Have a fireplace? Use it much?

[allisolm]

28 degrees this morning in north Florida and I've got a wood fire going right now. The football game will be on in 90 minutes and I'll be oh so cozy while watching.

 

[Zedtom]

We haven't used ours for years. Around the holidays my girlfriend suggests lighting a fire, but we never get around to doing it. Getting some wood, hauling it in, opening the damper, setting it up, watching it burn...yada, yada, yada.

I would like to mount an LCD TV above it. Now that I could sit and look at for hours.

 

[IGBT]

..I have a Lopi wood stove. 65k btu. paid 400.00 for it 20 years ago. Brass door wit wildlife etched glass. I see them around in back yard sales. Great looking stove with top vent for free stand and rear vent for hearth mount.

 

[MovingTarget]

Yep. My parents have one. We live out in the middle of nowhere, so we have our own firewood. When a large storm (we get hurricanes) passes through a few trees inevitably fall. We just cut them up and use them as fuel. Saves a lot of $ in the winter, and we're much happier than our neighbors when the power goes out and it gets cold. My fiancée also has one in her apartment but she's too scared to let anyone use it. Too much of a city girl

 

[Jeff7]

My family had one back home. We never used it though. The house had a negative draft - air blew down the chimney so hard it could put out a match. After having at least 5 people look at the chimney, and a few hundred dollars later, nothing helped. Maybe my parents could put a wind turbine in there, generate power, and heat the house with that instead.

They've got a pellet furnace now, which has a fan in it to force a proper draft. Only problem: it doesn't work during power outages.

 

[PingSpike]

Our house that we just bought has a hearth and flu entry point for a wood stove. The previous owner built the house, so its surprising he never used it in the 20 years he owned it. We're feeling a little tapped out on purchases this year, but on the list for next year is a good wood stove. The chimney is on the far side of the house and not centrally located for the wood stove, but I figure a fan will good decent distribution throughout the house. I live on about 4+ acres that is mostly treed...I'm hoping that just culling deadfall will give me the wood I need for supplemental winter heat. I really love the smell of wood burning and wood stoves don't suck heat out of the house like fireplaces so it should work well for us.

Plus I could use the exercise from chopping wood.

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Our house that we just bought has a hearth and flu entry point for a wood stove. The previous owner built the house, so its surprising he never used it in the 20 years he owned it. We're feeling a little tapped out on purchases this year, but on the list for next year is a good wood stove. The chimney is on the far side of the house and not centrally located for the wood stove, but I figure a fan will good decent distribution throughout the house. I live on about 4+ acres that is mostly treed...I'm hoping that just culling deadfall will give me the wood I need for supplemental winter heat. I really love the smell of wood burning and wood stoves don't suck heat out of the house like fireplaces so it should work well for us.

Plus I could use the exercise from chopping wood.

..get a wood grenade at walmart or where ever you can find it. That and a 10 lb maul or sledge hammer will blow thru a cord of wood in a few afternoons.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Always had one, use it constantly. Cleaning does suck, but I don't really mind home maintenance stuff...it's become my alone time.

 

[trmiv]

Our new house has a gas fireplace supplied by an external propane tank. The tank was empty when we moved in a few weeks ago so I haven't had a chance to get the tank filled to try it yet. It looks though that there is a real chimney there and it was just converted to a gas fireplace. I'm considering converting it back to a wood burning fireplace.

 

[TwiceOver]

There's a gas one in my office. I sometimes read by it. Other than that, not really practical.

 

[imported_Imp]

Yes, but it's sealed and I bet that we'd all die from carbon monoxide poisoning if we didn't pay thousands to rebuild/clean it.

 

[mattpegher]

I actually have 3 inside fireplaces and one outside one. 2 of the 3 inside ones are zero-clearance gas fireplaces with sealed firebox, they produce a good amount of heat and loose nothing to the outside. The function well as room heaters, ambiance and quick space heaters when you have a chill. The third is a regular firebox with chimney but I have it fitted with gas logs, this one is probably more a heat loss problem than a heat producing area. The problem with regular fireplaces are the chimney which even when closed result in some heat loss. The net amount of heat produced when lit with wood logs or gas is not enough to use it to decrease heating cost of the house. Basically most will tell you that if you want wood burning for anything other than a luxury ambiance, you need a sealed unit such as a wood burning stove. The other advantage of gas is you turn it off with a simple flip of the switch. With wood you either have to douse the flames or wait for it to go out all while the chimney stays open loosing heat and wasting your time.
For the inner caveman/camper in me, I have an outdoor fireplace, that I bought at sam's club with travertine front and copper chimney. I can make raging fires in this without burning the house down or making a mess of the inside of the house.

 

[pulse8]

Yes, I have one. No, I never use it.

 

[MyThirdEye]

My dad is obsessed with our fireplace. He starts it up basically every night when it gets cold.

 

[DeadByDawn]

Have a woodstove and it runs basically 24/7 during the winter. I live on over 6 acres of trees, so i can get as much wood as I want to cut. I bought a nice woodstove and it paid for itself in two winters.