Cheap Ways To Make Fireplace More Efficient

But if the heat produced by the fireplace is the whole point converting with a gas insert is a good way to keep money from going up the chimney and make your fireplace more efficient.

Cheap ways to make fireplace more efficient.

Most fireplaces convert only 15 of wood s energy into useful heat but inserts can increase the efficiency of a fireplace by a factor of five. Install a fireback a cast iron plate that is placed at the back of your fireplace. Its purpose is to protect the back wall from fire damage and usually features a design that adds to the home s décor. Since tearing it out can be both messy and costly many homeowners opt for a more cost efficient alternative.

Use aluminum foil to make your fireplace more efficient fireplaces are wonderfully cozy to sit around in the colder parts of the year but they re really not that great for heating your home. Gas burning fireplaces if you re tired of shoveling ashes and hauling wood a gas burning fireplace insert is a more efficient option that also saves space. Gas fireplaces and fireplace inserts allow less air to be lost outside of the house and are made to operate more simply and cleanly than wood fireplaces. They also generate significantly greater levels of radiant heat.

A built in fan distributes heat into the. The most efficient but expensive fix is to install an insert into your fireplace essentially turning it into a miniature wood stove. Chimney cap dampers close the entire top of the chimney so they reduce heat loss when the fireplace is not being used but don t improve efficiency otherwise. The blower pushes heated air out into the room versus letting most of it go up the chimney.

Blowers can be added to most fireplaces to improve overall efficiency and supplement your home s heating system. Some fireplaces include a built in heat exchanger channels where room air can circulate around the hot parts of the structure either through natural air flow or forced by a fan. This process focuses on updating just the surface of the fireplace. The first is to use convection as well as radiation to capture some of the heat from the fire.

The fireback improves the fireplace s efficiency by absorbing the heat from the fire and radiating the heat back into the room. 160 to 400 for a. The air absorbs the heat and returns it to the room. For more information on these techniques and more including.

There are two main strategies for improving fireplace efficiency.