Fireplace Lowdown

Wood Fireplace Insert Pros & Cons

The wood fireplace is at the cornerstone of fireplace history, and many of the inserts out there are handsome and relatively easy to install.  Today, though, there are lots of alternative options, many of which are more convenient to maintain and use.  Examples include gas and electric fireplace inserts as well as pellet or corn stoves.  Is a wood fireplace insert right for you?  Let's take a look at some of the pros and cons:

Wood fireplace insert advantages

• They give you the smells, sounds, and ambiance of a real fire (something you won't get with gas or electric)
• They burn a fairly inexpensive and renewable fuel.
• Though traditional wood fireplaces have been inefficient with much of the heat going up the chimney, today's wood inserts are much better at retaining heat and produce up to 90% fewer emissions than old-fashioned fireplaces.

Wood fireplace insert disadvantages

• Wood is still less efficient than other fuel types.
• You'll have to haul wood and clean up ashes (something not required with gas or electric).
• You'll have to spend time or money maintaining your chimney (the EPA advises you have your chimney professionally inspected and cleaned every year).

All in all, whether a wood fireplace insert is right for your family just depends on what matters most to you.  You may be willing to trade the inconvenience of hauling wood and cleaning and maintaining your fireplace for the feeling of sitting before a real crackling fire.

As far as costs go, you'll pay anywhere from $3,000-$5,000 for a good wood fireplace insert (installation included), and of course high-end models can cost more.

Fireplace Blower Increases Heat Output

A fireplace blower is a great addition to a wood stove or fireplace, since it helps circulate the heat from the fire out into the room instead of letting it all go up the chimney (which is generally what happens with traditional fireplaces--it's why they're not traditionally considered a very good way to heat your home). 

You can buy fireplace blowers and retrofit them without having to install a new wood stove or completely revamp your fireplace.  You can find them online, but you want to be careful and read customer reviews, as some models are quite noisy.  You don't want your fireplace to sound like a jet engine is surging up the chimney all night while you're trying to watch TV!

In addition to blowers, another fireplace addition (one that's even easier to install) that will increase the heat output of your fire is a fireback.

How to Keep a Fire Burning

Whether you're building a fire in the living room or the backyard fireplace, you'd probably like to keep the flames burning with a minimum of hassle.  Perhaps you've mastered how to start a fire, but there's an art to keeping one burning too.  Here are a couple of tips:

• Remember that fires need lots of oxygen to burn well.  Blowing on a smoldering fire can help the flames leap to life (but a billows works better if you have one handy).
• Fires burn better and hotter if they're raised up off the floor of the hearth, so air can circulate under the logs.  Try a fireplace grate (metal grills on little legs) or andirons to elevate those burning logs.

These two little tips will help you keep the flames dancing long into the night.

Tips for Making Your Fireplace More Efficient

If you're using a wood-burning fireplace, you may have heard that they're not that efficient; wood stoves are much better if you're looking to heat your home without spending a lot of money.  If you're not in the market for a stove or insert, though, there are still things you can do to make your fireplace more efficient.

If your chimney has an old damper (or a missing damper---if you don't keep one there and closed, it's like having a window open in the house all year around), you are probably leaking warm air out into the cold.  Have your fireplace inspected and consider an upgrade if your damper isn't up to steam.  There's also a product called a "draft eliminator," which you can purchase to help keep cold air from flowing down the chimney and keep warm air inside the house.

Another efficiency tip is to use your fireplace doors if you have them (and if you don't have them, it may be worth investing in some).  Burning a fire with the doors shut virtually eliminates heat loss since your fireplace isn't using as much of the inside air for combustion.  And heat from the fire still radiates through the doors to warm your home.

Another way to increase heat output from a wood-burning fireplace is to install a grate heater.  This isn't as big of a purchase as an entire stove or insert, but it can dramatically improve the amount of warm air coming out from the firebox.  Grate heaters work via hollow tubing, which gets warmed by the fire; then a fan blows the heat through the hollow tubes back out into the room.  You can get heaters with thermostats, so you can control the room's temperature.  Some grate heaters also work with fireplace doors, so you can get the ultimate in efficiency from your traditional fireplace unit.

To find these supplies, visit any fireplace store.

Fireplace Radiator Increases Heat Output

More than once, we've talked about how traditional fireplaces let a lot of heat escape, so they're not at all efficient for heating  your home.  I often suggest getting a wood stove insert (or even a pellet stove/corn stove) if you're serious about burning wood to heat your home.  But this fireplace radiator from Northline Express looks like an interesting alternative. 

It costs about $500 and installs in your existing fireplace.  Here's how it works:

"First, the fan draws in cool air from the floor. Then, the air moves through the plenum where it is heated. Finally, the heated air emerges from the front air diverter bar and spreads throughout the home."

NorthlineExpress

Cost of Building a Fireplace from Scratch?

Thinking of adding a wood-burning fireplace to a house that doesn't have one?  If you haven't gotten any estimates yet, you might be surprised at how pricey a renovation adding a fireplace can be.  One newspaper article says:

"For the kind of work involved in creating a fireplace from scratch in your house, $10,000 isn't all that much out of line. A downtown condo developer told me it cost him $4,000 just to get a closed-off fireplace working again. You'll have to break through a wall just to connect the fireplace you're building to the chimney, and there will have to be a substantial amount of chimney work done first to get it ready. Not to mention that the one thing the city building code doesn't tolerate is a chimney that vents both a gas furnace and a wood-burning fireplace with accompanying sparks - three flues and brand-new and expensive stainless-steel liners notwithstanding."

Make sure you really like the idea of a fireplace!  For your money, you might get a better deal (a more energy efficient one too) out of installing a wood-stove or a gas fireplace.

Original article: A Fireplace from Scratch Can Be an Expensive Job

Pros and Cons of Heating with Wood

Thinking of cranking the thermostat way down and using wood to heat your home this winter?  Wondering if it's the right choice?  Wondering what to expect? 

"Don't expect to meet all your heating needs with wood. Be realistic and use it as a supplemental heat source...don't bother keeping it in all night. It's perfectly possible, but uses a lot of wood and causes terrible tarring of the chimney. Wood is easy to light each morning...don't burn wood on an open fire - it wastes heat and tars up the chimney. Buy yourself a stove and enjoy around 70% efficiency."

That information is from a personal site that looks at the pros and cons of heating with wood, as well as providing information about the different kinds of woods out there.  Check it out at: http://home.clara.net/steve.thackery/stoves/wood.htm

Fireplace Smokes, What's the Problem?

Is your fireplace dumping smoke into the room instead of up the chimney?  A lot of people seem to have this trouble, and they're not sure how to fix it.  I found a tip in a home improvement magazine (Nov. 2005 issue of do!), that I hadn't seen before.  They suggest: "If your fireplace smokes, try placing a layer of firebricks on the firebox floor to raise the fire.  If smoke still enters the room, try another layer.  Also be sure you have a carbon-monoxide detector in the room to let you know if any danger exists."

Has anybody tried this fix? 

For a bigger article on the Internet that goes into more depth on other things to look into if your fireplace smokes, visit: Does That Fireplace Smoke?

Keep Your Fireplace from Stealing Your Money

Traditional masonry fireplaces are terribly inefficient.  When they're not being used, they leak warm air through the chimney.  When they are being used, they're still inefficient, because they take the air they've just heated and send most of it up the chimney.

So, what can you do to make your fireplace more energy-efficient, both when it's being used and when it's not?  First, keep the damper shut when the fireplace isn't in use.  If you haven't had your chimney inspected in a while, you should, not only for safety reasons but because your damper could have become warped over the years, thus losing its seal. If you never use your fireplace, you can even stop up the chimney with an old pillow or blanket stuffed above the firebox (just leave a string dangling, so you don't forget it's there!).  Since a burning fire, draws the heated air around it, you lose energy even when you think the fireplace is heating the home.  To combat warm air loss, open the nearest window about an inch, close the doors to the room, and lower the thermostat to 50-55 degrees.

Also, get a good set of glass doors and install them in front of the firebox.  These stop heat loss when the fire is burning down but the damper is too hot to close.  The best glass doors have insulation behind the frame and close tightly. 

Source: An article with a catchy title... Fireplaces: Making that heat-sucking hole more comfortable, affordable

Building a Better Fire

The Heart, Patio & Barbecue Association has a helpful article called, "Guide to High Performing Woodburning" that helps you get the most out of your fires by explaining the nitty gritty on how combustion works, how to prepare firewood to burn most efficiently, and the best ways to start or rekindle a fire.

http://www.hpba.org/consumer/GuideToWoodBurning.shtml

Chimney Cleaning Costs

With winter coming on, it's a good time to have your chimney professionally cleaned, especially if you plan to use your fireplace as an alternative to heating this winter (do check out this post on wood stoves, though, if you want to save money on energy).  A chimney should be checked out and cleaned once a year.  According to a Kentucky news article (Fireplaces Offset Heating Costs But Chimneys Must Be Kept Clean), a chimney cleaning costs about $95-$150.  Of course, costs will differ depending on where you live, but this should give you an idea.  Remember, without a cleaning, creosite can build up in the chimney which can cause chimney fires. 

How to Build a Fire

Some people make starting a fire look easy, but if you weren't in the Boy/Girl Scouts as a kid and didn't grow up around wood stoves, you might still be trying to figure out how to master the elusive fire building technique.  A short blurb in the latest issue of Home Appliance (they had a section on various types of gas and wood-burning fireplaces) called "How to Light a Fire and Keep It Going" offers some advice.  Here's a summary:

1. Make sure the chimney is drafting upwards.  A cold draft means it's reversed.  If that's the case, set your wood, then stick a chunk of balled up newspaper through the damper and light it; that warms up the chimney as it's sucked upwards.

2. To set the wood, first use firestarters or crumpled newspaper on the floor or grate.  Then lay small kindling on top of that, the more, the better.  Do leave plenty of air space for your fire to breathe, though.

3. On top of the kindling and paper, lay larger pieces of wood until the stove is about 2/3rds full.  (For an open fireplace, lay one or two layers of spaced/crisscrossed wood on top of the kindling.)

4. Light the newspaper in a couple of different places.  Keep drafts and dampers open until the chimney is warm and there's a good bed of coals.

5.  Keep the fire going using seasoned (dry) wood.  Use more than one log to keep a good bed of coals going.  Air space is crucial, so don't stuff those logs in there.  Plenty of air will leave you with a good flame that spreads warmth rather than a smoking/smoldering fire that's inefficient.

Problems with Traditional Fireplaces (and Alternatives)

Some people just burn a fire in their traditional fireplace for ambiance, but others think it's a good way to keep the house warm in the case of a power outage or as an alternative to turning on the heat.  According to "Energy-Efficient Fireplaces," an article from the latest issue of Smart Homeowner, "A fireplace is only 10% efficient at converting wood to energy and delivering it to a room--and when it's operating, it's actually increasing the infiltration of cold air by creating a partial vacuum within the house."  Another reason they're poor energy converters is because most fireplaces are located on exterior house walls, and they're made of brick or stone, both of which are bad thermal insulators, so the inside heat gets conducted outdoors.  As far as operating as a backup during a power outage, a conventional fireplace "can actually make your home colder than if you never built a fire in the first place."

All this doesn't necessarily mean you have to give away the piles of wood stacked in your backyard.  But it may mean it's time to look for a more efficient type of fireplace.  For people who like building fires and burning wood, the best option is to install a fireplace insert--a metal wood stove that fits in a traditional open fireplace.  Fireplace inserts increase heating efficiency from a measley 10% up to 80% or more, depending on the model you get.  They can also be used to burn pellets or gas fuel.

Source: Nov/Dec 2005 issue of Smart HomeOwner

Soapstone Fireplaces More Energy Efficient?

Traditional open fireplaces are horribly inefficient as far as converting energy goes, but if you don't like the look of a wood stove or insert, you may find soapstone fireplaces, or masonry heaters, more appealing (and more energy efficient).  Widely used in Europe, they are now catching on in the US.  The efficiency of a soapstone fireplace comes from its ability to trap the heat produced by the fire in the stone, instead of letting it escape through the chimney.  Then the heat is radiated steadily and evenly into the room, even after the fire has gone out.  One big maker of soapstone fireplaces and other soapstone products is Tulikivi in Finland.  Their products are available in the United States via American distributors.

http://www.tulikivi.com/

Wood-burning Stoves vs. High Heating Costs

With the price of natural gas expected to be high this winter, homeowners are buying energy saving devices for their homes and many are turning to the old-fashioned wood-burning or pellet stove as an alternative.  Perhaps old-fashioned isn't the right word, since the stoves sold today are technologically superior to their ancestors and conform to EPA demands for energy efficiency.  According to a short online article, "A typical home owner in January might pay about 350-dollars using heating oil or natural gas. A high-efficiency stove burning compressed sawdust pellets runs about 100-dollars less." (from Demand up for wood stoves because of rising energy costs)

Other articles and information on saving energy with wood-burning stoves:

Costs Boost Interest in Wood Stoves (article)
Wood Pellet Stoves In Demand (article)
Fireplaces & Woodburning Stoves (informational source)

Cost to Install a Wood-burning Fireplace

Fireplaces can add value to a home, and they can be fun to gather around on a chilly night.  But what if your home didn't come with a fireplace?  Why not install one?  The Old House Web has a list of estimates, AKA how much it costs to install a fireplace. Here are the listed price tags for a couple fireplace-related jobs:

Build masonry fireplace	$3,300 to 4,800
Install prefabricated fireplace	$1,800 to 2,300
Reline chimney with terra cotta	$2,000

Keep in mind, costs of labor and material will vary depending on where you live. 

Source site: Estimated Remodeling and Repair Costs

Cooking with Your Fireplace

I've done plenty of cooking over the old campfire on various backpacking trips, but have you ever wondered about cooking something in your living room fireplace?  It might be just the type of thing that could peel kids away from the video games, and at the very least, it could come in handy in a power outage.  Here are a few articles I found around the Web that deal with the subject:

Cooking Over an Open Fire: a nice article that covers things such as the best cookware to use (cast iron), how to make a good fire for cooking, and the types of racks (or "spyders") and utensils that work well with the fireplace.

Fireplace & Woodstove Cookery: this one has quite a bit of information on dutch ovens (which get attached to the inside of the firebox), including some recipes for cooking over the fireplace with them.

The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking: One Hundred Recipes for the Fireplace or Campfire: this is a link to a book on cooking over open fires that is available at Amazon (and has excellent reviews). I actually decided to order it myself and will post a review once it comes.

Fire Orb Modern Wood-burning Fireplace

When we think of wood-burning fireplaces, we tend to think of traditional hearths with brick or stone chimneys or maybe of a cast iron stove glowing warmly in the corner. Wood-burning fireplaces can be very modern, too. The Fire Orb is a rounded spun-steel hearth that is suspended from the ceiling (with a flue of up to 40 feet in height, it can work even in lofts or rooms with high ceilings). The firebox itself can be rotated so you can admire the view from anywhere in the room.

Manufacturer's site: Fire Orb Wood-burning Fireplace

Luxury Fireplaces: Max Blank

Max Blank, perhaps the ultimate in luxury fireplaces, makes a number of wood-burning models that are sure to impress. Many of them are more than just fireplaces. For example, check out the Max Blank Niagara Free Standing Wood Burning Stove with Waterfall . Yup, waterfall. If you don't think the waterfall is practical enough, how about the Max Blank Florenz Free Standing Wood Burning Stove with baking compartment?

Prefabricated Fireplaces

Installing a prefabricated fireplace can be much easier than building from scratch. Both wood-burning and gas prefabricated fireplaces are popular. If you are early in the planning stages, or just starting to think about installing a fireplace, you may find the article "How to Buy Prefabricated Fireplaces" helpful. It goes through the steps you'll need to take from basic planning to shopping and buying. There are also a few good tips at the bottom that visitors have contributed.

Fireplace Terms Explained

Don't know the difference between the flue and the chimney? A fire box and a fireplace? Here are explanations of a few basic fireplace terms:

• Hearth--technically, this is the floor of the fireplace, but it's come to refer to the whole fireplace.
• Flue--the flue is the inside of a chimney. Today, they are usually lined with heat-resistant tiles, concrete, or made of an insulated metal pipe.
• Firebox--this refers to the open area where the fire is built.
• Throat--the throat of the chimney is just above the firebox before the flue starts.
• Damper--this movable flap covers the throat and allows smoke to escape and the fire to burn when open. When closed it prevents warm air from escaping through the chimney.
• Ash pit--this chamber collects ashes and is found under the fire box; your fireplace may also have a clean-out door in the basement where ashes collect.

Source: Fireplace: Decorating and Planning Ideas

Wood Smoke: Health Effects

Can burning wood have an adverse effect on your health? All About Wood Smoke is a helpful article that covers this and related topics (i.e. how bad is burning wood for the environment?). The short answer is probably not, but smoke should never be allowed to enter the inside of the house. Measures should also be taken to ensure your fires and fireplace are relatively pollutant-free and environmentally friendly.

Tips:

• Use an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) certified stove, insert, or fireplace.
• Have your chimney cleaned regularly by a professional (Find chimney sweeps at http://www.csia.org/).
• Burn only properly seasoned wood.
• Make sure the exhaust exiting the chimney is clear or white with steam (other types of smoke could indicate a problem).

For more information and tips read the full article at All About Wood Smoke.

Coal in Fireplaces?

Someone asked if you can burn coal in a regular fireplace. Here's what I found:

Hard coal doesn't burn well in open fireplaces, though some kinds of brown coal work OK.  Any coal needs a lot of air under the fire in order to burn, so you need to use a grate compact enough to hold the coals. Try a small amount first and see how it goes.

For those who didn't know there was a difference in types of coal (ahem, me), brown coal is officially called Lignite coal and it has an inherently high moisture content.  The hard coal I mentioned is Anthracite coal, a brittle black coal. It is what is usually used for residential heating (not in open fireplaces, though).

All clear now? Clear as coal anyway...

Sources:
Burn Coal in Fireplace ?
Coal at Wikipedia.org

Increase Fireplace Efficiency

According to Fireplaces: Energy Dollars Up In Smoke, there are a few steps you can take to make your wood-burning fireplace less of a burden on your home's energy bill.

In order to improve efficiency, the site suggests installing glass windows on the front of your fireplace so you can control the lose of heat up the chimney (even when there's no fire burning, energy is lost via the chimney). The glass also improves the amount of heat you will gain while wood is burning because glass acts as a conductor of heat.

The site also says that installing an outdoor air intake at the side or back of your fireplace. I'm going to quote the site to explain the inlet: "The intake is usually a small section of pipe which draws outside air into the fireplace. This way, the fire uses oxygen from outside air instead of warmer inside air. Heat loss is then reduced while the fire is burning as well as when it starts to die down. If an air intake is impossible or impractical, the air inlets should be installed as close to the fireplace as possible. This creates a stronger draft near the fireplace, reducing heat loss throughout the whole house. The air inlets also are a safety feature in airtight houses to protect against a reverse draft in a gas furnace or water heater stack."

Lastly, they recommend installing a full fireplace insert for the best in conserving energy. They work on the same principles as woodburning stoves, where stricter air control improves the fireplace efficiency.

Added: At Heat Thief, Bob Vila's people recommend opening the window nearest the fireplace about an inch and closing doors in the hearth room so the fireplace is less likely to draw heated air from the house.

Gas Fireplaces vs. Wood-burning Fireplaces

I love the smell of a wood-burning fireplace, the snap of logs, and the pleasure derived from stirring the embers and seeing them flare to life in response. Then there's the convenience of wandering out to the gas fireplace in the morning when the thermometer reads below freezing outside and simply flipping a switch. In addition to being easy, gas fireplaces give out far more warmth than wood-burning fireplaces. There's just something about wood fires that brings to mind nights spent camped out around a fire as a kid with a panorama of stars overhead.

Both types of fireplaces have their perks and demerits. The Do It Yourself network offers an article called Gas or Wood-Burning...Which Fireplace Works Best for You? I recommend browsing through it if you're thinking of installing a fireplace in your home and are as yet undecided on the type.

How to Clean Your Fireplace

Do It Yourself site eHow has an article on cleaning your fireplace. ait breaks things down step by step, offering tips for efficiency and safety. Appropriately, it's called How to Remove Fireplace Grime and I recommend reading it if it's been a while since your fireplace has seen a dusting.

Best Wood for Burning in Fireplaces

So, you're looking for the best wood for burning in your fireplace this winter. You don't want anything too smokey, nothing too green. An article from Fireplace Guides suggests, "The best wood to burn is anything that falls in the hardwood category such as beech, maple, ash, and oak." They say to use wood that has dried for at least 1 year because drier wood burns hotter and cleaner. Softer wood like apine can muck up your chimney and doesn't make for a very hot fire.

Source: Fireplaces - Warming with Wood

Wood Burning Information

Looking for information on safe wood burning or just want to know how your fireplace works? Here are a few excellent sources out there related to wood burning:

Chimneys.com provides several articles under their "Burning Secrets" section. Topics covered are how chimneys work, how to build fires safely and correctly, types of fireplaces, and solutions to typical fireplace problems.

The Wood Heat Organization Inc is a non-profit site/agency "dedicated to the responsible use of wood as a home heating fuel." Their Q&A section is a helpful resource.

If you're curious about fire in general, you may want to read the How Stuff Works article Why does smoke come from a fire?