Time to use the fireplace

Joined
Mar 12, 2015
Messages
35,059
Location
In the shop
Good day folks. The nephews tell me they are using both fireplaces in their house. Brother has almost 2 cords of Osage orange that’s a good 2 year plus seasoned. Do you folks use a wood burning fireplace?
 
is this a real heat the house type fireplace with a heat exchanger and fan?
otherwise it may overall cool the house more than heat.

PS I love fireplaces..
 
I have a natural gas fireplace that we use for ambiance. Have to wait until January as the wife has the hearth decorated now.
 
Yep, I’m am using a high efficiency Regency sealed wood stove with a outside air intake and a double walled stainless steel chimney. I let it burn at 500 F and it produces no creosote, burning both pine and fir. I pay about the equivalent of $250 US per full cord for fir but am also burning a 1/2 cord of seasoned pine from a tree I had taken down on my land. I don’t go out for wood with a chainsaw. I’d probably cut my legs off.

We don’t have natural gas in our area, so I burn propane. Whenever it’s below freezing I’m using propane and will put a load of wood in the stove. When it’s above freezing my heat pump is cheaper than burning wood at $250 per cord. The ambience is great and I really appreciate the heat on a cold morning.
 
Last edited:
We just bought a small electric fireplace. No need for fireplaces (and almost no need for heating) where I live, but we can turn it on for ambiance without any heat output.
 
Good day folks. The nephews tell me they are using both fireplaces in their house. Brother has almost 2 cords of Osage orange that’s a good 2 year plus seasoned. Do you folks use a wood burning fireplace?
If it hasn't been thoroughly cleaned by a chimney sweep I'd do that first thing. Too many fires happen due to creosote buildup. I haven't used mine in a few years but when I did I used the pressed logs as they leave less residue.
 
Our house has a fake fireplace. Nice masonry firebox, hearth and mantle but no chimney to exhaust out of. 1995 house build date complete with cathedral ceilings typical of time. Really would like a true masonry fireplace with chimney but that's not how this otherwise nice house was built.

Fake fireplace came with a natural gas fired unvented gas log setup which I still use. Fire it up on cold mornings and generally limit run time to max 2 hours/24 hr. Two newer CO detectors never go off but realize its not good for indoor air quality. I've grown to like since it captures 100 % of heat and burns clean with lot of radiant heating and works as long as NG network is up even without electric power.
 
If it hasn't been thoroughly cleaned by a chimney sweep I'd do that first thing. Too many fires happen due to creosote buildup. I haven't used mine in a few years but when I did I used the pressed logs as they leave less residue.
Did that 2 years ago. It wasn’t overly hunker up either. Thanks to burning oak and Osage orange.
 
I've been burning wood for 30 years. Last 12 with a Hearthstone stove made of iron and soapstone.
Does about half the heating of the house.
These days I get wood from my sister-in-law's couple acres in Olney MD, 25 miles away.
I only take down dead and dying trees, mostly red oak, cut, split, season for 2 years.
Years ago I would go with my brother (who also had a stove) to construction sites in VA and cut up felled trees they were happy to get rid of for free.
Big part of my exercise program.

Here's a couple weeks of wood loaded in the back of my Tucson. Plywood panels protect the interior:
P1010403.webp


And a video I did demonstrating secondary combustion:

 
Back
Top Bottom