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Save on Heating: Fireplace Tips

fire place Well, it looks like we will finally be moving into our new, larger house. One of the things I am really looking forward to is using the fireplace in the family room. The house comes with 2 acres of mostly overgrown woods, so I know there will be enough dead wood to help us have warm cozy fires for years to come. I can picture the kids happily gathering kindling and roasting marshmallows.

Being frugal, I wondered how much using the fireplace would help us save on our heating costs. I was really surprised to learn that most fireplaces are really inefficient when it comes to warming a room. Did you know that the typical fireplace can exhaust (move out) as much as 24,000 cubic feet of air per hour? All of that air is going outside to be replaced by cold air entering the house. A better solution might be a wood stove, but for now I want to stick with the fireplace.

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to make that fireplace more efficient and save on heating costs. Here are some of the tips I have learned.

First of all, if you never use your fireplace, you should plug and seal it up to prevent it from acting as an open window.

When you aren’t having a fire, make sure the damper in the flue is closed. Check the seal on the damper to make sure it is snug.

Buy and install good quality fireplace doors. We plan on doing this almost immediately. Not only do the doors look nicer than simple screens, but they are a big safety feature when their are kids in the house. Most doors allow you to close them and still allow heat into the room by opening built in vents. You can also close the doors when you are going to bed but still have smoldering coals in the fireplace, to eliminate the danger of stray sparks in the night.

Caulk around the hearth, just as you might caulk around a window.

Do you have any more frugal tips on using a fireplace?

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About Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot. The author of many magazine, newspaper and online articles, Mary Ann enjoys writing about almost any subject. "Writing gives me the opportunity to both learn interesting information, and to interact with wonderful people." Mary Ann has written more than 5,000 blogs for Families.com since she started back in December 2006. Contact her at maromans AT verizon.net or visit her personal blog http://homeinawoods.wordpress.com