4 Tips To Make Your Fireplace Efficient
Posted: Tuesday, May 23, 2006
by Marcus Dallacqua
Woodland Direct
The fireplace has long been the
favorit
e spot to gather in the American home. A place for warmth, the
fireplace adds ambience, sparking memories that are to be
treasured. With all the benefits that a fireplace can bring, there are
some major downsides that if not addressed can cause a love for the fireplace
to wane.
With soaring energy costs, the chief
negative of having a fireplace has to be its inefficiency. When there is a fire burning, the fireplace
does indeed radiate warmth in its general vicinity, but it also creates a
convection current that can actually pull conditioned air out of the room and
up the chimney causing your furnace to work overtime. When the fire is not burning, the fireplace
has a damper which is supposed to block inside air from escaping and outside
air from invading. The problem is that
the damper is usually made of metal (this type of damper technology hasn’t
changed in over 100 years!) and has no seal, which means that the damper is
incredibly inefficient.
Your home has a dirty little secret
– the fireplace that is designed to warm your house is actually doing the
opposite and costing you hundreds of dollars in energy costs. Don’t fret – with a little investment of time
and money, you can turn that inefficient fireplace into a powerhouse heater
that will reduce your energy bills and add even more charm to your existing
fireplace.
The following is a list of 4 things
that you can do yourself to drastically reduce the heating costs associated
with the inefficiency of your fireplace.
1. Top Sealing Dampers replace the
fireplace throat damper and are installed at the top of the
chimney. The top sealing damper has a seal that acts
like a storm door keeping the expensive conditioned air inside the
house and
the outside air – outside. This
principle works year round, whether you’re heating or cooling your
house. This product can be purchased online and is
easily installed by either a homeowner or a handyman.
2. A fireback is a cast iron
plate
that is placed at the back of your fireplace. Its purpose is to protect
the back wall from fire damage and it usually features a design that
adds to the homes decor. The fireback improves the fireplaces
efficiency by absorbing the heat from the fire and radiating the heat
back into
the room.
3. A Fireplace Heater pulls
fresh air from the room, circulates it through a chamber that is heated by the
fire and then blows the heated air back into the room. These heaters are closed systems so no smoke
from the fireplace is invading the home.
Depending on which kind you purchase, these heaters can make a
significant difference in your homes temperature, even heating a full room on
its own. Specific fireplace heaters can
be installed with fireplace glass doors which will kick your cost savings up
another notch.
4. Fireplace Glass Doors will likely
carry the largest investment, but you can reduce some of that cost by doing
some of the work yourself. There are a
number of fireplace doors that can be purchased online and come with easy to install
instructions. The fireplace glass door
creates a barrier between the living space and the chimney, thus reducing the
area that your furnace will have to heat.
This alone is a good reason to install these doors, but it’s not the
only reason. Fireplace glass doors offer
another level of safety for the home by protecting children and pets from
the fire. If you have a wood burning
fireplace you will want to purchase the screen mesh that is designed to go with
the fireplace glass doors. This will
allow you to have the doors open while the fire is burning and still have your
home protected from sparks and embers. Fireplace
glass doors are now being manufactured with modern designs and really add
beauty and charm to the fireplace.
If you’re handy, all of these
suggestions are easy to accomplish. In
addition, all of the products, while difficult to find locally, can easily be
purchased online. If you’re concerned
about high energy costs but you want to keep your fireplace, then it’s time to
plug up the holes in your monthly energy budget by plugging up the holes in
your fireplace.
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)Great article. I know several homeowners that have lost hundreds and quite possibly thousands of dollars through the inefficiency of their fireplace. I didn't realize there were such simple ways to make the fireplace an energy saver rather than a money drain. I'll incorporate some of these ideas for my own fireplace.
This article is soo good and so well written. It answered every questions I would ever have about this subject. This young man's father must be very proud.
In a time when energy costs are soaring, it's so fresh to read such an engaging article that's as thoughtful and heart-warming as it is practicle.
This is a very informative article with great tips. I now know what to do to enjoy using my fireplace again without worrying about my money going out the chimney!
Great article!!!! Very comprehensive and so rare to get such professional advice for free!!!!
Very useful article. Thank you so much.
Special Me
I was moved by his skillful pen. By pen I mean his use of the modern computer type instrument. but I die gres. this young authors insight into this medium of ambiance and romance called the fireplace is refreshing and yet reminesant of an age long past. Bravo Mr. Dallacqua. Bravo!
Marvelous! A beautiful tribute to a cozy tradition in the spirit of togetherness.
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