Open on two sides

[ddmoit]

Hello folks. I was referred to this site by someone on the John Bridge Tile forum.

I have a fireplace that is open on two sides (front and right side). I removed an old insert that was there when I bought the house. I want to use the fireplace as just a plain old wood burning fireplace.

I invited a local expert to find out what I need to do. I know I don't have a damper, and there is a piece of the chimney liner that is sticking too far down into the firebox right now.

The first thing he tells me is that I will not likely be satisfied with the performance of my fireplace for three reasons. One, the back wall is not tapered to guide the smoke up. Two, the open side increases the likelihood of getting a room full of smoke. And three, the diameter of the chimney is larger than most, which he says interferes with a good updraft.

Being relatively ignorant about such things, I have to say that he makes a plausible case. I thought I would come here for additional advice and opinions.

Thanks.

 

[Hogwildz]

There is a reason the previous owners put the insert in.
Traditional open fireplaces rob more heat then they put out. Losing situation from the start. Sure the room its in might seem warm, especially right in front of the fireplace, but its robbing & sucking warm air from the rest of the house up & out the chimney.
Burns lots of wood, puts off less than optimal heat, and needs constant tending to. Add a second side, now your adding another smoke escape route other than up the chimney. Every dual sided fireplace I every read of, had to have one side closed at all times to avoid being smoked out.
Bottom line, If you want to put glass doors on both sides, and always keep one shut, which will prolly get dirty real fast, its more for eye candy than heat.
As I said, there is a reason they put the insert in there in the first place. Not to mention now you have to have the damper rebuilt, and deal with the liner hanging down.
If it was worth a damn to start with, the insert would not have been in there.

On your guys points, I can't say on the first one, but he is dead on on the second two.

Oh, and welcome, you might not get the answers you want all the time, but you will get answers, and usually pretty helpful ones.

 

[jtp10181]

Hogwildz is dead on... can't really add anything to that, except that a Corner wood fireplace is even worse than a See Thru.... yeap... I would stick with an insert.

 

[ddmoit]

Thanks, guys. I came here to learn. Looks like I'm in the right place.

 

[philaphire]

of course, if the desire is to have a 2 sided fireplace, if you have natural gas or propane, perhaps a 2 sided gas insert is the way to go - eye candy & heat

 

[thechimneysweep]

Philaphire, I've never seen a 2-sided gas insert. Do you know of one?

 

[jtp10181]

I have never seen one either, especially not a corner one. What we have done is put a steel plate over the short side and put a normal gas insert into the larger side.

 

[jqgs214]

http://www.heatilator.com/products/fireplaces/gasFireplaces.asp

Many options for gas fireplaces, peninsula, corner etc.

 

[jtp10181]

http://www.heatilator.com/products/fireplaces/gasFireplaces.asp

Many options for gas fireplaces, peninsula, corner etc.

Yeap... we are talking about inserts, not built in fireplaces.

 

[jqgs214]

Ahh, hmmm