Idaho Mountain Express: Ask Ida

Friday, December 2, 2011

Ask Ida

Can I burn wood without losing heat?

Dear Ida B. Green,

I love my wood fireplace but I understand I'm losing a lot of heat out the chimney. Any solutions?

Signed, Chim-Chiminey

Dear Chim,

There are some problems to consider with open fireplaces. The first is the negative house pressure created when burning any flame inside your house. The fire requires oxygen to burn and will suck air out of your house, which will then pull new, cold air in through the many small and large openings in your home's exterior envelope (i.e. walls, windows, etc.). And, if your thermostat is in another room and still trying to keep that room up to your preferred temperature, you're heating that new air before it's pulled into your fireplace and goes up in smoke. Oddly enough, it can actually be more energy-efficient to crack a window near your fireplace so the outdoor air is supplied directly to your fire and not causing cold air to be sucked in throughout the house.

The second problem is present after the fire is out and the damper is closed. Make sure your chimney sweep checks to see if your damper is tight and then add at least one more barrier to stop heated air from escaping up your chimney. Options include glass doors, insulated fire screens and even balloon-like plugs that can be inserted below the damper.

Keep it Green,

Ida

—Elizabeth Jeffrey

buy cialis
comprar cialis
acheter cialis

About Comments

Comments with content that seeks to incite or inflame may be removed.

Comments that are in ALL CAPS may be removed.

Comments that are off-topic or that include profanity or personal attacks, libelous or other inappropriate material may be removed from the site. Entries that are unsigned or contain signatures by someone other than the actual author may be removed. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or any other policies governing this site. Use of this system denotes full acceptance of these conditions. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no way represent the views of Express Publishing, Inc.

You may flag individual comments. You may also report an inappropriate or offensive comment by clicking here.

Flagging Comments: Flagging a comment tells a site administrator that a comment is inappropriate. You can find the flag option by pointing the mouse over the comment and clicking the 'Flag' link.

Flagging a comment is only counted once per person, and you won't need to do it multiple times.

Proper Flagging Guidelines: Every site has a different commenting policy - be sure to review the policy for this site before flagging comments. In general these types of comments should be flagged: