Do open fireplaces really cause a house to lose more heat than the fire gives out?
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ANSWERS: 5
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It depends in which part of the planet you live.
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It depends on many factors, such as the size of the fireplace, the quality of the wood being burned, the general insulation level of your home, whether you wait for the fire to be out and close the damper, whether you have a blower to extract more heat from the fireplace, whetehr you have glass doors to close off the fireplace when it is not in use, whether you have a fireback or heat sink built in, etc., etc.
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I have a friend that lives in the country and uses the fireplace for the only source of heat.The winters get down to below O degrees F,and the house remains warm many hours after the fire is out.I would say the answer is no.
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We live in Northern Florida and have a center fireplace that is in the living room and master bedroom. The fireplace gives off an awful lot of heat and we burn seasoned oak wood (thanks to the hurricanes a few years ago) and we don't lose heat up the chimney and we don't close the dampers after the fire is out. We also don't have blowers, and we don't close off either side of the doors. We do, however, leave the door between the bedroom and the living room open when we are burning a fire so the circulation is good and the smoke doesn't come out of the front of either side of the chimney as central fireplaces don't have as good a draw as other fireplaces. It also could be that we have a VERY high roof. My mother also has the central fireplace, my sisters each have side wall fireplaces, so the draw is definitely different. Our electric bill is not any higher with the dampers open all winter than my sister's is with the same age and size house in the same neck of the woods. And, you get to watch the beautiful fire as you are falling asleep. It is quite mesmerizing in the dark.
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I don't think so because so many fireplaces have the heating control instruments. You can also see yourself by visiting some fireplaces sites like http://www.fireplacesandwoodstoves.com http://www.fireplaces.com http://www.ibuyfireplaceparts.com
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