fireplace myth

[Guest greatness]

My civil engineer friend once told me that using a wood-burning fireplace is not energy efficient. I found an article today about it.

 

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/267/fireplace-myths-busted.html

[trooperbill2000]

Your friend is correct. Most of the heat goes up the chimney so it takes a lot more wood to stay warm in front of a fireplace than it does a wood heater. I have both.

 

Still there is nothing like sitting around the fire on a cold winter night with the lights out. The atmosphere is cozy and inviting. Sometimes I sleep on the couch with my dog in front of the fire because I love to smell the post oak and hickory burn. It makes this 100year old farmhouse very comfortable and reminds me of when my grandparents were alive.

[MsGuy]

Greatness, that's the reason Ben Franklin invented the Franklin stove.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/3072355299_d8a2c26dab.jpg

[Guest greatness]

It so romantic to me

 

Yes it is so cozy and romantic...

 

Still there is nothing like sitting around the fire on a cold winter night with the lights out. The atmosphere is cozy and inviting. Sometimes I sleep on the couch with my dog in front of the fire because I love to smell the post oak and hickory burn. It makes this 100year old farmhouse very comfortable and reminds me of when my grandparents were alive.

[Guest greatness]

oh

 

so nice~~ I don't want a hole in my wall though..

 

Greatness, that's the reason Ben Franklin invented the Franklin stove.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/3072355299_d8a2c26dab.jpg

[MsGuy]

You don't want a 6" hole in your wall, but you're OK with a 30" hole in your roof? There's a whole lot of heat going up that brick chimney. When folks had to chop and tote their own wood, they drooled over the prospect of a new fangled potbellied stove. High tech in its day. Once invented it spread like wildfire. Settlers hauled them in their covered wagons.

 

BTW, Franklin refused to take out a patent. Said he wanted it to be as widely available as possible.

[Guest greatness]

lol

 

Come and see my house you will know why I said that... I love Benjamin Franklin...

 

You don't want a 6" hole in your wall, but you're OK with a 30" hole in your roof? There's a whole lot of heat going up that brick chimney. When folks had to chop and tote their own wood, they drooled over the prospect of a new fangled potbellied stove. High tech in its day. Once invented it spread like wildfire. Settlers hauled them in their covered wagons.

 

BTW, Franklin refused to take out a patent. Said he wanted it to be as widely available as possible.

[Guest DuchessIvanaKizznhugg]

Just wondering....

 

BTW, Franklin refused to take out a patent. Said he wanted it to be as widely available as possible.

 

I wonder if Jonas Salk was related to BF? Such generosity of spirit of them both.

[trooperbill2000]

Greatness,

I have a woodburning heater in my office like the one pictured. I ran the stovepipe up through the attic and out the roof. I used double wall insulated pipe which greatly reduces the possibliity of fire and is approved by insurance companies.

 

Before most of the old farm houses were torn down in this area, many people had a brick flu or mini-chimney with the black stove pipe running through it. It was usually in the corner of the house and there was always one in the kitchen for the cookstove.

When installing a wood heater, it should be about two foot away from a wall unless the wall is solid masonry and by that I mean not brick or rock veneer. I don't know of any houses being built like that in modern times. My heater is close to the wall but the building is of solid limestone with stucco and plaster in the interior.

I love my fireplace and wood heater both and when you use them for cooking, the food just taste better.

[BSR]

the problem with most modern fireplaces is that they are designed with esthetics, not functionality, in mind. A number of friends back in New England live in older homes (one lives in a home built in the 1700s!), and their fireplaces are quite different. All are much shallower and wider than the typical modern fireplace. The width allows for a bigger fire, and the shallowness brings the heat closer to the room. All have sides that slope inward starting at the floor instead of higher up near the ceiling. And some are lined in cast iron. The cast iron, in conjunction with the sloping sides, captures a lot of heat and radiates the heat back into the room. Whenever they spend an evening with the fireplace burning, they actually have to turn the thermostat way down; otherwise, it gets too hot in the living room.

[AdamSmith]

I love my fireplace and wood heater both and when you use them for cooking, the food just taste better.

 

Yes! My grandfather (1897-1963) always cooked his breakfast on the wood stove, even long after the electric range came into the kitchen.

[trooperbill2000]

Radiant Heat

 

BSR has a very good point. If I was going to install a new fireplace, I would buy an iron pre-fabricated firebox like Heatalater or some other brand and put the masonry around it. That way you would have additional heat radiated from the metal and would make the room warmer. Also, the fabricated firebox is foolproof as far as the drafting of the air is concerned. If a mason is not skilled in fireplaces today, he could easily build the firebox where it will not draw air properly and smoke up the room.

 

Also, mine is old and I frequently have to repair the morter joints in the firebrick.

 

I used to travel to New England very frequently and I would always be amazed at the old Federal style homes with fireplaces. How in the world did they ever stay warm?

[AdamSmith]

I used to travel to New England very frequently and I would always be amazed at the old Federal style homes with fireplaces. How in the world did they ever stay warm?

 

From visiting frugal friends around Boston, I would say:

 

They did not.

[Guest greatness]

That sounds so yummy!

 

You are making me hungry~~

 

Greatness,

 

I love my fireplace and wood heater both and when you use them for cooking, the food just taste better.