The Sandra Daniels Group - Beaverton Realtors

I read recently that fireplaces aren’t very efficient for a reason I hadn’t thought of before.  First here are the basics.

Most of us know that fireplaces, in their simple form, aren’t very efficient for heating a home while the updraft pulls heated air out of the room.  Mother Earth News gives some tips.

A fireback is simply a heavy sheet of metal (traditionally cast iron) behind the fire. In addition to protecting masonry in the back of the fireplace, a fireback reflects heat into the room (instead of all the heat going up the chimney). Estimated cost: $75 to $350.

Replace the damper. The damper is the metal plate that regulates airflow through the chimney. Some dampers fit snuggly when they’re new, but frequently warp within a year or two, producing a loose fit and allowing air to leak past them. Chimney cap dampers close the entire top of the chimney. Estimated cost: $10 for a damper inside the flue, which won’t stop much air; $160 to $400 for a chimney cap model.

What I hadn’t considered before was that besides the updraft pulling air out of the home, air is also removed through combustion.  If you have glass doors on your fireplace, you can see how much air goes out the chimney by the effect on the fire.

If you don’t have a fan or some kind of blower system on your fireplace it may not be worth the cost of the wood.

Install a grate heater or radiator. These units aren’t as large as complete fireplace inserts (see below), but capture a significant amount of heat from the fire and force it into the house. Estimated cost: $410 to $6.

Bonus:  How to decoratively hide your cords around your fireplace.