Fireplace

[douglas1]

OK, I know a fireplace is somewhat a waste. However, I love the smell, sight and all that goes along with it

I want a wood burner, wife does not. I have to keep HER happy. Anyone out here still use a fireplace??

It does get the downstairs up to 80 degrees.

 

[Mike Van]

We use this one I built a lot, even cook on it - The one in the house, maybe once a year when I want to 'waste' some wood -

 

[coog]

Nice work.I would use that all of the time.

 

[Octane]

Maybe you could go with a fireplace insert. That way you would have the efficiency of a woodstove but have something that looks more traditional.
My parents have a fireplace insert in their house and it works well. Its way more efficient than their fireplace was.
I love the way fireplaces look too, but they arent very efficient.

 

[mranum]

We put in this unit this summer.
http://www.securitychimneys.com/pages/fireplace/high_BisUltima.asp?country=us

Lovin it so far, been taking the chill off most evenings lately. Took a while to talk the Mrs into it but she is in love with it now.

Heres the almost finished project.

 

[cityevader]

We put in this unit this summer.
http://www.securitychimneys.com/pages/fireplace/high_BisUltima.asp?country=us

Lovin it so far, been taking the chill off most evenings lately. Took a while to talk the Mrs into it but she is in love with it now.

Heres the almost finished project.

Glad to see you put a decent size "landing" for the coals and sparks etc.. I've had some leap unnoticed four feet away (from a foolishly unattended opened door) and smoldered deep past the carpet and under pad into the subfloor. (Thank you Lord for no fire!) Second closest was 3 feet.

 

[mga]

OK, I know a fireplace is somewhat a waste. However, I love the smell, sight and all that goes along with it

I want a wood burner, wife does not. I have to keep HER happy. Anyone out here still use a fireplace??

It does get the downstairs up to 80 degrees.

it depends on how your fireplace was built. if it is just all brick on the inside, chances are it really won't do much for you. not all fireplaces are a waste.

however, some were built with a thick steel box around them, and convection vents on the sides or front. these are the best ones to work with because they basically are like inserts.

first, find some glass doors that seal tight when closed. be sure to also seal where they meet the brick front of the fireplace.

there are a few products out there that are "heat streams"....they are grates that allow air to flow thru them and out under your glass doors. they are excellent to use in a fireplace, and the blowers on them push alot of hot air out.

something like these:

http://www.fireplacedoorsonline.com/acatalog/Stoll_Wood_Heat_Grate.html

my set up is as i described above and i heat a 2,000 sq. ft. house.

actually, it gets too hot and we often open a window in the kitchen trying to balance things out.

 

[sstan]

Because everyone was so helpful with all my questions I feel obligated to help when I can. When we built our house we put in what at that time they were calling a factory fireplace. This was made by Clayton. We have always loved it.. gives off great heat .. little blowers built in that work off a switch sucks air in bottom grate and out two vents in top. The rock facing is fake Z rock ... I wish our hearth was a little bigger .. embers are a concern. Over all not a bad unit and many nights it can hold a fire overnight .. but when you shut it down that much the glass doors smoke up so you can not even see the fire. Daily chore is cleaning the glass (oven cleaner). Besides chimney, ash and window cleaning ... the only problems has been a cracked door window (tempered glass is expensive!!) and I replaced the ceramic catalytic converter once.

so there you have my experience!!

 

[Wife'nHubby]

We have a fireplace in our living room. It is lannon stone and actually is a divider wall between our living room, dining room and kitchen having lannon stone on all three sides. This stone wall is about 9' wide on living room and kitchen sides with about 3' wide on the dining room side with fireplace opening facing the living room. The fireplace opening is about 44" wide x 25" tall. On the 3' stone side there are two openings for air to circulate around the steel housing which surrounds the interior of the fireplace. One of these openings on the 3' side is about a foot off the floor and the other is about 5' off the floor. We put a very small fan in the higher opening and get tons of heat off of it. We have been able to comfortably heat our 1700+ house when stoking a fire all day when the oil furnace is on the fritz in 10 degree weather. What is neat about this 3-sided design is the stone also retains the heat and slowly radiates it back into the room(s). An insert would do better but sans help in installing it or hiring someone to do so we are satisfied with what we have. Besides, I couldn't cook in my cast iron dutch oven if we had an insert.

Shari

 

[clayman]

I have two fireplaces. I have a insert in one and it does a great job on helping heat the house. But the other is just a regular fireplace and I just love to use it. I made it pretty big so I can put a big log (back-stick) against the back wall and build the fire in front of it. The back stick will usually last 24 hours. Once the fire place brick get hot (it takes several hours) it does a good job heating the basement. I know it's not the most efficient source, but to me it is a luxury that you do get a monetary return from as well as a warm cozy feeling.

My nine year old granddaughter visited us for a week or two last December. Her favorite place to sit was right in front of that fireplace in a rocking chair, in pajamas, with a cup of hot cocoa. Priceless!

 

[jeepstrapped]

We have a fireplace insert and use it to keep the living room and sitting room warm. It does a fairly decent job on the rest of the house.
It is a bit old and probably needs a new fan to push air.

But, my 3 yr old, 7 yr old, and 9 yr old love it.

If it means I cut a bit more wood to burn it's worth it to me.

Especially when the kids are excited for Christmas and this year we have a fireplace for Santa.

 

[mga]

Because everyone was so helpful with all my questions I feel obligated to help when I can. When we built our house we put in what at that time they were calling a factory fireplace. This was made by Clayton. We have always loved it.. gives off great heat .. little blowers built in that work off a switch sucks air in bottom grate and out two vents in top. The rock facing is fake Z rock ... I wish our hearth was a little bigger .. embers are a concern. Over all not a bad unit and many nights it can hold a fire overnight .. but when you shut it down that much the glass doors smoke up so you can not even see the fire. Daily chore is cleaning the glass (oven cleaner). Besides chimney, ash and window cleaning ... the only problems has been a cracked door window (tempered glass is expensive!!) and I replaced the ceramic catalytic converter once.

so there you have my experience!!

leaving those glass doors open means you're just going to burn wood much faster. an "open" fireplace probably draws more air from the house than it creates hot air back into it. i also leave the flue damper wide open and just control air intake from the vent on the glass doors.

sure, mine get cloudy and all that, but i accept that as a price to pay to heat the house. in the spring, i remove the doors and get them looking like new once again.

 

[Scootermsp]

I use it on NFL Sundays

I always (if cold enough outside) start a fire on Sundays around kickoff at 1 PM and let it start to die at halftime of the 8 oclock game. It really cranks the heat if you leave the screens open. In the second photo notice the cast iron fireback, It radiates a lot of heat back in the room. I also have an outdoor fireplace for cooking lobsters on. I'll post a photo here when it gets light outside. I have an OWB but there's just something about a real fire that can't be beat during football season.

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc336/scootermsp/IMG_0515.jpg
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc336/scootermsp/IMG_0514.jpg
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc336/scootermsp/IMG_0513.jpg

:angry2: