Dan Musicant wrote:
On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:15:38 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:

On Oct 25, 12:13 am, "Bob F" wrote:
LouB wrote:
Wayne Whitney wrote:
On 2009-10-24, Dan Musicant wrote:

Wayne, are you there? Wayne Whitney who traffics this newsgroup

Yo! My trafficking is fairly irregular these days, it was chance
that I noticed your post.

told me that fireplaces release particulate matter which has been
shown to shorten one life.

Right, but most of those are emitted outside, so you'd be
shortening your neighbor's lives, not your own. Of course, if
your fireplace has a drafting problem, you could get smoke and
particulates inside.

The best option pollution wise is to get an EPA-certified wood
burning insert in your fireplace. They have some form of
afterburner or catalyst to burn wood more cleanly. Plus you could
improve the efficiency of using the fireplace to heat the house,
as you should be able to arrange to use outside air for
combustion and just blow the heat into the house. Much more
efficient than a conventional fireplace.

However, the expense of the insert and/or necessary chimney
improvements or liners may be prohibitive.

Cheers, Wayne
Thia Old House just had a show with that. Inserts are expensive!

I bought my EPA certified insert with most of the stainless chimney
liner used for $300. Replaced the "afterburner" tubes in the top
for $40 or something like that. There are ways.

It heats well, and rarely has visible smoke after the initial few
minutes.

And I get way more heat from it, and less heat loss up the chimney
then a fireplace could ever provide.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

True about the efficiency. Of course _anything_ is more effectient
than a fireplace. They are the most efficient wasters of wood known
to man...well, an open pit would be worse I suppose.

Harry K

I should have snagged my sister's wood burning stove when she gave
that away and went to strictly gas furnace heating in her house. Not
sure I could have set it up, maybe could have vented it up the
chimney. My fireplace is downstairs, of course, in a two story house.

Legally in the US, at least in many places, any woodstove or insert that is
installed has to be an EPA certified unit. Older ones are no longer legal for
installation or re-instalation. You need to make sure that any unit you get
meets that requirement, or you could have legal or insurance problems. Permits
may be required for instalation.

Thus, it may be illegal to remove an insert for chimney cleaning and later
re-install it, and you won't be able to hire a ligit chimney cleaner to do this.