I don't miss having a fireplace

[grisby]

Pic. #1: Is the 'right of center' grate at floor level an intake for the fire?
Pic. #2: Does this one have convection heaters?

pic 1 is a duct leading to my basement where the woodstove is at. I have ducts in the wall with small fans in the basement where the woodstove is at in 4 rooms ,2 story house( that are on the north side of house. When stove is burning in basement it pushes up heat as auxillary heat. My house is totally electric otherwise(baseboard) and when I use the stove in basement I don't have to turn the heaters on. Woodstove generally keeps house around 70 in the winter.

All the fireplaces have a intake in the front floor of the woodbox to feed outside air in so I can keep the doors shut and keep the fire alive vs the room air feeding the fireplace and the warm air going up the chimney.

Pic 2, nope woodburning as with all the fireplaces, they have Thermolaters (type of heatilater fireplace woodbox but a heavier gauge steel than heatilator. The bedroom and den fireplace has firebrick in the box vs a Thermolater due to their smaller size.

 

[andrew_j]

Elongated power outage you might think otherwise.

 

[supton]

Haven't had one, do have a propane fireplace, which is nice sometimes, although I suspect my low-cost one costs me something (heat loss when not in use). Nice to turn on at times, most of the times it's just a spot on the wall.

No desire for wood heat. Love the idea, could stand the exercise, not sure it saves on cost since I'd have to buy wood. And with my allergies, I want nothing to do with the ash and smoke.

Not sure what the wife would do, if we could build and she could have one. I suspect she doesn't want one either.

Nice to have at a get-away, or a log cabin, but not in my primary residence.

 

[Oillover]

Our first place had one. Used it once in the time we were there (6 months).
Our second place also had one. In 5 years we never felt the need to run it.

 

[DemoFly]

I think fireplaces in the majority of U.S. homes are for show.

Must not travel far from downtown. Unless the wood piles are for show, too.

 

[Barkleymut]

If I was a single man (I am not) I would buy a 3 room shack way out in the hills with a few acres of land. Would heat 100% with a small wood stove. Mainly because I just love building a fire...and because I am cheap.

 

[IndyIan]

Must not travel far from downtown. Unless the wood piles are for show, too.

Yeah, although I see mostly stand alone woodstoves used for actual heat, although my buddy put in a wood burning insert into a stone fireplace in his new place. He just wanted a power free backup heating system.

If we had natural gas going by our place, we would use that for sure, but we don't, and propane is a bit expensive, so a burning wood is what we do mostly. It's finally cold enough to run the woodstove 24/7, so it took me 30 seconds to stir coals, add 3 sticks of wood, and then set the damper as I left the house this morning... Not much of a hassle really.

 

[paulo57509]

I could really take it or leave it. Our new construction came with a gas Heatilator fireplace. I like it; when I want local heat, I just flip the wall switch.

I was told by the builder that local (state?) ordinances (in 1999) banned new wood burners. Perhaps this is a good thing as the Modesto area has some of the worst air quality in the state. Not because of local emissions but bad air blows in (from guess where) and just lingers there for some reason.

 

[wpod]

The house I live in now doesn't have a fire place , the old house had a fireplace with insert with a fan in it and it heated almost the whole 2400 sq ft. house. I really miss the fireplace with an insert.

 

[jeepman3071]

I heat with a wood stove, and have an LP fireplace. I never understood wood fireplaces and thought they were very inefficient (all the heat goes out the chimney) but I did rent an Air BnB that had one with a girlfriend one time and that was fun. The fireplace certainly made things romantic.

 

[Jdeere562]

Not a fireplace...but one house I bought had a free standing wood stove in the finished basement. I used it once and saw bugs in the chunks of wood. Did not need them in my house.

Took it out, caved in the fancy exhaust and dry walled over it. Left the exhaust pipe on the house for the next owner. It is still there today. It ran up thru the roof and I did not want to mess with that.

 

[Nick1994]

I wouldn’t buy a house with a fireplace.

 

[SC Maintenance]

We have a Nat gas fireplace. Use it all the time. Were in a climate where you almost never need heat in the day, but cools off a bit at night. Fireplace is just the ticket.

Had one on the old place as well.

In laws had a wood fireplace - colder climate. I think I saw it used once in about 30 years?

Grew up heating with wood in a wood stove / wood furnace. I cut, split and carried enough wood for now.

 

[ripcord]

I recently spent a week with my folks in Montana. This time of year, life in their house revolves around the wood stove. Below zero outside and probably 75 to 80 inside. Cozy, directional heat.

A regular fireplace would be a useless waste of space, though.

 

[gman2304]

I have a fireplace insert with 2 built in squirrel cage fans. We use it mostly in a bad weather event just because the wife and I like having a nice fire on a cold rainy or snowy day. We don’t really need it as we have a natural gas furnace, water heater and a hard wired generator. Something to be said for a nap on the couch with the dog and cat asleep on the floor in front of a nice toasty fire.

 

[LDB]

We had a small roof leak. They said the chimney was sagging and needed reinforcement. They removed the flashing from one side of the chimney. Apparently that was what supported it. We have since deleted the chimney and roofed over it since we never used the fireplace in 21 years. This was the result when the supporting flashing was removed. And no, we know that isn't the proper support. The builder of this house was an apparent criminal and did several things, this included, he should have been in prison for. That's looking up from the living room where about 1/3 of the chimney landed.

 

[billt460]

We have an LP fireplace. I added an external T-stat when we moved in (super easy very low volt IIRC). We used it the first winter. Warms quickly, really knocks the chill down and the main heater can just loaf. Last year I went into hypermiler mode and shut off the gas supply to it, just to see how far our LP tank will go.

This year in a festive mood I cleaned the thing and fired it up. Wow, I forgot how toasty it can make the family room. The flame height and fan speed are nicely adjustable, plus when the T stat shut it down the fan will continue to blow heat. Kinda missed the thing.

That said, I still want to somehow rig wood heat or pellet heat - preferably freestanding - for extended power outages and ambiance. Just no good spot.

I have LP running to my fireplace as well. I ran a short hose to a 30,000 BTU LP non vented heater, which I keep in front of it, and it works beautifully. I don't even use my heat pump.

I have the same model in my garage, and it heats it up quickly as well. (935 sq. ft.). They have a thermostat, and once I found the "sweet spot" it automatically keeps the temperature at a comfortable 75F in both the house and garage, as it turns on and off automatically.

You can add a built in fan, which I installed in the garage unit. But in the living room I just turn on the ceiling fan on low, and it circulates the heat nicely. The dog knows exactly where to lay on the rug to keep warm and toasty on chilly mornings.

 

[dnewton3]

The last two houses I built didn't have a fireplace. Generally they are beautiful wastes of energy. I don't miss them at all.

Now, a good quality wood-burning stove or furnace is something different. They can be a good source of home heating and very economical if you have a solid supply of free/cheap wood.

 

[WobblyElvis]

I have had a gas insert in my brick fireplace for the last 25 years. Only use it a few time a year as it overheats the living room and lets the rest of the house cool down. BUT there was a huge ice storm in December of 2013. Although I live in a big city I was without electricity for 6 1/2 days. That gas fireplace, my gas water heater and my gas stove saved the day. Having more than once source of heat is a good thing.

 

[Oro_O]

I know a person who plays a looping video of a crackling fireplace on his big screen TV because it makes him feel warmer. For some messed up reason I like watching The Thing, Runaway Train, or any movie or documentary related to cold weather, snow, avalanches, the Arctic, mountain climbing during winter etc on a cold day.

You are going to love “Ice Station Zebra” if you’ve never seen it. Howard Hughes sure did.