If you want to use your fireplace, you should call a certified chimney sweep to clean the chimney. A certified sweep will also tell you if anything seems to be wrong with the chimney. If there are any problems, and they can be repaired, I will get the repairs made. If not, you use the fireplace.
On the other hand, I, and every organization and article I have ever heard from, discourage fireplace use because of energy and safety reasons. To use a fireplace, it is necessary to open the flue, which means the heat in your house is going right up the chimney. Most of the heat that a fire creates rises straight up the chimney. But that rise also creates a draft, which is what takes the smoke up the chimney, and that draft also sucks any air it can right out of the room and up the chimney. So when you light a fire, you suck the heated air in the room right up the chimney with the smoke.
The warm air that goes up the chimney gets replaced by cold air pulled in any tiny crack anywhere in the house because of the vacuum caused by the draft up the chimney. So you light a fire, your furnace comes on to heat the house because of all the cold air being pulled in, and then your furnace runs either constantly, or much more, because it is having to work harder to keep the house warm.
In other words, using the fireplace has a cost to it that is invisible. You know you pay for wood to burn, but the extra hours the furnace runs is not seen. And don't forget, you have to leave the flue open until the ashes go cold or you fill the house with smoke and carbon monoxide. While it cools, the heat you paid your furnace to make is streaming up the chimney.
You also create dust and dirt from ash and wood hauling that means your house is dirtier. And you have the work of hauling wood and removing ash. Those aren't really very big problems, but just factor in all the considerations before you begin this.
You cannot heat a house, or even a room with a fireplace. A fireplace always creates a net loss of heat in the house. (If you ever want to heat with wood, an air-tight stove is quite efficient.)
Then there is the safety factor. Any flame creates a risk. Wood pops and sparks can get tossed out onto carpet or the wood floors. Chimney fires (which are not uncommon) result when chimneys are not swept regularly (yearly) and can cause the whole house to burn.
I grew up in a farmhouse with two fireplaces which we used a lot. But energy costs were much cheaper then and our wood was free. But I love a good fire in the fireplace since that is a strong childhood memory. I have two fireplaces in my house now. I have never lit a fire in either and don't expect I will. It's not worth the time and trouble or the cost or the risk to me.
Is this meant to discourage you from using the fireplace. Well, yes, because I think that when you consider all these factors, the hour of cheery crackling fire isn't worth the hours of heat going up the chimney or the safety problems. But I do not even try to prohibit fireplace use.
If you want to have an occasional small fire for ambience and you have considered these factors,and figure it is worth the costs, then get the chimney swept and inspected and enjoy.
David
On the other hand, I, and every organization and article I have ever heard from, discourage fireplace use because of energy and safety reasons. To use a fireplace, it is necessary to open the flue, which means the heat in your house is going right up the chimney. Most of the heat that a fire creates rises straight up the chimney. But that rise also creates a draft, which is what takes the smoke up the chimney, and that draft also sucks any air it can right out of the room and up the chimney. So when you light a fire, you suck the heated air in the room right up the chimney with the smoke.
The warm air that goes up the chimney gets replaced by cold air pulled in any tiny crack anywhere in the house because of the vacuum caused by the draft up the chimney. So you light a fire, your furnace comes on to heat the house because of all the cold air being pulled in, and then your furnace runs either constantly, or much more, because it is having to work harder to keep the house warm.
In other words, using the fireplace has a cost to it that is invisible. You know you pay for wood to burn, but the extra hours the furnace runs is not seen. And don't forget, you have to leave the flue open until the ashes go cold or you fill the house with smoke and carbon monoxide. While it cools, the heat you paid your furnace to make is streaming up the chimney.
You also create dust and dirt from ash and wood hauling that means your house is dirtier. And you have the work of hauling wood and removing ash. Those aren't really very big problems, but just factor in all the considerations before you begin this.
You cannot heat a house, or even a room with a fireplace. A fireplace always creates a net loss of heat in the house. (If you ever want to heat with wood, an air-tight stove is quite efficient.)
Then there is the safety factor. Any flame creates a risk. Wood pops and sparks can get tossed out onto carpet or the wood floors. Chimney fires (which are not uncommon) result when chimneys are not swept regularly (yearly) and can cause the whole house to burn.
I grew up in a farmhouse with two fireplaces which we used a lot. But energy costs were much cheaper then and our wood was free. But I love a good fire in the fireplace since that is a strong childhood memory. I have two fireplaces in my house now. I have never lit a fire in either and don't expect I will. It's not worth the time and trouble or the cost or the risk to me.
Is this meant to discourage you from using the fireplace. Well, yes, because I think that when you consider all these factors, the hour of cheery crackling fire isn't worth the hours of heat going up the chimney or the safety problems. But I do not even try to prohibit fireplace use.
If you want to have an occasional small fire for ambience and you have considered these factors,and figure it is worth the costs, then get the chimney swept and inspected and enjoy.
David
| Contact: |
| David Sutherland |
| 315-446-1144 |
| david@university-homes.com |