Fireplaces That Keep You Warm

(When most people think of winter, they think of cuddling up to a warm fire place and watching the snow fall outside. )

Although that may not be the reality for most people, especially those in California or Arizona, lighting up a fireplace is always something nice to do when it gets cold outside (even if it isn't necessarily snowing).

But what many people do not realize is that fireplaces are not good at keeping heat indoors at all.

But there are many technologies that have been developed that help keep the heat in when you light up a fire place.

After all, isn't that what fireplaces are for? Keeping us warm?

A November 12, 2006 article by Jay Romano of The New York Times, "Where there's fire, there may be heat," discusses some of the new things to keep us warm in the winter.

"With winter approaching, homeowners who have fireplaces might consider using them to provide additional heat. In most cases, though, using a traditional fireplace for heat is about as efficient as cooling the house by leaving the refrigerator door open."

"'Traditional fireplaces are not effective heating systems,' said Alex Wilson, executive editor of Environmental Building News, a newsletter published in Brattleboro, Vt. 'In fact, it's not uncommon for them to lose more heat than they provide.'"

The reason for this mostly un-known phenomenon is that although you feel warm sitting directly in front or close to a fireplace, most of the warm air is actually being sucked up the chimney, according to Wilson.

"And while fireplace doors will cut the loss, Mr. Wilson said, they won't improve the situation enough to make the fireplace an even remotely efficient source of heat."

But there are new inventions that prevent the heat from being lost up the chimney; which is a very good thing for homeowners in especially cold locales.

"Tom Oyen, who is president of the Chimney Sweep Online (chimneysweeponline.com), a retailer of hearth products, said one option is a fireplace insert. With an insert, he said, the firebox sits inside the fireplace opening, with the front extending several inches out past the opening. To keep the insert's heat from being absorbed by the walls of the fireplace and eventually lost, the firebox is encased in a larger metal box (called a plenum) that is vented to the room."

"The radiant energy 'gets reflected back by the plenum, flows out through a vent at the top, and pulls cooler room air in from the bottom,' Mr. Oyen said."

If you are going to install an insert, it will probably also be necessary to install a chimney liner that help keeps the heat in.

Another option for using your fire place for heat is to install a hearth stove.

"That is basically a free-standing wood-burning stove installed directly in front of the fireplace opening. Like an insert, it uses the existing flue for its vent. And, as with an insert, this usually means installing a chimney liner. In addition, because the stove sits in front of the fireplace, its vent usually comes out the rear."

"The most obvious difference between an insert and a hearth stove is the space needed. While the insert takes up little more room than the fireplace itself, a hearth stove takes up a fair amount of space in front of the fireplace and must be set on a noncombustible extension of the hearth. A hearth stove with a rear vent will cost about the same as a similarly sized insert."

These are just a few of the easiest options to keep your home warm during the winter by using your fireplace.

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