Disadvantages And Advantages Of Wood Burning Chimney?
Wood burning chimney users, will you please share with me the advantages and disadvantages of a wood burning fireplace? We are considering keeping the wood burning fireplace and/or using an electric one. Thank you.
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November 26, 2009 @ 1:50 am
Depends on a couple of things. When I was growing up we had 30 acres of woods so the cost was just a bunch of hard work, a chain saw , some gas and oil to stay warm all winter (upstate NY in case you are curious). With the power lines going out several times each winter we had no problem. Now, it isn’t as practical (for me) but you may find it’s nice to have a source of heat that isn’t dependent on an energy company. Learn about maintenance. Chimney fires are no joke.
November 26, 2009 @ 7:37 am
I live in a cold climate of the Upper midwest. I have a wood burning fireplace and my in-laws have an electric insert for his fireplace. I concur with the statement earlier that the wood firepalce is really for ambiance only and not for suplemental heat. As a matter of fact if we use our wood firepalce regularly our gas heating bills go up and I notice our gas furnace runs near constantly while the fireplace is being used. When we had an energy audit the inspector explained that the fireplace was speeding up the air stack effect in the house and wasting heat and that is why the furnace ran all the time. Since our damper was in bad shape he put in a chimney balloon to plug the fireplace chimney. Now we only use the fireplace at Chirstmas or Thanksgiving for a little holiday ambiance and then we put the balloon back in and leave it.
My in-laws have a stone fireplace and they put in a nice electric insert and had it professionally installed. When they installed it they put a chimney balloon in at the top of the chimney to plug the flue and soem fiberglass bat insulation down by the damper as well so no air would come down around the insert. I didnt like the electric insert much at first, but I must admit that it grew on me over time. Turning it on with a flip of the switch for ambiance and the heat element switch was separate so you could have makeing heat, or not. It gave the ambiance without the work. Now granted it is not the same look as a real fire, but I have little kids too, so it was nice to not have to worry about them being around the in-laws living room without being burned.
I guess it is all in what you are looking for. If you want efficiency and saftey go with an electric. If you just plain want burning wood in cae of power outages and you like the smell and feel of it and the heat loss doesnt matter to you then you can go that way.
November 26, 2009 @ 8:05 am
We have a wood burning fireplace. I love it. I think theres nothing better on a fall or winter night then to have a fire going. However. You cant heat your house efficiently with a regular old fashion wood burning fireplace. most of your heat goes up the chimney and it will also pull the heat from your household furnace out with it. But i like the idea that if the power ever went out or something. we have a wood burning fireplace. if we kept it going good, it would offer enough heat not to freeze to death and we could also cook in it.
Now they do have fireplace inserts that can burn wood a lot more efficiently, most have blowers that will help circulate the air. There is some that can burn wood pellets or even a pellet/corn mixture, but with those you’ll always have to make sure you have a good supply of pellets. Unlike a wood burning fireplace or stove, Which wood can often be found cheap or even free.
We have a wood burning fireplace, we basically use it mostly for entertainment purposes, the whole a fire on Christmas eve thing. But i would love to get an insert for it to make it more efficient but the one i want is really expensive.. so yeah.. someday. But i don’t really see any point in having an electric one. i don’t like them at all
November 26, 2009 @ 9:26 am
It really depends on what you want to use the fireplace for however. Ambiance or heat. I prefer to burn real wood. We use it for heat in the winter and for the ambiance. I like the smell, and the crackling and popping. But it is a bit of a pain. it is messy, it has to be stored in a waterproof area. It can be just as expensive as any other fuel, if you don’t cut and split your own. And it can attract unwanted house guests. (termites). But when the power goes out from a winter ice storm, that electric fireplace doesn’t help warm your bones to much!
November 26, 2009 @ 1:27 pm
If the power goes out, you still have heat.
But, without proper maintenance, creosote in a chimney will burn a house down.