Heating issues

[FarmerChick]

surface.

a wood stove you can cook on top but at the same time you can cook by a fireplace (they did it for hundreds of years )


As long as you have heat you are OK. Use it anyway best!!

 

[k15n1]

Open fireplaces can actually make the room colder. It has to do with the draft of hot air going up the chimney, pulling cold air into the house. If you're short on money, I'd suggest getting more clothes instead of upgrading the fireplace.

 

[moodlymoo]

I want to upgrade fireplace but I need other things more. Thankfully the fireplace has tightly sealing glass doors so that helps in the winter. I am just trying to figure out how to make the fireplace work to the best of its ability.

 

[Marianne]

The wood stove is a sealed unit, so there's no warm room air escaping up the flue unless you have the door to it open. I have a fan behind mine to add more warm air to the room and move that warmer yet ceiling air around.

The fireplace is open all the time, so there's always room air escaping up the flue.

Please don't buy that insert until you have your chimney looked at by someone who knows what they're looking at. Chimney repair can be really costly and that's something that you can't mess around with, you know?

Another thing to consider when the time is right, would be a wood burning furnace. That can be installed in your house, too. The neat thing about them is that you connect ductwork from it to the ductwork in your house. Then you have warm air blowing into every room that has a vent.

 

[Marianne]

I think I need to hit my refresh button before I post, so I'm not repeating what everyone else has already posted!

 

[Beekissed]

Today I am adding plastic to all the windows that leak, putting up blankets over the plastic and who knows about the slider. It is the only access to the backyard and I have 3 dogs who need to go outside, chickens out there and that is where all my wood is. I may put a blanket up on the slider and leave part of it loose so we can pull it back like a curtain I guess. I put a stick in the door to push it closed tightly so that is helping a little too. I found an insert on CL but I dont know anything about them or how to install one. New is way to expensive, heck used is so expensive but is half the cost of new. I like the idea of the little fans.

What is the difference between a fireplace and wood stove? Why is it better to have the wood stove?

Fireplaces are fine for looks and only a little warmth, as most of it escapes up the chimney. Wood stoves are designed to contain the heat, and radiate it outwards into the room. With a stove you can fill it with logs for the night, damper it down and it should radiate heat all night long and still have coals the next morning. The way stoves are designed controls the drafts, conserves your wood usage and puts out the most heat possible for the amount of wood/coals you have contained therein.

In a fireplace you are merely feeding firewood to produce heat that promptly goes up your chimney....looks nice but it won't heat your house and you can't bank it up properly.

This old farmhouse I live in is so warm in the winter and cool in the summer~which isn't real typical of rambling old farmhouses. But I found the reason why when one of the older neighbors told me the house is insulated with sawdust...the original owners had it blown in. You might look into this as a cheap way to insulate your house if you get a chance before next winter.

 

[moodlymoo]

Thank you for the full explanation.

 

[THEFAN]

Being a Mainha we have to deal with kind of stuff all the time. We live in a 60 yr old family house and when we first moved in the heat lose was CRAZY!!! The first thing we did was insulate all basement bays. We did it with styrofoam. Cut to fit. Siliconed all cracks and if to big we used foam in a can. Then we banked the house with plastic, hay and pine bows. We plastic all non essentail windows and openings. We use a woodstove for our heat source now. After paying 600 plus a month for many yrs in the cold months we were tired of using oil. It was fine when the economy was good but we adjust to the times. Plus we have really become frugal these past yrs. We would do a fireplace insert if we had to. Now no oil bill and free wood everywhere. WOOHOO FREE HEAT!! We've seen friends with them and they are pretty slick. Good heat control too. No lose up the chimney. As for the kids. God has giving us the wisdom of cloths making. Layer accordanly. Anyway just my 1/2 cent ( adjusted for inflation and government theft) Tale care and get warm.

 

[ORChick]

All very good suggestions, and I totally agree with theFan - teach the kids how to dress for the cold! You're in Portland, not Montana, it shouldn't be that hard. And think about the old fashioned idea of a hot water bottle at night - does wonders for cold toes. If you can't find hot water bottles (do they still make them?) you can make a bag filled with rice to microwave till its hot, and use that. If you don't sew you could fill the corner of an old pillowcase, and tie it closed - maybe cutting off the excess material. Mostly you need to educate them about the realities of existence - depending on their ages you might be be able to convince them that it is a game (who can stay warm best by dressing right?). I grew up in California, but in a stone house in the fog belt. The granite sucked up the cold and damp, and radiated it out - our house seldom got warmer than 56 or 58 degrees, and all we had were open fireplaces. We dressed right, and learned from an early age how to deal with the cold. I still cannot stand overly heated buildings (overly heated by "MY" standards, meaning normal for others ) And definitely put something to block the drafts at the base of all doors and windows; even a folded up towel will help in a pinch.