(2009-11-24) Fireplaces

Being a Suburb house-owner now, I inherited 3 fireplaces amongst 2 chimneys.

I just had them cleaned, partially to find out what the heck these things are/do...

Unlike the fireplace in my childhood-home (which was rarely used), these have a gas outlet. But it turns out that doesn't mean they're to be used gas-only, those are just "log-lighters", which you use temporarily to get wood burning, saving you from messing about with paper, twigs, The Boys old school papers, etc.

Some of the ash-dump doors were missing. I had already bought replacements - this is a good idea because having an open hole there actually increases the cold-air draw.

Using these fireplaces would look pretty, but actually be a net heat loss, from the warm-house-air getting sucked out the chimney.

There are "inserts" which can be bought, for $2200 each, which can use gas or wood to actually efficiently heat the room. While no more efficient than the furnace, this allows you to focus on heating the rooms you use, rather than heating the whole house, so you can turn down the furnace thermostat (until you want to use the bedrooms or something).

• you can get a Tax Credit for 1/3 the cost of these things, at least for the next couple years.

• they said this would be a pretty practical option for the 2 fireplaces served by the one chimney in the center of the house.

• for the last fireplace/chimney, in the living room (which has white carpeting), they suggested just getting a log-set or something which is fake stuff to burn gas around, so it looks nice without the mess of actual wood.

Cuba Township gives away free wood on Fridays. You can take a car-trunkful per week. The wood isn't super-well-seasoned, but it's free. And you can leave it around for the next year of seasoning yourself. When you buy wood, it's usually not really seasoned either, because they don't split the logs until the last minute, because split wood takes up more space.