Don't Let Your Fireplace Burn a Hole in Your Wallet
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Your fireplace may be great to warm up by on a cold winter night, but be careful that it doesnt burn a hole in your wallet. Whether you use it or not, your fireplace can be a pipeline of energy waste.
When in use, your fireplace may actually have a reverse effect on your homes heating. Older fireplaces are generally quite inefficient and only heat the immediate area. The convection of the fire can also suck conditioned air out of the rest of your home and cause your furnace to work harder.
When a fire is not burning there is usually only a thin metal damper to keep warm air from flowing out the chimney. The damper is 100-year-old technology and does little to insulate your home.
Fortunately there are steps you can take to keep from getting burned by your fireplace:
- Install a top-sealing damper. These dampers are installed on the top of your chimney and act as a storm door, keeping conditioned air in regardless of the season.
- If your fireplace is never used, consider sealing it with insulation or an insulating inflatable damper. Be sure to remove all insulation if you plan on using the fireplace again.
- Consider installing a fireplace heater. These units draw fresh air from the room, circulate it through a heating chamber and blow it back into the room. They are a sealed system, so no smoke ever enters the room. Fireplace heaters will dramatically increase the efficiency of your fireplace.
- Install glass fireplace doors. This improvement will help the efficiency, safety and aesthetics of your fireplace. Glass doors allow for better sealing of the fireplace so less air is lost to convection and to simple drafts. The doors will also protect children from flames, and can prevent embers from escaping into the room. Consider installing doors in conjunction with a fireplace heater for maximum efficiency.
There are a wide variety of products on the market to help improve the efficiency of your fireplace or simply seal off an unused chimney. Shop around or ask an expert to determine whats best to keep your energy dollars from going up in smoke.