On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 11:22:45 -0600, "Rick Brandt"
wrote:
| calhoun" builderpaul@"pants wrote:
| I have a fireplace with glass doors. You will need a screen sparks
| will exit the firebox. I burn with the doors open. If I am leaving it
| unattended (i.e. going to bed) I close the doors. This not only for
| safety but to save house heat from going up the chimney till I get up
| in the morning and close the damper.
|
| "Walter Cohen" wrote in message
| ...
| Hello.
| The house we bought has a fireplace and this will be our first winter
| where
| we can actually make use of it.
| As we've never had a fireplace before I want to make sure I use it
| correctly.
| I've checked out several sights on the net about how to build fires
| and how
| to prime the flue, etc.
|
| One question I have is on the use (or not) of fireplace doors. My
| fireplace
| has two glass doors (no screens). From what I can tell the most
| common recommendation is to leave any doors open while the fire is
| burning. Thoughts on this?
| When should/could the doors be closed?
| Do you think it would be a good idea to obtain a screen for the from
| of the
| fireplace?
|
| Thanks,
| Walter
|
| For efficiency the doors should be closed. People are fooled because close to
| the fire it is warmer with the doors open, but the rest of the house is being
| cooled by all of the heat being pulled up the chimney.
|
| If you think about it the fireplace already has a flu door that can be closed
| when the fireplace is not being used so what practical purpose do glass doors
| serve? Are they merely an alternative to the flu door? If not, then what
| possible purpose would they have if the only time they are closed is when the
| fire is not burning?
I have glass doors that have brass decorative openings running across
the top and bottom, with metal louvers you can pull open and closed.
The idea is to keep the doors closed, but to open one or both screens
to control the amount of room air that enters the firebox. You leave
the actual fireplace chimney damper open while using the fireplace.
Mostly I keep the two screens nearly closed and the damper halfway
open. Makes a nice whistling noise. This fireplace, built in 1921, has
no outside air vent -- ie., no source of outside air other than what
it gets from the inside the house.
I installed the doors when I realized that the draft from the
fireplace was so strong that it sucked all the heated air from the
entire house, all three stories worth, and blasted it up the chimney.
Indeed, the draft is so intense that I sometimes wondered if it would
shoot small tables, footstools, and cats up the chimney.
Not wishing to attempt to heat the neighborhood, I found the doors to
be a nice, cost-effective investment. It doesn't make the fireplace an
effective heating device, but it does keep more of the PSE&G
bought-and-paid-for heat inside the house. The fire is nice to look
at.
|