace. Using it may even cool your house down due to the large amount of air that is sucked up the chimney

 

[mellow]

If you want to heat you need to put an Insert or Free Standing stove in that fireplace with a liner, that fireplace is for show only and don't bother with the gimmick fireplace tube heaters that promise amazing heat from a fire.

Have a professional chimney sweep come out and take a look at your setup and see what it would take to get it ready for an insert/stove.