I have a neighbor that does just that. He has an open pit masonry fireplace in the basement. He is retired and spends most of his time in the finished basement. Don't know how much wood he burns but when I go to visit is it always very warm and comfortable even in the upstairs. Its guessing a 1800 sq ft ranch. I think he goes through a grate every yr.
Whole House Heating w/Fireplace
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Does his fireplace have the heatform vents above the fire box? My old fireplace could easily heat this house but it sure burned a lot of wood.
Yeah I'm trying to remember where I read about rich folks having to source 30+ cords of wood each year for their mansions... Utterly insane. I'm taking it this guy's chimney is internal to the house? (open-pit design) That should improve overall heat extraction quite a bit.
Todd said:
My heatalotor <sp> with the steel tubes could do it,for most of the house, but it had to be fed constantly. Once the feeding stopped the temps dropped quick.
The problem with trying to heat a home with an open fireplace is not knowing 100% how it's built unless it's new or inspected. My sister dated a man that tried doing the same thing, heating with a fireplace. Their bedroom was upstairs, but they choose to setup their room in the living room to keep warm in front of the fire. He had an old stove that I tried to get him to install, but he was too lazy. After 2 days of burnin hard, the framing members around the brick charred then caught fire when they were sleeping. The fire traveled under the floor into the basement under their bed. Luckily they woke before they could have been killed. When I hear of someone trying to heat with a fireplace, it makes me cringe. Having things inspected and either a stove or insert installed is not only more efficient, but safer. They got lucky that night.
Yes that is how its constructed. As for the danger he had this chimney put on the side of the house after he bought it 30+yrs ago. And close to the fireplace is the walkout that goes into the wood room where he can store the whole winters worth of wood. Its a walkout basement but you have to go through the wood room to exit the basement. Really neat set up.Todd said:
One of my friends supplements with a fireplace. He really needs to get an insert.
It's horribly inefficient. The amount of wood he runs through in 1 day would heat my house for a week. I lived with him for a couple months before buying my house. Could load up the fireplace with as much wood as possible at midnight, come 7-8AM it would be stone cold!
It's horribly inefficient. The amount of wood he runs through in 1 day would heat my house for a week. I lived with him for a couple months before buying my house. Could load up the fireplace with as much wood as possible at midnight, come 7-8AM it would be stone cold!
I got sick of trying to supplement with my open fireplace....having a roaring fire going and still hearing the heat coming on.....all the while feeding the fireplace constantly....
My insert is supposed to be installed TOMORROW
! Can't wait!!
My insert is supposed to be installed TOMORROW
! Can't wait!!
I don't know if our fireplace could heat the joint or not. House was finished in April of 1985. Closed on it the next day and the insert was installed the next before we moved in.
I never got ANY heat from our open fireplace. In fact, I completely sealed it off with batt insulation. Every year around Christmas, my wife would beg me to build a fire in the fireplace and I refused.
But last year, right after Christmas, we had our insert installed. This year the wife gets her way!
But last year, right after Christmas, we had our insert installed. This year the wife gets her way!
If my heatform fireplace wouldn't of rusted out I'd still be using it and wouldn't of replaced it with a hearth stove. It was good for burning those big uglies and helped out in the real cold weather when the basement stove couldn't keep up. I also made it a little more efficient with some air tight doors and outside combustion air.
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BeGreen said:
Not houses. Individual rooms. And they had very low ceilings, wooden interior shutters and would keep all hte interior doors closed to try and keep that heat in. Still burned 10's of cords even to heat a tiny house.
I've known this guy for 15yrs and I don't care how cold out it is his house is toasty warm. I think the way his fireplace is built all of the brick, and there is alot of it probably 8' wide, gets real hot and that gives off tons of heat. As for efficiency, well he is retired and firewood is kind of his hobby. He doesn't mind if he has to get up from the easy chair a time or 2 and add a few more sticks. So for him a little more firewood is still less than the cost of a wood stove.
This is the same guy thats heats his machine shop, 30x80 with a Rebel Hutch. Makes all other wood stoves look like toys. You boys can talk all you want about stove size. That baby is about 10cuft and I've seen that shop 80 degrees inside when its 10 outside and blowing. Sometimes when I drive by the service door will be open ad he is in there in his white under shirt working. Standing 8' feet away you can feel the searing heat on your face. Its just a monster of a heater. He couldn't give 2 hoots about anything EPA. hehhehe
This is the same guy thats heats his machine shop, 30x80 with a Rebel Hutch. Makes all other wood stoves look like toys. You boys can talk all you want about stove size. That baby is about 10cuft and I've seen that shop 80 degrees inside when its 10 outside and blowing. Sometimes when I drive by the service door will be open ad he is in there in his white under shirt working. Standing 8' feet away you can feel the searing heat on your face. Its just a monster of a heater. He couldn't give 2 hoots about anything EPA. hehhehe
BeGreen said:
Exactly, I've seen lots of places around here heated by an open fireplace. Especially cabins. Can't tell you how many time I've walked outdoors to see sparks / whips of flames shooting from the same chimney's.
You put a hot enough fire anywhere and give the smoke a place to exit other than your face, you'll heat it. The concern is not whether or not it works, but if it's the wisest / best way to do it.
Knob and tube electrical worked great too.
Same goes for cars with carbs.
pen
Most people will move with technology at a reasonable pace. A few will lag behind. So be it. Their numbers are few enough as to not be of any great detriment to others.pen said:
I don't think you can draw every parallel here. First off he might burn alot of wood but he does it with very dry wood that was dead anyway and you never see billowing smoke from either of his chimneys. In fact other than adding wood I hardly see any at all.
Here in the midwest we are not nearly as pollution conscious as folks on the west coast for sure but everyone has to strike there own person balance with cost and efficiency. At least as long as you aren't breaking any laws.
Sure a new car will be more clean burning and get better mileage but if my old car is running fine and I don't want to spend the money (or can't afford to) then whats wrong with continuing to drive the old one.
Oh BTW
I burn my trash!.........So it won't have to go in a landfill. I guess we all pick our poison too.Oh wait, I also burn leaded AvGas in all my small engines. Man if I lived on the west coast I would be in jail by now.
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