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Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl You might think more about wood heating. That is, buy a small wood stove.

Strongly agree TA! We've had a Vermont Castings stove for about 28 years and enjoy it very much.

We had a large masonary fireplace in our first home and it was a heat loser. You would sit in front of it and feel radiant heat but it sucked warm air out of the house and up the chimney so that when we headed off to bed we found the back bedrooms very chilly. And it really went through the wood pile. Had we stayed there, I would have converted it to a stove insert with stainless steel stack liner.

In our current home, I installed the stove on a large thermal mass (brick floor under the stove and a brick wall behind it) and brought in outside combustion air. Once things are warmed up, we can close the doors from the family room to the rest of the house and keep the family room toasty with just a bed of glowing embers. If we have guests and want a little more ambience, I can take off the front door and replace it with a screen which allows viewing the flames for a "fireplace effect." Of course, that blows the efficiency and uses a lot more wood........but it looks "pretty!"