Those wasteful decorative fireplaces

[ctg492]

This home is 20 years old and has two of the gas fireplaces that were all the rage that many years ago. I can not turn on either of them with out seeing dollar signs and wasted gas going up the stack. No beauty in that to me. The lower level is cooler as it is a walk out so last year I attempted supplemental heating it when in the room with the fireplace. It had never really been used it appeared as it melted the siding! No insulation, geez. This year I thought the door was open and realized it is the wind blowing in the fireplace. Well there is a thought on why it is so cold in that area! So we temporarily put a sheet of insulation over the entire area, till we are ready to close it in.
There are a few options I am considering. Cheapest is just tearing it out, insulating and drywalling the area. Second is having a wood or pellet stove installed with new chimney. Last is a insulating and installing a decorative electric type.
Why did they install these wasteful fireplaces. We have had a couple homes that had them from that era and never used them. I think it is a prime example of environment waste, all for looks.>:(

[cdttmm]

I feel your pain. We have a house built in that same era. In the main room, we have a dual-sided, wood burning fireplace that could never serve the purpose of providing heat, supplemental or otherwise! We have never used the fireplace and instead installed an insulating balloon inside of it to block the chimney, thus keeping the cold air out and the warm air in. We thought about having it taken out and replacing it with a masonry heater, but the estimated cost of the renovations (including the masonry heater) was $30,000. Gah!!! We installed a high efficiency outdoor wood boiler instead. :D

[sweetana3]

Some friends have one of those dual sided fireplaces and they have to crack a window open in each room to operate it or the house fills with smoke. Their house is too air tight.

[Valley]

Just a slightly different viewpoint. I was widowed in 1998 and bought a small house to move into. There was a wonderful old gray stone fireplace in the livingroom, and I had a gas fireplace installed. For many years I spent the dark winter nights in that livingroom with the fireplace lit. I dreamed by it, ate supper by it, did crafts by it, read by it...and most of all healed by it. I realize that it wasn't a frugal thing to do, but I figured that the money I was using burning that fire was the money others used for entertainment, drinking, smoking, and therapy. I remarried 3 years ago and sold my little red brick house. I will always have a fond place in my heart for those evenings alone by that fireplace.

[ctg492]

cdttmm:
I will have to research this : insulating balloon inside of it to block the chimney. Sounds interesting.

[CathyA]

Some friends have one of those dual sided fireplaces and they have to crack a window open in each room to operate it or the house fills with smoke. Their house is too air tight.

Sweetana.......just wanted to say that we have a big fireplace and had tons of problems with smoke. We thought it was our house being so tight, and always had to open a window. Then we talked it over with a chimney sweep and he told us we weren't heating up the chimney enough before getting the fire going. Now, we make a a big kindling fire first.......but even before that, DH hold lit newspapers up the chimney and lets them burn. We've never had smoke since! And we never had to open a window again. You might mention this to your friends.

[Wildflower]

I have a fireplace in my 22 year old home. It came in very handy during an ice storm here a couple years ago when our whole town was without electricity for a week. Ours is a real woodburning brick fireplace with a gas starter. It got us through that cold and dark, quite miserable week. It gave out plenty of heat and light, kept our small house from freezing, and we survived thanks to our fireplace.... It certainly was the heart of the home in the pitch black darkness all around us. I kept thinking about the pioneers and how important keeping a fire going was for them in the frigid winters....

[bunnys]

I would go w/ option two and install the wood stove--not pellet. I would't want to be obligated to buying the pellets.

I love my masonry fireplace that burns wood. It had been a gas fireplace but I had the gas logs taken out and the gas capped so I could burn wood. The plumber said he'd never had one person do that before.

[Gardenarian]

My cabin has a propane fireplace as the only source of heat. I was delighted with it at first, but this has been a very cold winter and it just does not do the job.
I've tried to research the efficiency of gas fireplaces for heating but can't find any good information. Are they really really bad? My cabin has no insulation (though it was used for 70 years as a full-time family home.) Maybe they just got used to the constant cold - or used space heaters??
I seem to go through propane like water. I'm wondering if I should consider a different form of heat.
In a previous home I had a pellet stove and it heated well, but getting the pellets was a nuisance and we had frequent power outages that filled the house with smoke and left us reliant on electric space heaters.
I do like the convenience of being able to turn on a thermostat and Poof! magic fire. And it's very pretty. But cold!