Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saving Energy Bills with a Fireplace Cover


As with many homes, I have an older wood burning fireplace in my family room. The fireplace has a chain-metal curtain but does not have any other covering, such as glass doors, to seal it when it's not in use. Every winter, the area around the fireplace is noticeably cold and that is because, even though the flue is closed, warm air still escapes or cold wind still blows into the fireplace.

So, to counteract that problem, I decided to build a fireplace seal that would fit over the opening of the fireplace to stop that air from moving either way. I have to say, ever since I put it in there, I can physically see the material moving in and out as it does exactly what it was meant to do. I also put metal handles at either side to make it easy to pull out or remove as the seal is pretty tight.



Obviously, the seal is not fireproof so it would never be recommended to put it back in it's location for at least a week after you have a fire if you don't clean the fireplace out right away. Even a fire that has been out for 4 days can still have the potential to flare up again under the right circumstances. The cover has a wood frame with plastic and cloth pulled over it. Plenty of chances for a spark to reignite. But, since I hardly use the fireplace other than the winter holidays, I'm not worried about it.

1 comment:

  1. Ok, let's try again. Here is your number one fn back posting

    ReplyDelete