I'm a second generation mason, and we build mostly fireplaces. My father has spent 40 years in the trade, and developed a reputation as one of, if not the best, fireplace builder in New Hampshire. We buid most our fireplace on high-end newly constructed homes. Fireplaces are our art, and I can address all these concerns. To give air to the fire, without opening a window or door, an outside air vent needs to be put into the firebox. It's a small vent that slides open and close, about half a brick, laid into the second course of the firebox. A channel is run through the masonry, with an opening on the chimney. When built with an adequate smoke shelf, closing the damper of an indoor fireplace should prevent any significant air leak problems when the fireplace is not being used. A tall enough chimney, and large enough flu liner is what ensures proper draw. The size of the flu needs to be appropriate to the size of the firebox. They are expensive, much like other peices of art. The craftsmanship in fireplaces is obvious to me, but I am biased. We have built more than 200 fireplaces, in many different kinds of homes, of several styles. I would be happy to address any questions about fireplaces, including the challenges that arise in building them, or in repairing faulty fireplaces.
Thats exactly thw problem, and even if a fireplace is well made its placed in the worst place in the house. I have only lived in 1 house that had a fire place in a good spot. Usually they put them right in the way of laying out a room.
I wish I could get you and your Dad's overall and honest impression of a mason built fireplace built about 70 years ago. The evolution of fireplaces in NH must have some surprises in it.
@@nobodykayaks1041 Depends if the home was simply built to sell or thoughtfully designed. Also depends if you're planning the room around the fireplace (as the centrepiece), or if it's just there as a source of heat. I do hate when the tv and fireplace are forced to share the same wall space- not ideal.
Here in europe some passive houses in very cold climates have a fireplace or wood stove inside the house but both the intake and exhaust are isolated from the inside of the house, the fire is also separated with an airtight glass that you only open to feed the fire. You get the nice radiant heating from the fire but none of the air leaks.
Why not use a wood stove then? They have glass on their doors too. And a wood stove extracts a lot more heat for your house than a fireplace does. And it has cleaner exhaust too.
Would absolutely like to see a review breakdown on these. Rented a condo for skiing in Switzerland and it had a freestanding fireplace that was glassed in like you said.
Check out how things are done in Finland, Sweden, or Norway. Having fireplace is pretty cheap and easy way to ensure additional heating without any compromises.
@aale2000 Not high-quality English fireplaces. The technology of an English fireplaces is outdated, and their modern purpose is primarily as an art piece. Our new fireplaces typically run 30-60k. There are ways to make it more affordable though.
This is the side of Risinger I like most. Passionate about building science, critical thinker, willing say what he thinks👍. Anybody that watches this channel knows about the sponsored episodes; sometimes they're good products, other times they're complete headslappers...Everyone has to make a living but IMO this style is his best content.
@@ronnymcdonald2543 but that is the trade of, if you don't want to live in a high performance house, you pay more in costs of heating and cooling, in size of your carbin footprint, personal comfort and the quality of indoor air.
I just built my wife and I a new house. I put in a wood fireplace insert. It has a 30’ brick chimney…you wanted dramatic responses…I know it’s not efficient, but it brings me joy. Sorta like a full size pickup…burns more dinosaurs 🦕 and cost more to drive…but it’s enjoyable. Lots of things in life like that. Btw mine draws nicely. Also gives me good reasoning to use a chainsaw and stuff
I’m in northern Maine. I have a wood stove in the basement as a back up. Sometimes we loose power. In the winter it can get to 50° below zero. That becomes a life threatening situation pretty quickly.
I really like a wood burning stove with an outside air intake. If you get an epa approved one they burn pretty clean too. Great extra option if the power is out.
I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was 111.00 and 106.00. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
I agree with most things you said, but I still want fireplace. And it’s because if the big freeze hits and the power goes out. I like being able to burn stuff to stay warm. I like redundancy. Would love to have a video on how to build a proper airtight fireplace , knowing that it’s suboptimal if I still want one, how do I still make it the best fireplace possible
What I wrote to Matt in comments: Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF. The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
1. Put the fireplace in the core of the house, not an exterior wall. 2. Design in a very tight firebox door. The best designs I've seen have a glass window facing into the primary living space and then a metal door with a tight gasket on the sidewall or back of the fireplace for building the fire. 3. Be intentional about where the supply air comes from, and how much. It should come from outside into the firebox... Using warm interior air to fuel the fire is counterproductive to keeping the house warm. The airflow should be optimized to burn the fire as hot as possible. 4. Capture the heat. If your firebox is hot enough, it will fully burn all the combustion by-products, generating even more heat and leaving an exhaust flow that is just extremely hot water vapor and CO2... Since there isn't any tar by-products to precipitate onto the chimney walls if the exhaust temperature gets too low, your ideal chimney in this case is as labyrinthine as possible while still maintaining enough draw. The exhaust should be only moderately warmer than your interior air by the time it leaves your chimney.
I can't keep up with this stuff, as the activist change their mind so often. Are we presently on Global Cooling, or Global Warming? Or are we on the world is getting cooler because of global warming?
@@5150Lane global warming is always been kind of a bad misnomer, it’s just warming on average, but what it really means is more extreme weather, So hotter hots and colder cold days. @ken_the_bigfoot, those seem like good tips, the easiest way seems to be to draw in air, around the flu, that way it cools down the exhaust gasses, who’s down the the.and heats the incoming air, kind of like an erv does, and we’re not net losing air sucking it in in bad ways. I love the idea of having the fireplace in the heart of the home too always have, seems ideal near the stairwell.
There HAS to be a flue that can be 100% sealable and just kick in your ERV/HRV to boost when you want to run the fireplace or possibly add an auxiliary ERV. I'm building a home next year and really want to put a fireplace in but don't want to suffer the ACH penalty. Come on Matt. With all your connections to building suppliers I'm sure you can find SOMEONE who makes a solution to this conundrum. Love your videos btw. Been watching for a long time.
I'm with you! As a custom homebuilder of 38 years, my best fireplaces have been fakes built around TV screens showing an endless loop of a traditional fire. The face and mantles were premium and the draft was ZERO! My first was with a looped VHS recorder in the early 90's, but later I had the hearth wired for cable TV.
A regular masonry chimney with a chain damper is fine. Draw issues come with any fireplace. Chimneys less that 16’ and more that 35’ will almost never draw properly no matter what which is why gas inserts generally have to be in that height range. Those fresh air vents dont do squat. The secret to solving a draw issue on a fireplace with proper height is the doors. You MUST heat the chimney liner for it to draw. When you first light the fire, keep the doors mostly closed for a few minutes. When the fire gets going then open then fully and you’ll be fine. Ive been in the fireplace business 25 years and i have the highest rated company in Northern Virginia. I’m not a fan of prefab wood fireplaces or cheap gas fireplaces. That’s where most problems are from.
I was wanting to build a block fireplace in my doublewide from scratch, this makes me realize height may be a problem with draw, if i made one 14' tall do you think it would draw after it heats up?
@@GoodVibesOnly1914 some do, some don’t. I’ve seen as low as 12’ draw but under 16 is a gamble. Also, vent sizes, barometric pressure, elevation all come into play. Theres so much involved. You could be fine for 10 years and suddenly have a problem. With short runs a prefab fireplace may be a better option. No one can say with 100% certainty you’ll be fine though. If they did they be lying. That said, you will likely be ok with wood if the chimney heats up. Put doors on and that will balance pressures. If there’s a return hvac vent near by it may F everything up completely; that’s another factor to consider.
@bryanp8010 after some more thought, I'm just going to build a damn tv into a cinderblock fireplace and make it simulated lol, support it underneath with jacksposts and beam. Most of the reason for the whole build is to hold a custom sound system anyway. And it will double as my tv anyway. Keep it simple stupid
A recent TOH Season had them installing a fireplace, and I think it was wood burning, but for the "intake", they used the flue within a flue system, like what's used for other things, like gas furnaces and so on. That is, the air intake and outtake are in two pipes, but only a single pipe is running out. That also allowed them to really air seal to the inside of the house, making it basically airtight, but it's still getting the needed air, via the pipe within a pipe.
Chicago resident here. That's how our tankless water heater works -- flue within flue. Tight seal, one hole despite a basement location and everything works fabulously well.
We live in the Rockies of Colorado and use a woodstove as a source of heat for the home...it would be interesting to see if wood stoves suffer the same fate as fireplaces. I know in Alaska fireplaces and stove are used as a main source of heat. It would be nice to see some episodes on inserts and woodstoves and if it is possible to improve the air tightness..))
YES! We had a terrible old townhome, but it had a big fireplace in the middle of it. It made cold winters and snuggling with my wife on the couch totally worth it.
Ha! Don’t get me wrong, I’m pro Santa Claus. Will have to find another way for him to make a sneaky entrance. I know there’s some kids in the audience, but they typically don’t read the comments. Parents, be sure to tell your kids that I’m not anti-Santa.
Thanks to all of Matt's wonderful videos on building science I really put a lot of thought into how to put a fireplace in the house we are currently building. We really wanted a fireplace. Here is what I came up with: We went with a direct vent linear fireplace located on an interior wall in the house. I ran 5"x8" direct vent up the interior wall and then through the floor trusses out the side of the house. The exterior walls are ICF, so I had to put the wall vent thimble in when we poured the ICF walls. The good news with that is that it air seals around the thimble perfectly. I also added rock wool insulation and high temp sealant around the pipe going through the thimble to completely air seal and insulate that penetration. The direct vent linear fireplace is sealed and pulls combustion air from the outside. I also have a cool wall kit that dumps the heat from the fireplace into the room. I think this is about the best I could do. I would love to hear Matt's thoughts on this setup and if it would change his mind on indoor fireplaces. However, I agree with Matt that most indoor fireplaces are terrible for air sealing and difficult to do correctly.
It is good that you had the courage to do this show. I'd recommend a show on woodstoves, which are at least a backup heating source for many houses. It at least looks as though you can have many of the advantages of a fireplace with a very good woodstove (the soapstone stoves, for example) with an outside air draw and a glass door, so you see the fire. Of course, from a building science perspective, it isn't ideal. But it is a workable solution for many people who have access to a supply of firewood. There are ways, however, to make it better (safer and more efficient) that the built-in fireboxes that you were showing in many frames of this video.
Better option would be having your main house and conditioned envelope and then putting a nice fireplace on a closed in porch or ‘Arizona Room’ type of concept.
What about ventless propane gas logs that don’t require a flute? They are a very common fireplace in the south east and the higher end brands logs and flames honestly look really good and sometimes make me take a second look to see if they’re real. I would always choose a real fire when I can, but I’m curious why it wasn’t mentioned.
Interesting take on this, and my new building science brain (just finished a BS class, Spring semester) ate it up. However, I'm surprised you didn't mention how inefficient traditional American fireplaces tend to be. The heat largely goes right up the chimney, with only part of it getting stored in the surrounding bricks. In the past few years, I've been interested in masonry stoves. They use a series of baffles in which the gases go through a secondary burn, heating up a larger area of thermal mass, and the heat is released over time into the house. Because of the secondary combustion, they produce fewer, safer exhaust gases and you have less ash to clean up. I've also read that they use significantly less fuel than traditional fireplaces. They say today's (small) fire produces tomorrow's heat. Additionally--if I am remembering correctly--they are using fireboxes that are sealed with a glass door during use. I'd imagine they would have to have some kind of air inlet to keep the fire going, but I'm not picturing where that is. Alas, masonry stoves/heaters are also quite expensive, very heavy, and require at least one skilled and knowledgeable mason to build. I'd love to hear your take on them, if you have one.
I have A-frame cabin at 8500' in the Colorado Rockies with a woodstove formerly as the primary heat source. I now have a 96% Trane forced air NG furnace and only use the woodstove when guests come over. I have single-pane windows and really want to tighten my building envelope. I already encapsulated the crawlspace with 3" closed cell. My highest gas bill was $100 this last winter so my utilities aren't too bad. I honestly think when I go to tighten this place up the woodstove is no longer going to work. I've seen some people run a makeup air intake but I think it seems suspect to cut more holes in your house. I have a plate that I push into the chimney to seal it up, just have to remember to pull it out before you light a fire! Love the Build Show Matt!
They would be useful as a thermal mass if they were enclosed within the insulated living space. It annoys me that most fireplaces protrude out into the cold outdoors, so they are a huge uninsulated wall when not in use.
We are currently designing a new Pretty Good House (not quite Passive House) in rural Alberta, Canada. We wanted a fireplace or wood stove as a back-up source of heat, but wrestled with these same problems... until we found out about Masonry Heaters. They're super efficient as far as fireplaces go when supplied with a direct outside air source. With good dampers on the intake and exhaust, sealed glass doors on the front it, and someone that knows how to use the right sealant on the chimney it can work while still getting
@@alexburi We were looking at kits from Solid Rock Masonry, and Heat Kit. We would then have a local mason build them so they are certified up to code.
It's ok Matt. You can visit the log cabin up here in northern Canada in the winter at -40F. You don't have to use the fireplace if you really don't want to.
LOL....I asked Matt to do a vid that will at least show how to install with as much air tight detail an air tight wood stove or insert. I also added this as another comment: Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF. The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
i have a fireplace (previously wood 🪵 converted to gas ⛽️) and it’s just a HUGE thermal bridge 🌁 idk what to do about it except upgrade my panel box so i have room for more circuits and install a mini-split system specific to that are to balance the thermal bridge/loss
I grew up in a 2-story house in the Midwest with a wood burning fireplace. My parents still live there. In over 40 years they've only seen a few days where weird downdraft bursts messed with the draw. The only maintenance/repair was done about 75 yrs after it was built (re-line and a bit of masonry on the very top part). I would never buy a home without a wood burning stove or fireplace, if I lived in a climate where it got truly cold un the winter. Not just for ambiance, but for practical contingencies. My sister had just moved into a 1960s home in TX with a working fireplace when the big freeze hit. That saved them from having to evacuate. Maybe your issues stem from the quality/design of the modern manufacturers.
In the NE, I love having an indoor fire as a backup heat source but also for ambiance. With most fireplaces, the heat they create goes right out the chimney. A wood stove is way better than an open fire place.
I had always heard that you loose more heat up the flu and you gain from the radiant heat of the fire. I wish you had commented on that. I had thought using a fireplace for heat was incredibly inefficient and it is interesting to hear how much less tight a home is when they have one not in use.
🇨🇦❄When the big freeze hits and the power goes out. I like being able to burn stuff to stay warm. Plus here in zone 7 we avoid burning oil from the furnace set up and use our forest trees as readily available fuel source only.Would love to have a video on how to build a proper airtight fireplace , knowing that it’s suboptimal if I still want one, how do I still make it the best fireplace possible. Matt, look forward to a vid on this please.
We're designing a house right now, and the biggest decision we can't agree on is whether or not to have a fireplace. My wife's biggest question is "where will we hang the stockings?".
Agreed where do you hang the stockings? I live in metro Atlanta, GA. I love my wood burning fireplace even though it's not as efficient as it could be. I'll continue to make small changes to make it better. I guess it's the ambience more than anything. It's worth the trouble. Besides I love cutting wood it's gives me a reason to feel like a man and use my chainsaw and even ax at times. Even though I recently upgrade to a electrical splitter best $300 I've ever spent. Without the fireplace how Santa Claus get in....?
I live in Canada. It gets cold here in the winter - cold and damp in many places. When other sources of heat fail, a proper fireplace is necessary. What you folks call cold down south is a spring day up here. Ya, some older fireplaces are not good. I don't need to be told that. I want to know what is the best way to heat a house with wood, pellets or coal in an emergency. I think that would be more valuable to me than looking at a lovely outdoor fireplace that heats up not much of anything. A waste of wood.
I agree. I'd never put a fireplace inside my thermal envelope. I do believe they can be done right IF you have the budget for it, but that'd be a waste of money in my opinion. Instead, I'd add a 3-season room outside the main house envelope and put a standard wood burning stove or fireplace out there. That still provides the benefit of an indoor fireplace that you can enjoy most, if not all, of the year without compromising your carefully designed and built thermal envelope.
That's a smart way of doing it. I wanted a wood fire range in the house I'm currently designing as a backup cooking and heating system for potential emergencies in case the future has prolonged brownouts or blackouts in store for us. Your idea sounds like a great middle ground.
Have you ever done a blower door test on a home with a top-sealing cap damper on a masonry chimney? I am not aware of any factory-built systems that would work with them, but since they pretty much completely seal off the flue when not in use, I imagine they could allow a home to still minimize its air loss/moisture entry with a masonry chimney. Air intakes definitely make a large difference and are actually code per the IRC (R1006) on new fireplaces. Our fireplace has one on each side of the firebox. Draft can also be improved by insulating the liner to ensure that smoke is not cooling too quickly before reaching the top of a long chimney. My parents have a new custom home that was built in 2021 with a masonry fireplace. While it is not quite as airtight as most of the homes on this channel, it is definitely still very well built with a conditioned, encapsulated crawl space and all the joints between floors, walls, and ceiling framing sealed. Without ever having to open doors or windows, the fireplace drafts almost perfectly and never leaves a smoky smell in the room.
I suspect that all of these problems could be addressed, it's also insurance against bad weather. Wood still is a good way to keep a home warm when everything else fails.
I love my wood stove insert. I rebuilt the top of my chimney. I ended up forming it out with 2x4 including a drip edge in my form and poured crack resistant concrete. I added in a expansion gap around my clay flue and ran a stainless steel liner down the clay flue and installing a cap. I only burned about a quarter of my 275 gal oil tank this year. Heating oil was up to 5.35 per gal at this time. I had some good savings. The previous winters without my stove I went through almost two tanks worth of oil to keep my house at 65 degrees. I have no regrets installing my insert. I also never have an issue with back draft. I start a small fire get that flue warmed up and off to the races I go.
We love ours. I installed it about twenty years ago and even though we have zonal electric we use the fireplace for 95% of our heating. The electric units get run occasionally just to burn off the dust, or on extremely cold mornings to warm the house up more quickly. I have a friend who built a super insulated home of almost 4000 SQ ft. He put a small DV gas fireplace just like ours on each of the two floors of his house. He basically uses one of the two to heat the entire house in most weather.
I think an outdoor fireplace with a hot air to liquid heat exchanger to heat water/glycol that is then used to heat your house during the winter would be a much smarter building sciences approach than fireplace in the home.
@@FJB2020 if you get the right size wood furnace, you can load it once a day or less and the blower controls the output. It’s not burdensome and it’s inexpensive.
You spend a lot of time in New England. On one of your next trips there seek out someone with a Rumford fireplace. They are much different than what most masons build today, and much more efficient and clean burning.
Thank you. Someone here gets it and knows not to lump all things that bun wood into one class called “fireplaces” Rumfords burn wood old school and defiantly will heat a room.
I heat my home with a wood stove, which I love and adore, but I wish there was less air leakage and better indoor air quality. Looking to put in Mitsubishi ducted HVAC, but we get semi frequent power outages so I will probably keep the wood stove unless backup batteries become very cheap...
I think a woodstove for a back up is a terrific idea. However, I’d like to see a woodstove with sealed combustion and good fresh air supply to the outside that doesn’t leak. I’m pretty sure there’s some European models and probably domestic ones that fit the criteria.
@@buildshow Maybe do a vid on air tight wood stoves or inserts because here in zone 7 Canada we need our air tight stoves when regular power goes out.... Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF. The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
I love how your passion for fireplaces comes through. Never apologize for that. Ha! I have an outdoor fireplace in a house we bought 3 years ago and we don’t use it often because we literally are choking on the smoke it pushes out of us when we sit in front of it. What do you recommend for us to look at? Sounds like we may have a construction situation as our chimney stack thingy is so stubby. Not sure how to send a picture but I’d love your advice
A fireplace needs to draft properly to function properly. If the house is tight that means an alternate source of combustion air must be accounted for. Matt's got that nice Zender fresh air system - it should be very possible to have that augment the fresh air in the house. The other possibility he didn't address was sealed combustion units that take combustion air from the outside so they are functionally like an outside fire in front of a window. As many others have pointed point, oftentimes fireplaces are used for more than just ambiance and what applies in Austin doesn't necessarily apply in MN or Vermont.
I have a gas fireplace in my home. I feel drafts in the winter when I put my hand at the bottom. If I want to remove it what do you suggest I put in its place? I have a copper clad bump out on the exterior. And I have fake stone veneer on the interior. Electric?
Matt, this doesn't address the air issues you mention that are valid, but I'm sure you've built genuine masonry Rumford fireplaces.... interested in your thoughts on these. In CA a combustible air shutter installed in a firebox is only 8 square inches when open and seems to meet the criteria of getting fresh air into the firebox. Yes, HATE tin can fireplaces---its actually just an awful appliance.
Thank you for the video. Knowing you don’t like the idea of a fireplace, will you make a video explaining how to build the most efficient one possible, while still being in a traditional style indoor fireplace?
Heating with wood has saved me $1000s, but you are spot on about leakage. In my old house I plumbed air to the stove it improved its performance, but I should have had a larger source. Thanks for what you do.
Same here… even with my actual epa certified stove with a sealed air intake coming it the back, when it’s windy you can feel cold air leaking out every corner.
As a New England native, I love my fireplace. If I ever achieve the dream of building my dream house I plan to have a few fireplaces and have them built as authentically as possible. Hopefully, I can hire folks like @HardPathPoet to build them.
Look into masonry heaters for inside the house. Hundreds of years old wood burning technology that works. There's a bunch of info available, kits available and any mason can build one.
I agree with many of your points. I too enjoy the aesthetics of a fire but I live up North. I am not going to spend thousands to sit outside in the cold to look at a fire...that is why we have firepits. I also have a fireplace to heat my home in an emergency. I seem to remember Texas having power problems the other year. Maybe spend some time showing us better ways to have a fireplace in our homes so we can enjoy them and heat our homes in an emergency. Maybe there are options to seal it when we are not using it. Don't get too weird there in Austin...
Learned a lot, especially since i live in NC where im in the south but brick is so abundant people build chimney fireplaces all the time. Every rental ever has it crappily blocked up. How should you frame an outdoor kitchen/living room?
And....here in Canada in zone 7 with power outages....well.........this is a comment I added for Matt to read and consider...as well as suggested he do a vid to show detail on how to air tight seal as best as possible an air tight stove or insert. Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF. The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
I'm in the same situation. Built so tight it's hard to keep the smoke out of the house. Added a blower to the 4" intake and it seemed to help a lot. Very important to get it up and going fast for less smoke.
Would love an outdoor fireplace.. the problem up in Canada is that when its best used, you'd be surounded by 3ft of snow, which makes it not so fun to enjoy. If I could rip out my fireplace i would, but my wife likes the idea of it, despite us having only used it literally once in 10 years... :rolleyes:
I would suggest you look in to Tulikivi soapstone fireplaces if you really need a fireplace as your sole source of heat. Very well designed and remarkably efficient. We live off grid and this thing keeps us warm even in single digits. 2300 Sqft.
Building a house, and I think we'll be installing a direct vent. I just don't see how these are bad for the envelope, it's a sealed system with its own makeup air. Anyways, if anyone has an opinion I'd be interested in hearing it.
What I wrote to Matt in comments: Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF. The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
It would be interesting for you to test an Acucraft, American and Hearthside fireplace system. They duct air in from outside, and at least, based on videos I’ve seen, the air INTAKE dampener can almost completely put out the fire or cause it to rage. I do think that it really depends on your goals… I’ll take a leakier house and a warm heart over a blower door test number… any day.
So what if you ran the make up air directly into the back of those closed fireboxes? The only time there would be any air exchange with the home interior would be when the door is open to put in firewood, or clean out ash. I am more concerned about back up heat in the middle of the Canadian winter.
When you have no power but you have that cozy wood stove, the hundreds/thousands you lose over the decades is completely worth it when your wife and baby are warm and happy.
Exactly. Let's face it. The fireplace in the last hundred years has mostly been for astetics. With the incompetence of government and utility companies, it's nice to have something that can at least provide some kind of warmth so you don't freeze to death.
I would think an airtight wood stove with a reburn manifold would be a lot better than a giant black hole in your wall made of brick gulping cu yards of air out of your home. It still requires air for combustion but its more metered with smaller orifices.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on cast iron wood burning stoves. In rural Canada many homes have electric heat that is expensive to use as a main heat source so with cheap available firewood around, the stove or fireplace insert is used and seems to generate a lot of heat without the problems associated with open fire places.
For allergy reasons, I wanted a house with NO fireplace, but they are impossible to find. A fireplace seems to be one of the boxes a builder feels like he has to check off in his efforts to please all buyers--and they stick them in in the most improbable of locations (like a corner where a massive crowd of one could gather around).
I moved into my house almost 25 years ago and my house had two fireplaces. I closed up one and the other is for a stove. But when I renovate my kitchen the chimney is coming down and the stove will be replaced with an electric one. My builder has already done a few - and I suspect more people will do it over time.
Not a question about fireplaces but, i noticed the electrical transformer at the corner of your lot. I currently built a new house in Asheville for my family and have a similar configuration. Met with Duke energy before the build with a plan to move the pole further from my build once completed. Since policy has changed they are not moving it without a large fee. My question is, at what distance is my family safe from any electromagnetic radiation? Both from the transformer as well as the main panel mounted to the exterior of my house. I have clad most of my house in a 22 ga steel siding and wondered if that changes anything. Thanks love your show is has been very useful when answering questions for clients.
Whenever it gets a little chilly around here, many neighbors fire up their fireplaces, and the whole neighborhood smells awful. At the end of the video, when you say look at all that smoke going up, I'm just thinking, look at all that air pollution going up. Is it really worth what it does to our lungs and our air?
Hi. Mr Risinger ,Can you do a video on how to properly seal out a Fire place for people who don't want to use it anymore ,cause tearing it down will cause too much trouble, Thank You!
But, but, but…. fireplaces aren’t logical, they’re EMOTIONAL. They haven’t served a function in nearly a hundred years! Yet everyone LOVES sitting and staring at a fire with their loved ones. It’s a spiritual accessory that connects us to our ancestors.
How do you feel about ventless gas logs? I have a 1902 Victorian with 3 fireplaces. One was originally a coal basket. Looking for options for better efficiency and to keep my wife happy.
Good topic. As a non-wood-cutting owner of 2 mid-century homes that have fireplaces, I'd like to know all the options to improve a home's efficiency but still get some flame-ambience. I don't want to cut wood and build fires all winter. Are there any definitive resources on the products and building science of fireplace options and products?
Why no wood boxes to store the wood along each side of the fireplace? I’m just curious. I’m designing our backyard fireplace and am trying to decide on wood boxes or not. Thanks in advance.
Is it a safe practice to insert fiberglass insulation under a "tin can" gas fireplace insert for the purpose of slowing air drafts? Basically placing the fiberglass insulation between the concrete foundation of the home and the bottom of the fireplace insert (where the gas line comes into the home from the outside and there is a visible cut opening to the outdoors. Obviously insulation is not going to fix the leaks but hoping it may lessen it? Located in temperate California so extreme temps are not an issue.
Completely agree. Though one step further is not having the outdoor one either. Hard to deny the aesthetic quality of a fire but wood smoke is terrible for air quality. Do you have a carbon filter on your HRV to reduce the effects of it being sucked into your house?
I’m not sure that we necessarily disagree. I just want you to install a fireplace that has really good sealed combustion, not one of these cheap metal boxes that leaks now and forever. Consider a woodstove with a good fresh air input and sealed combustion. Probably some European and domestic models Meet that criteria
@@buildshow I guess I should have been more specific. I know there are shoddy metal boxes and do not plan on going the cheap route. I will be having a wood stove in the master bedroom as well as a big fireplace in the main living room. I understand the downfalls and will gladly take them for the positives that a wood-burning fireplace gives. I'm not as concerned about having a tight house as you are. I'm happy with good enough.
Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF. The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
@@Alphasig336 Hello there. 🇨🇦 A possible option. The family home here is set up with an oil furnace, which we do NOT use and only burn wood as we continue to manage the surrounding forest by selectively logging. The white spruce trees we manage and then burn once dry, allow patches of forest to be available for replacement of hardwoods. We are changing this full white spruce forest into an Acadian forest. This means hardwoods and shrubs for wildlife natural food needs to be regularly planted. It is a slow process. So it is a good thing here for us to burn wood....it helps us manage our forest and use our own trees, it sets things up for a healthier forest with a variety of tree species and food source shrubs, and we feel really good helping our planet in the very small way that we are doing. From our experience any generator we had sat for a long while before being needed with temporary fortune of it working unless you maintained it throughout the year. You still depend on acquiring a fuel source and depend on the service to get it here in the country. The latest hurricane shut down gas stations for weeks so fuel ran out on some of the generators. Not a 100 percent reliable option for country living. Our fuel source is right outside our home and not dependent on services to get it here or that we will run out after weeks of no electricity. Even when we eventually switch to geothermal energy and get rid of the oil tank system, once the power goes out, almost yearly at some point, the geothermal system shuts down...so here in Cool Canada, having an air tight insert helps us to almost live off grid with the sprinkle of usage of electricity while the power is operational. A variety of ways to live with individual needs and to each her own. Appreciate your input.
Thanks for the insights Matt. I just removed an old 1940s fireplace in our house. Brick by brick. Thinking about using the brick to build something outside. Any clues on how close to utility / power lines the chimney can be? I noticed you a couple above yours. Thank you.
I want to see your take on cast iron stoves/ fireplaces. Can they work? Can you fit one in a modern ‘tight’ home? I grew up with one at my grandparents. There’s nostalgia there for me. Always thought I’d get one eventually when I get to build. Curious if it’s practical. Also don’t some have feed/ exhaust in the same tube and therefore wall penetration?
Is there any way to get a combination outdoor fireplace and pizza oven? Also in Michigan, I see a lot of outdoor wood burners which heat water to make a nice radiant floor inside the house.
What about cast iron/metal wood stoves? Most models now have outside air intakes. For the roof penetration, I’m not sure if there are ways to properly seal/insulate close to the flue.
I just designed a home that has a double-sided firebox design. The fire can be seen from the foyer and living room at the same time. So, I guess my home is doomed to lose a few percent of efficiency, but a wood fire is so primal in this case I think it is worth it. Imagine it's Christmas Eve and your guests arrive and the first thing they see is a heart-warming fire. I will never forget how comforting a fire was in our old house built in the 1800s.
See-through fireplaces almost always smoke. In order to not smoke, you will have to put in an extremely large flue. They can be done, but one must be very concerned about draw. I would also recommend smaller fireplace openings. 36" or less. A chimney-top damper should be considered.
@@hardpathpoet2859 How do you feel about Fireplace Xtrordinair's behind-glass wood burning models? I believe they have fan blowers to suck in fresh air and expel warm air into the living space. What size would you suggest? Is 36" best or could I go to 44" size?
@Christopher Calder I am not experienced with that product, but there are many good fireplace inserts. They all have their concerns, though. If it has metal in contact with masonry, rusting is a long-term concern, and they can be difficult to remove or replace. By that, I mean when masonry is laid against metal, it's less of a concern when the masonry is laid, in preparation for installation. Glass doors work for their intended purpose, but heat-resistant panes can be hard to find when they need to be replaced. The firebox size is really just about how big of a fire you want to have. That's an aesthetic choice. 36" is best for most rooms. 44" might look a bit weird unless the room is large.
would you say a stand alone wood/pallet stove could be a better alternative than a traditional fireplace? I'm at the northeast which winter can get really cold, a fireplace/stove can be useful as a last resort.
So what do you suggest to use to heat your house in -15* when the power goes out? Ice storms can knock out power for 7+ days so you still need to eat, take warm baths, and survive. I’m still standing by fireplaces in my house.
I'm about 60 miles north of Austin and my home was built in the early/mid 80's. Is there anything that I can do to improve the efficiency of my metal boxed fireplace? I have already replaced my windows and doors, but I'm wondering if there is possibly a cost effective fix that doesn't include blocking off the fireplace, or opening a window to let cold wind in and creating a draft.
When I was a kid we had a new house built with a real fireplace in the family room. Light that sucker up and the entire house got cold fairly rapidly. Even closing the damper only slowed down the cooling. Outdoor air exchange to supply air for the fire and indoor flue heat exchange systems are required so the house heat doesn't get sucked up and out the chimney.
Hey Matt I need help. I'm using your techniques on a new home in Hartwell GA. Trying to build it tight and ventilate it right. Make up air for the vent hood/dryer, ERV for fresh air, and dehumidifier in attic and basement. Zip r3 sealed from foundation to ridge. Closed cell in roof and Rockwool in walls. I've been told NO chance that the fireplace on the first floor gets eliminated. So I'm looking to do a precast masonry (Isokern). I will likely use a metal flue. I am told Isokern has a metal damper that looks to seal tighter than a cast iron one. I''m thinking maybe I can insulate and seal the chimney chase off from the house to minimize leakage. We will be stubbing for propane fire starter/logs. Likely have at least one fresh air vent. I can't find any information on tight built homes with fireplaces? Maybe because there is not such animal? Oxymoron? Looking for some direction. Makeup air system for the fireplace? This is easily the most expensive feature in the house per sf. Again, my boss has told me she will have a fireplace in her living room and it won't be one of those fake ones with a glass front. I may have some custom doors made for the masonry precast. Thanks Man. Oh, by the way, your emphasis on bug free as a benefit of a tight house has her on board with all the details.
I'm planning on a passive house build up near Canada. The best solution I've come up with so far to having a fireplace included is to put a good quality wood burning stove on an enclosed porch/veranda that is outside of the main building envelope. That way, we can use it more often but not have our efficiency suffer for it. I'd be interested to hear @MattRisingers' thoughts or ideas for alternatives!
Here is what I wrote to Matt in comments to compliment your comment, fellow Canadian: Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF. The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
I'm a stonemason. Renovator. 30+years. In SW Ontario. I'm planning a new build, am in the permit stage. Up north - Charlton, Temiskaming District - ha, in the deep south of Canada, totally below the 49th parallel.. Most people won't get the joke.. Nuf said. I'm planning, ICF, infloor heat, etc, as airtight as I can. With a natural fireplace outside the 3 season, covered deck. I've no intention to try to hydronically recover the heat in the fireplace. What is the cost if the glycol to withstand - 50°C? What are the all the potential issues of breakdown or maintenance - in not touching it. I'll stick with geothermal, and a solar water heater plumbed through the geothermal bed, to warm it up in the summer. I've been warned, after a long cold winter, the ground may not "heat-recover" enough. Grid connect, net metering, electric boiler backup. And a back up woodstove, kept in the garage, ready to move into the living room, if - "tshtf". Outside air supply - one flue drawing air in running directly beside and the air being preheated by the flue drawing smoke out. A few builders are liking this package plan. I could go propane backup, I do plan a gas kitchen range & maybe the bedroom stonewall fireplace. My wife has put in her request 😉
I've thought this through. Am not planning to do this. If you are set on a wood stove. For insurance purposes as well, keep the stove outside. Away from the house. Run your heat recovery fluid, not through the firebox, but in the chamber are the firebox & after burner. Do not cool the fire chamber - the heat loss cools the wood fire - causing many issues - do your homework. A a variable speed. Run that heated water into a large enough thermal mass tank. You don't want that tank to get above 80C or the system becomes too inefficient. The firebox temperatures should be over 500C, the afterburner (catalytic converter device) temp will be. I'm unaware of anything available to be bought. A wood pellet boiler does the same job, btw, but doesn't have the ambiance or self-sufficiency of real wood. So, custom made, can't be insured. You'll probably never get a WETT Inspection "pass"... - therefore, go outside, away from the house. I've been a masonry heater enthusiast. Contact a Russian guy in Toronto, regarding masonry heater boilers. He might be able to help. Including passing the WETT Inspection. BTW, my "custom wood stove" is planned to be in my passive solar Greenhouse, heating my year round pool (hopefully) tied to the geothermal system. Planned - is the operative word.
My fireplace is sealed from the house unless the door is open which is only when you load wood. It has a 4" outside air intake and the chimney is 8". I open the window right next to it when loading wood or starting the fire. During normal operation the door seals airtight and no home air goes in it, the unit also uses very little air during operation since it does per say burn as it more smokes the wood and the smoke is "burnt" in the catalytic converter. my blower door test was 2.9 iirc. the stove mfg is blaze king.
What about the more “enclosed” natural gas fireboxes, with a glass cover? We have a couple of those. They put out a good amount of heat and still have decent ambiance. They probably have similar problems as those you discussed in the video. We have the ugly exhaust on an exterior wall for one of the fireplaces (the other goes through the roof on the back of the house). I think I remember you being anti ventless fireplace but I’m not sure you went into why?
I got a German freestanding stove for my passive house and our blower score with stove was 0.2. I'm in Canada so I did have to get a preheater for the Hrv to ensure it doesn't go into defrost mode and stop supplying air to the fire.
Would you have any suggestions on how to address the drawbacks of the standard gas powered metal fireplace most track homes are build with? Some type of removable cap or something that may limit airflow maybe?
Matt, how would you insulate a corrugated tin barn that only has tin siding and thick wood studs 4-5' OC? its a really old building my dad is turning into a shop and pouring a new concrete slab. The tin gets really hot in the summer but re-sheething isn't really an option. high roof ceiling though. I was thinking spray foam insulation?
My biggest draw on these fireplaces is the massive amount of heat loss. We have a huge room now with one in it and to actually realize any heat that fire has to be stacked and blazing an then I think the room retains only 10-15% of the actual heat at best. I have seen some vented racks that the wood burns on that blows air into room. Plan on trying one of them.
I'm a second generation mason, and we build mostly fireplaces. My father has spent 40 years in the trade, and developed a reputation as one of, if not the best, fireplace builder in New Hampshire. We buid most our fireplace on high-end newly constructed homes. Fireplaces are our art, and I can address all these concerns. To give air to the fire, without opening a window or door, an outside air vent needs to be put into the firebox. It's a small vent that slides open and close, about half a brick, laid into the second course of the firebox. A channel is run through the masonry, with an opening on the chimney. When built with an adequate smoke shelf, closing the damper of an indoor fireplace should prevent any significant air leak problems when the fireplace is not being used. A tall enough chimney, and large enough flu liner is what ensures proper draw. The size of the flu needs to be appropriate to the size of the firebox.
They are expensive, much like other peices of art. The craftsmanship in fireplaces is obvious to me, but I am biased.
We have built more than 200 fireplaces, in many different kinds of homes, of several styles. I would be happy to address any questions about fireplaces, including the challenges that arise in building them, or in repairing faulty fireplaces.
Thats exactly thw problem, and even if a fireplace is well made its placed in the worst place in the house. I have only lived in 1 house that had a fire place in a good spot. Usually they put them right in the way of laying out a room.
Do you have any videos? I would love to see your work and art.
I wish I could get you and your Dad's overall and honest impression of a mason built fireplace built about 70 years ago. The evolution of fireplaces in NH must have some surprises in it.
For real man. I have pinterest loaded with fireplace ideas but never thought of these complex problems. I'd watch these builds.
@@nobodykayaks1041 Depends if the home was simply built to sell or thoughtfully designed. Also depends if you're planning the room around the fireplace (as the centrepiece), or if it's just there as a source of heat. I do hate when the tv and fireplace are forced to share the same wall space- not ideal.
Here in europe some passive houses in very cold climates have a fireplace or wood stove inside the house but both the intake and exhaust are isolated from the inside of the house, the fire is also separated with an airtight glass that you only open to feed the fire. You get the nice radiant heating from the fire but none of the air leaks.
Why not use a wood stove then? They have glass on their doors too. And a wood stove extracts a lot more heat for your house than a fireplace does. And it has cleaner exhaust too.
Would absolutely like to see a review breakdown on these. Rented a condo for skiing in Switzerland and it had a freestanding fireplace that was glassed in like you said.
Check out how things are done in Finland, Sweden, or Norway. Having fireplace is pretty cheap and easy way to ensure additional heating without any compromises.
@aale2000 Not high-quality English fireplaces. The technology of an English fireplaces is outdated, and their modern purpose is primarily as an art piece. Our new fireplaces typically run 30-60k. There are ways to make it more affordable though.
I would love to learn more about northern European building, windows and heating. Does anyone know a good source of info?
This is the side of Risinger I like most. Passionate about building science, critical thinker, willing say what he thinks👍. Anybody that watches this channel knows about the sponsored episodes; sometimes they're good products, other times they're complete headslappers...Everyone has to make a living but IMO this style is his best content.
He goes a bit far with air seal, not everyone wants to live in hermetically sealed box with air pumps all over the place lol
@@ronnymcdonald2543 but that is the trade of, if you don't want to live in a high performance house, you pay more in costs of heating and cooling, in size of your carbin footprint, personal comfort and the quality of indoor air.
@@slickmcCool Rubbish, a slight air loss can still be high performance - You guys are air tight snobs and most builders just laugh at that bullshit
@@slickmcCool Couldn't say that any better!
@@ronnymcdonald2543 why wouldn't you? Saves money, and you get fresh air from the clean HRV tubing, not dusty cracks in the house.
I just built my wife and I a new house. I put in a wood fireplace insert. It has a 30’ brick chimney…you wanted dramatic responses…I know it’s not efficient, but it brings me joy. Sorta like a full size pickup…burns more dinosaurs 🦕 and cost more to drive…but it’s enjoyable. Lots of things in life like that. Btw mine draws nicely. Also gives me good reasoning to use a chainsaw and stuff
I’m in northern Maine. I have a wood stove in the basement as a back up. Sometimes we loose power. In the winter it can get to 50° below zero. That becomes a life threatening situation pretty quickly.
I really like a wood burning stove with an outside air intake. If you get an epa approved one they burn pretty clean too. Great extra option if the power is out.
I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was 111.00 and 106.00. I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
@@MegsCarpentry-lovedogs only way to do it. Sounds like you have the perfect setup.
@@MegsCarpentry-lovedogs zone 7 you don't even need heating lmao.
I agree with most things you said, but I still want fireplace. And it’s because if the big freeze hits and the power goes out. I like being able to burn stuff to stay warm. I like redundancy.
Would love to have a video on how to build a proper airtight fireplace , knowing that it’s suboptimal if I still want one, how do I still make it the best fireplace possible
What I wrote to Matt in comments: Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF.
The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
1. Put the fireplace in the core of the house, not an exterior wall.
2. Design in a very tight firebox door. The best designs I've seen have a glass window facing into the primary living space and then a metal door with a tight gasket on the sidewall or back of the fireplace for building the fire.
3. Be intentional about where the supply air comes from, and how much. It should come from outside into the firebox... Using warm interior air to fuel the fire is counterproductive to keeping the house warm. The airflow should be optimized to burn the fire as hot as possible.
4. Capture the heat. If your firebox is hot enough, it will fully burn all the combustion by-products, generating even more heat and leaving an exhaust flow that is just extremely hot water vapor and CO2... Since there isn't any tar by-products to precipitate onto the chimney walls if the exhaust temperature gets too low, your ideal chimney in this case is as labyrinthine as possible while still maintaining enough draw. The exhaust should be only moderately warmer than your interior air by the time it leaves your chimney.
Freek- buy a nice wood stove!
I can't keep up with this stuff, as the activist change their mind so often. Are we presently on Global Cooling, or Global Warming? Or are we on the world is getting cooler because of global warming?
@@5150Lane global warming is always been kind of a bad misnomer, it’s just warming on average, but what it really means is more extreme weather,
So hotter hots and colder cold days.
@ken_the_bigfoot, those seem like good tips, the easiest way seems to be to draw in air, around the flu, that way it cools down the exhaust gasses, who’s down the the.and heats the incoming air, kind of like an erv does, and we’re not net losing air sucking it in in bad ways.
I love the idea of having the fireplace in the heart of the home too always have, seems ideal near the stairwell.
There HAS to be a flue that can be 100% sealable and just kick in your ERV/HRV to boost when you want to run the fireplace or possibly add an auxiliary ERV. I'm building a home next year and really want to put a fireplace in but don't want to suffer the ACH penalty. Come on Matt. With all your connections to building suppliers I'm sure you can find SOMEONE who makes a solution to this conundrum. Love your videos btw. Been watching for a long time.
I'm with you! As a custom homebuilder of 38 years, my best fireplaces have been fakes built around TV screens showing an endless loop of a traditional fire. The face and mantles were premium and the draft was ZERO!
My first was with a looped VHS recorder in the early 90's, but later I had the hearth wired for cable TV.
A regular masonry chimney with a chain damper is fine. Draw issues come with any fireplace. Chimneys less that 16’ and more that 35’ will almost never draw properly no matter what which is why gas inserts generally have to be in that height range. Those fresh air vents dont do squat. The secret to solving a draw issue on a fireplace with proper height is the doors. You MUST heat the chimney liner for it to draw. When you first light the fire, keep the doors mostly closed for a few minutes. When the fire gets going then open then fully and you’ll be fine. Ive been in the fireplace business 25 years and i have the highest rated company in Northern Virginia. I’m not a fan of prefab wood fireplaces or cheap gas fireplaces. That’s where most problems are from.
Agreed! Facts! Got to heat the flu and surrounding area for proper drawer first! Well said!
I was wanting to build a block fireplace in my doublewide from scratch, this makes me realize height may be a problem with draw, if i made one 14' tall do you think it would draw after it heats up?
@@GoodVibesOnly1914 some do, some don’t. I’ve seen as low as 12’ draw but under 16 is a gamble. Also, vent sizes, barometric pressure, elevation all come into play. Theres so much involved. You could be fine for 10 years and suddenly have a problem. With short runs a prefab fireplace may be a better option. No one can say with 100% certainty you’ll be fine though. If they did they be lying. That said, you will likely be ok with wood if the chimney heats up. Put doors on and that will balance pressures. If there’s a return hvac vent near by it may F everything up completely; that’s another factor to consider.
@bryanp8010 after some more thought, I'm just going to build a damn tv into a cinderblock fireplace and make it simulated lol, support it underneath with jacksposts and beam. Most of the reason for the whole build is to hold a custom sound system anyway. And it will double as my tv anyway. Keep it simple stupid
A recent TOH Season had them installing a fireplace, and I think it was wood burning, but for the "intake", they used the flue within a flue system, like what's used for other things, like gas furnaces and so on. That is, the air intake and outtake are in two pipes, but only a single pipe is running out. That also allowed them to really air seal to the inside of the house, making it basically airtight, but it's still getting the needed air, via the pipe within a pipe.
Chicago resident here. That's how our tankless water heater works -- flue within flue. Tight seal, one hole despite a basement location and everything works fabulously well.
We live in the Rockies of Colorado and use a woodstove as a source of heat for the home...it would be interesting to see if wood stoves suffer the same fate as fireplaces. I know in Alaska fireplaces and stove are used as a main source of heat. It would be nice to see some episodes on inserts and woodstoves and if it is possible to improve the air tightness..))
some off grid cabins use wood for heat but most of us use NG
i was wondering this as well
I do like our rocket mass heater we built for the outdoor kitchen. Even with it in the 20's you can sit on the heated bench and be super comfortable.
The experience of a home is what makes it worth doing: Rain on a tin roof, a screened in porch, a balcony, and yes, the dog & kids by the fireplace.
YES! We had a terrible old townhome, but it had a big fireplace in the middle of it. It made cold winters and snuggling with my wife on the couch totally worth it.
Santa Claus just gave this video a big thumbs down 🎅😅😅
Ha! Don’t get me wrong, I’m pro Santa Claus. Will have to find another way for him to make a sneaky entrance. I know there’s some kids in the audience, but they typically don’t read the comments. Parents, be sure to tell your kids that I’m not anti-Santa.
😂😂😂
Santa now comes in the intake of your ERV 🤣
😂😂😂😂
Santa got his fat ass stuck! LOL
Thanks to all of Matt's wonderful videos on building science I really put a lot of thought into how to put a fireplace in the house we are currently building. We really wanted a fireplace. Here is what I came up with: We went with a direct vent linear fireplace located on an interior wall in the house. I ran 5"x8" direct vent up the interior wall and then through the floor trusses out the side of the house. The exterior walls are ICF, so I had to put the wall vent thimble in when we poured the ICF walls. The good news with that is that it air seals around the thimble perfectly. I also added rock wool insulation and high temp sealant around the pipe going through the thimble to completely air seal and insulate that penetration. The direct vent linear fireplace is sealed and pulls combustion air from the outside. I also have a cool wall kit that dumps the heat from the fireplace into the room. I think this is about the best I could do. I would love to hear Matt's thoughts on this setup and if it would change his mind on indoor fireplaces. However, I agree with Matt that most indoor fireplaces are terrible for air sealing and difficult to do correctly.
It is good that you had the courage to do this show. I'd recommend a show on woodstoves, which are at least a backup heating source for many houses. It at least looks as though you can have many of the advantages of a fireplace with a very good woodstove (the soapstone stoves, for example) with an outside air draw and a glass door, so you see the fire. Of course, from a building science perspective, it isn't ideal. But it is a workable solution for many people who have access to a supply of firewood. There are ways, however, to make it better (safer and more efficient) that the built-in fireboxes that you were showing in many frames of this video.
Better option would be having your main house and conditioned envelope and then putting a nice fireplace on a closed in porch or ‘Arizona Room’ type of concept.
😊
What about ventless propane gas logs that don’t require a flute? They are a very common fireplace in the south east and the higher end brands logs and flames honestly look really good and sometimes make me take a second look to see if they’re real. I would always choose a real fire when I can, but I’m curious why it wasn’t mentioned.
Interesting take on this, and my new building science brain (just finished a BS class, Spring semester) ate it up. However, I'm surprised you didn't mention how inefficient traditional American fireplaces tend to be. The heat largely goes right up the chimney, with only part of it getting stored in the surrounding bricks.
In the past few years, I've been interested in masonry stoves. They use a series of baffles in which the gases go through a secondary burn, heating up a larger area of thermal mass, and the heat is released over time into the house. Because of the secondary combustion, they produce fewer, safer exhaust gases and you have less ash to clean up. I've also read that they use significantly less fuel than traditional fireplaces. They say today's (small) fire produces tomorrow's heat. Additionally--if I am remembering correctly--they are using fireboxes that are sealed with a glass door during use. I'd imagine they would have to have some kind of air inlet to keep the fire going, but I'm not picturing where that is.
Alas, masonry stoves/heaters are also quite expensive, very heavy, and require at least one skilled and knowledgeable mason to build. I'd love to hear your take on them, if you have one.
You'd think it'd be common knowledge that smoke is unburnt fuel that's allowed to escape due to poor design.
I have A-frame cabin at 8500' in the Colorado Rockies with a woodstove formerly as the primary heat source. I now have a 96% Trane forced air NG furnace and only use the woodstove when guests come over. I have single-pane windows and really want to tighten my building envelope. I already encapsulated the crawlspace with 3" closed cell. My highest gas bill was $100 this last winter so my utilities aren't too bad. I honestly think when I go to tighten this place up the woodstove is no longer going to work. I've seen some people run a makeup air intake but I think it seems suspect to cut more holes in your house. I have a plate that I push into the chimney to seal it up, just have to remember to pull it out before you light a fire! Love the Build Show Matt!
They would be useful as a thermal mass if they were enclosed within the insulated living space. It annoys me that most fireplaces protrude out into the cold outdoors, so they are a huge uninsulated wall when not in use.
So, a wood stove.
We are currently designing a new Pretty Good House (not quite Passive House) in rural Alberta, Canada. We wanted a fireplace or wood stove as a back-up source of heat, but wrestled with these same problems... until we found out about Masonry Heaters. They're super efficient as far as fireplaces go when supplied with a direct outside air source. With good dampers on the intake and exhaust, sealed glass doors on the front it, and someone that knows how to use the right sealant on the chimney it can work while still getting
Can you provide a further definition of what you are calling MASONRY HEATERS? Is that a company or a product - and do you have a link to share?
Thanks Brad that was a good explanation
Dealing with a similar build in British Columbia. Can you share the brands of masonry heaters you looked at?
@@alexburi We were looking at kits from Solid Rock Masonry, and Heat Kit. We would then have a local mason build them so they are certified up to code.
It's ok Matt. You can visit the log cabin up here in northern Canada in the winter at -40F. You don't have to use the fireplace if you really don't want to.
Yes, that's exactly what he was saying... everyone should stop using their fireplaces, period! 🙄
LOL....I asked Matt to do a vid that will at least show how to install with as much air tight detail an air tight wood stove or insert. I also added this as another comment: Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF.
The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
No need to designate Fahrenheit when at -40 degrees! Burr!!!
No need to designate Fahrenheit when at -40 degrees! Burr!!!
Would love to see a modern wood burning fireplace insert. Wouldnt that seal the leaky draft issue (assuming installed properly)?
i have a fireplace (previously wood 🪵 converted to gas ⛽️) and it’s just a HUGE thermal bridge 🌁 idk what to do about it except upgrade my panel box so i have room for more circuits and install a mini-split system specific to that are to balance the thermal bridge/loss
What are your thoughts about isolated combustion fireplaces - like the STUV21?
I grew up in a 2-story house in the Midwest with a wood burning fireplace. My parents still live there. In over 40 years they've only seen a few days where weird downdraft bursts messed with the draw. The only maintenance/repair was done about 75 yrs after it was built (re-line and a bit of masonry on the very top part). I would never buy a home without a wood burning stove or fireplace, if I lived in a climate where it got truly cold un the winter. Not just for ambiance, but for practical contingencies. My sister had just moved into a 1960s home in TX with a working fireplace when the big freeze hit. That saved them from having to evacuate. Maybe your issues stem from the quality/design of the modern manufacturers.
In the NE, I love having an indoor fire as a backup heat source but also for ambiance. With most fireplaces, the heat they create goes right out the chimney. A wood stove is way better than an open fire place.
I had always heard that you loose more heat up the flu and you gain from the radiant heat of the fire. I wish you had commented on that. I had thought using a fireplace for heat was incredibly inefficient and it is interesting to hear how much less tight a home is when they have one not in use.
It may be inefficient, but it kept us warm at night when the gas furnace failed.😊
Depends on the fireplace. A correctly constructed Rumford fireplace is a very efficient heat source.
🇨🇦❄When the big freeze hits and the power goes out. I like being able to burn stuff to stay warm. Plus here in zone 7 we avoid burning oil from the furnace set up and use our forest trees as readily available fuel source only.Would love to have a video on how to build a proper airtight fireplace , knowing that it’s suboptimal if I still want one, how do I still make it the best fireplace possible. Matt, look forward to a vid on this please.
Wood stoves are better from an efficiency and heating perspective than fireplaces.
@@karlrovey Hi Karl, I have an air tight stove in the fireplace and just how it pumps out the heat.🇨🇦👍🔥🔥
We're designing a house right now, and the biggest decision we can't agree on is whether or not to have a fireplace. My wife's biggest question is "where will we hang the stockings?".
Explore your options with a reputable dealer. You have options that meet stringent science and some aesthetic options.
Anywhere you want, is where. You have options.
Agreed where do you hang the stockings?
I live in metro Atlanta, GA. I love my wood burning fireplace even though it's not as efficient as it could be. I'll continue to make small changes to make it better. I guess it's the ambience more than anything. It's worth the trouble. Besides I love cutting wood it's gives me a reason to feel like a man and use my chainsaw and even ax at times. Even though I recently upgrade to a electrical splitter best $300 I've ever spent.
Without the fireplace how Santa Claus get in....?
A fireplace is just like getting a pet cat...you never really need one...but can you imagine life without one?
I live in Canada. It gets cold here in the winter - cold and damp in many places. When other sources of heat fail, a proper fireplace is necessary. What you folks call cold down south is a spring day up here. Ya, some older fireplaces are not good. I don't need to be told that. I want to know what is the best way to heat a house with wood, pellets or coal in an emergency. I think that would be more valuable to me than looking at a lovely outdoor fireplace that heats up not much of anything. A waste of wood.
I agree. I'd never put a fireplace inside my thermal envelope. I do believe they can be done right IF you have the budget for it, but that'd be a waste of money in my opinion. Instead, I'd add a 3-season room outside the main house envelope and put a standard wood burning stove or fireplace out there. That still provides the benefit of an indoor fireplace that you can enjoy most, if not all, of the year without compromising your carefully designed and built thermal envelope.
That's a smart way of doing it. I wanted a wood fire range in the house I'm currently designing as a backup cooking and heating system for potential emergencies in case the future has prolonged brownouts or blackouts in store for us. Your idea sounds like a great middle ground.
Have you ever done a blower door test on a home with a top-sealing cap damper on a masonry chimney? I am not aware of any factory-built systems that would work with them, but since they pretty much completely seal off the flue when not in use, I imagine they could allow a home to still minimize its air loss/moisture entry with a masonry chimney. Air intakes definitely make a large difference and are actually code per the IRC (R1006) on new fireplaces. Our fireplace has one on each side of the firebox. Draft can also be improved by insulating the liner to ensure that smoke is not cooling too quickly before reaching the top of a long chimney. My parents have a new custom home that was built in 2021 with a masonry fireplace. While it is not quite as airtight as most of the homes on this channel, it is definitely still very well built with a conditioned, encapsulated crawl space and all the joints between floors, walls, and ceiling framing sealed. Without ever having to open doors or windows, the fireplace drafts almost perfectly and never leaves a smoky smell in the room.
I suspect that all of these problems could be addressed, it's also insurance against bad weather. Wood still is a good way to keep a home warm when everything else fails.
I love my wood stove insert. I rebuilt the top of my chimney. I ended up forming it out with 2x4 including a drip edge in my form and poured crack resistant concrete. I added in a expansion gap around my clay flue and ran a stainless steel liner down the clay flue and installing a cap. I only burned about a quarter of my 275 gal oil tank this year. Heating oil was up to 5.35 per gal at this time. I had some good savings. The previous winters without my stove I went through almost two tanks worth of oil to keep my house at 65 degrees. I have no regrets installing my insert. I also never have an issue with back draft. I start a small fire get that flue warmed up and off to the races I go.
I would like to hear your opinion on direct vent gas fireplaces. No air leakage.
We love ours. I installed it about twenty years ago and even though we have zonal electric we use the fireplace for 95% of our heating. The electric units get run occasionally just to burn off the dust, or on extremely cold mornings to warm the house up more quickly. I have a friend who built a super insulated home of almost 4000 SQ ft. He put a small DV gas fireplace just like ours on each of the two floors of his house. He basically uses one of the two to heat the entire house in most weather.
I think an outdoor fireplace with a hot air to liquid heat exchanger to heat water/glycol that is then used to heat your house during the winter would be a much smarter building sciences approach than fireplace in the home.
Very interesting idea. Hadn’t thought of that. Seems like a pretty straightforward concept.
Outdoor wood furnaces that send heat indoors are pretty common here in Indiana where I live.
@@buildshow it is... but not a cheap one if hybrid
Who is going to tend a fire outside in the winter...
@@FJB2020 if you get the right size wood furnace, you can load it once a day or less and the blower controls the output. It’s not burdensome and it’s inexpensive.
You spend a lot of time in New England. On one of your next trips there seek out someone with a Rumford fireplace. They are much different than what most masons build today, and much more efficient and clean burning.
Thank you. Someone here gets it and knows not to lump all things that bun wood into one class called “fireplaces”
Rumfords burn wood old school and defiantly will heat a room.
I heat my home with a wood stove, which I love and adore, but I wish there was less air leakage and better indoor air quality. Looking to put in Mitsubishi ducted HVAC, but we get semi frequent power outages so I will probably keep the wood stove unless backup batteries become very cheap...
I think a woodstove for a back up is a terrific idea. However, I’d like to see a woodstove with sealed combustion and good fresh air supply to the outside that doesn’t leak. I’m pretty sure there’s some European models and probably domestic ones that fit the criteria.
@@buildshow thanks! I'll look into them when it's time for a new stove 😀
@@buildshow Maybe do a vid on air tight wood stoves or inserts because here in zone 7 Canada we need our air tight stoves when regular power goes out.... Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF.
The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
I love how your passion for fireplaces comes through. Never apologize for that. Ha! I have an outdoor fireplace in a house we bought 3 years ago and we don’t use it often because we literally are choking on the smoke it pushes out of us when we sit in front of it. What do you recommend for us to look at? Sounds like we may have a construction situation as our chimney stack thingy is so stubby. Not sure how to send a picture but I’d love your advice
A fireplace needs to draft properly to function properly. If the house is tight that means an alternate source of combustion air must be accounted for. Matt's got that nice Zender fresh air system - it should be very possible to have that augment the fresh air in the house. The other possibility he didn't address was sealed combustion units that take combustion air from the outside so they are functionally like an outside fire in front of a window.
As many others have pointed point, oftentimes fireplaces are used for more than just ambiance and what applies in Austin doesn't necessarily apply in MN or Vermont.
I have a gas fireplace in my home. I feel drafts in the winter when I put my hand at the bottom. If I want to remove it what do you suggest I put in its place? I have a copper clad bump out on the exterior. And I have fake stone veneer on the interior. Electric?
Matt, this doesn't address the air issues you mention that are valid, but I'm sure you've built genuine masonry Rumford fireplaces.... interested in your thoughts on these. In CA a combustible air shutter installed in a firebox is only 8 square inches when open and seems to meet the criteria of getting fresh air into the firebox. Yes, HATE tin can fireplaces---its actually just an awful appliance.
I hate sitting outdoors in the winter, love my indoor fireplace and never will have a home without. To hell with your blower door test!
Thank you for the video. Knowing you don’t like the idea of a fireplace, will you make a video explaining how to build the most efficient one possible, while still being in a traditional style indoor fireplace?
It is called a Rumford fireplace. Google will lead the way.
Heating with wood has saved me $1000s, but you are spot on about leakage. In my old house I plumbed air to the stove it improved its performance, but I should have had a larger source. Thanks for what you do.
Same here… even with my actual epa certified stove with a sealed air intake coming it the back, when it’s windy you can feel cold air leaking out every corner.
As a New England native, I love my fireplace. If I ever achieve the dream of building my dream house I plan to have a few fireplaces and have them built as authentically as possible. Hopefully, I can hire folks like @HardPathPoet to build them.
Look into masonry heaters for inside the house. Hundreds of years old wood burning technology that works. There's a bunch of info available, kits available and any mason can build one.
I agree with many of your points. I too enjoy the aesthetics of a fire but I live up North. I am not going to spend thousands to sit outside in the cold to look at a fire...that is why we have firepits. I also have a fireplace to heat my home in an emergency. I seem to remember Texas having power problems the other year. Maybe spend some time showing us better ways to have a fireplace in our homes so we can enjoy them and heat our homes in an emergency. Maybe there are options to seal it when we are not using it. Don't get too weird there in Austin...
Learned a lot, especially since i live in NC where im in the south but brick is so abundant people build chimney fireplaces all the time. Every rental ever has it crappily blocked up.
How should you frame an outdoor kitchen/living room?
I'll take a fireplace over more air sealing 100% of the time. An outdoor fireplace isn't even comparable to an indoor fireplace.
And....here in Canada in zone 7 with power outages....well.........this is a comment I added for Matt to read and consider...as well as suggested he do a vid to show detail on how to air tight seal as best as possible an air tight stove or insert. Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF.
The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
I'm in the same situation. Built so tight it's hard to keep the smoke out of the house. Added a blower to the 4" intake and it seemed to help a lot. Very important to get it up and going fast for less smoke.
Would love an outdoor fireplace.. the problem up in Canada is that when its best used, you'd be surounded by 3ft of snow, which makes it not so fun to enjoy. If I could rip out my fireplace i would, but my wife likes the idea of it, despite us having only used it literally once in 10 years... :rolleyes:
I'm rolling my eyes at the guy that never uses the existing fireplace but somehow thinks he'd love an outdoor fireplace lol.
@@Matasky2010 To be fair, he may not use it because it sucks all the warm air outta the house and leaves the rest of the house freezing?
I would suggest you look in to Tulikivi soapstone fireplaces if you really need a fireplace as your sole source of heat. Very well designed and remarkably efficient. We live off grid and this thing keeps us warm even in single digits. 2300 Sqft.
Building a house, and I think we'll be installing a direct vent. I just don't see how these are bad for the envelope, it's a sealed system with its own makeup air. Anyways, if anyone has an opinion I'd be interested in hearing it.
What I wrote to Matt in comments: Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF.
The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
Good plan.
Sounds like you have lived in Canada, a few years, & outside a big city.
How about those Tulikivi soapstone fireplaces? Their design looks like you wouldn't have the air leakage issues, at least not to the same extent.
It would be interesting for you to test an Acucraft, American and Hearthside fireplace system. They duct air in from outside, and at least, based on videos I’ve seen, the air INTAKE dampener can almost completely put out the fire or cause it to rage. I do think that it really depends on your goals… I’ll take a leakier house and a warm heart over a blower door test number… any day.
So what if you ran the make up air directly into the back of those closed fireboxes? The only time there would be any air exchange with the home interior would be when the door is open to put in firewood, or clean out ash. I am more concerned about back up heat in the middle of the Canadian winter.
When you have no power but you have that cozy wood stove, the hundreds/thousands you lose over the decades is completely worth it when your wife and baby are warm and happy.
Very true point.
Exactly. Let's face it. The fireplace in the last hundred years has mostly been for astetics. With the incompetence of government and utility companies, it's nice to have something that can at least provide some kind of warmth so you don't freeze to death.
I would think an airtight wood stove with a reburn manifold would be a lot better than a giant black hole in your wall made of brick gulping cu yards of air out of your home. It still requires air for combustion but its more metered with smaller orifices.
Especially valid since Texas' winter outage...
If your power goes out that often you have bigger problems than feeling cold weather for a little while.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on cast iron wood burning stoves. In rural Canada many homes have electric heat that is expensive to use as a main heat source so with cheap available firewood around, the stove or fireplace insert is used and seems to generate a lot of heat without the problems associated with open fire places.
For allergy reasons, I wanted a house with NO fireplace, but they are impossible to find. A fireplace seems to be one of the boxes a builder feels like he has to check off in his efforts to please all buyers--and they stick them in in the most improbable of locations (like a corner where a massive crowd of one could gather around).
I moved into my house almost 25 years ago and my house had two fireplaces. I closed up one and the other is for a stove. But when I renovate my kitchen the chimney is coming down and the stove will be replaced with an electric one. My builder has already done a few - and I suspect more people will do it over time.
Not a question about fireplaces but, i noticed the electrical transformer at the corner of your lot. I currently built a new house in Asheville for my family and have a similar configuration. Met with Duke energy before the build with a plan to move the pole further from my build once completed. Since policy has changed they are not moving it without a large fee. My question is, at what distance is my family safe from any electromagnetic radiation? Both from the transformer as well as the main panel mounted to the exterior of my house. I have clad most of my house in a 22 ga steel siding and wondered if that changes anything. Thanks love your show is has been very useful when answering questions for clients.
Love wood burning fireplaces. Great points around draw and leakage.
would. a natural gas fireplace inside still do the same\ issues?
Whenever it gets a little chilly around here, many neighbors fire up their fireplaces, and the whole neighborhood smells awful. At the end of the video, when you say look at all that smoke going up, I'm just thinking, look at all that air pollution going up. Is it really worth what it does to our lungs and our air?
Yes
I love the smell of burning wood, one of my favorite.
Hi. Mr Risinger ,Can you do a video on how to properly seal out a Fire place for people who don't want to use it anymore ,cause tearing it down will cause too much trouble, Thank You!
But, but, but…. fireplaces aren’t logical, they’re EMOTIONAL. They haven’t served a function in nearly a hundred years! Yet everyone LOVES sitting and staring at a fire with their loved ones. It’s a spiritual accessory that connects us to our ancestors.
How do you feel about ventless gas logs? I have a 1902 Victorian with 3 fireplaces. One was originally a coal basket. Looking for options for better efficiency and to keep my wife happy.
I find most fireplaces tend to go unused 80% of the year. In my home design I’m opting out of the pre drawn fireplace.
It cant be replicated though, nothing quite like a proper wood fire at Christmas.
Good topic. As a non-wood-cutting owner of 2 mid-century homes that have fireplaces, I'd like to know all the options to improve a home's efficiency but still get some flame-ambience. I don't want to cut wood and build fires all winter. Are there any definitive resources on the products and building science of fireplace options and products?
Got rid of ours in a renovation. Opened up the room since it was in the middle of two rooms. Also that smell...
Why no wood boxes to store the wood along each side of the fireplace? I’m just curious. I’m designing our backyard fireplace and am trying to decide on wood boxes or not. Thanks in advance.
Wood burning stoves are way better
I couldn’t agree more! They’re way more efficient!
Is it a safe practice to insert fiberglass insulation under a "tin can" gas fireplace insert for the purpose of slowing air drafts? Basically placing the fiberglass insulation between the concrete foundation of the home and the bottom of the fireplace insert (where the gas line comes into the home from the outside and there is a visible cut opening to the outdoors. Obviously insulation is not going to fix the leaks but hoping it may lessen it? Located in temperate California so extreme temps are not an issue.
Thank you Matt. Can't agree with you more. Good stuff.
Much appreciated!
Completely agree. Though one step further is not having the outdoor one either. Hard to deny the aesthetic quality of a fire but wood smoke is terrible for air quality. Do you have a carbon filter on your HRV to reduce the effects of it being sucked into your house?
Agree to disagree. Going to be building a new house for my parents and it will have a fireplace.
I’m not sure that we necessarily disagree. I just want you to install a fireplace that has really good sealed combustion, not one of these cheap metal boxes that leaks now and forever. Consider a woodstove with a good fresh air input and sealed combustion. Probably some European and domestic models Meet that criteria
Yes fireplaces are worth the issues, a fire burning inside on a cold winter night is awesome and you don't have to sit out in the cold to enjoy it.
@@buildshow I guess I should have been more specific. I know there are shoddy metal boxes and do not plan on going the cheap route. I will be having a wood stove in the master bedroom as well as a big fireplace in the main living room. I understand the downfalls and will gladly take them for the positives that a wood-burning fireplace gives. I'm not as concerned about having a tight house as you are. I'm happy with good enough.
Awesome! Wood burning stoves are the best!
Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF.
The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
For the price of a fireplace you can buy a whole house generator with the benefit of cooling in summer and/or freezer and refrigerator running.
@@Alphasig336 Hello there. 🇨🇦 A possible option. The family home here is set up with an oil furnace, which we do NOT use and only burn wood as we continue to manage the surrounding forest by selectively logging. The white spruce trees we manage and then burn once dry, allow patches of forest to be available for replacement of hardwoods. We are changing this full white spruce forest into an Acadian forest. This means hardwoods and shrubs for wildlife natural food needs to be regularly planted. It is a slow process. So it is a good thing here for us to burn wood....it helps us manage our forest and use our own trees, it sets things up for a healthier forest with a variety of tree species and food source shrubs, and we feel really good helping our planet in the very small way that we are doing. From our experience any generator we had sat for a long while before being needed with temporary fortune of it working unless you maintained it throughout the year. You still depend on acquiring a fuel source and depend on the service to get it here in the country. The latest hurricane shut down gas stations for weeks so fuel ran out on some of the generators. Not a 100 percent reliable option for country living. Our fuel source is right outside our home and not dependent on services to get it here or that we will run out after weeks of no electricity. Even when we eventually switch to geothermal energy and get rid of the oil tank system, once the power goes out, almost yearly at some point, the geothermal system shuts down...so here in Cool Canada, having an air tight insert helps us to almost live off grid with the sprinkle of usage of electricity while the power is operational. A variety of ways to live with individual needs and to each her own. Appreciate your input.
What do you think of masonry heaters?
Thanks for the insights Matt. I just removed an old 1940s fireplace in our house. Brick by brick. Thinking about using the brick to build something outside. Any clues on how close to utility / power lines the chimney can be? I noticed you a couple above yours. Thank you.
I want to see your take on cast iron stoves/ fireplaces. Can they work? Can you fit one in a modern ‘tight’ home? I grew up with one at my grandparents. There’s nostalgia there for me. Always thought I’d get one eventually when I get to build. Curious if it’s practical.
Also don’t some have feed/ exhaust in the same tube and therefore wall penetration?
Is there any way to get a combination outdoor fireplace and pizza oven?
Also in Michigan, I see a lot of outdoor wood burners which heat water to make a nice radiant floor inside the house.
What about cast iron/metal wood stoves? Most models now have outside air intakes. For the roof penetration, I’m not sure if there are ways to properly seal/insulate close to the flue.
I just designed a home that has a double-sided firebox design. The fire can be seen from the foyer and living room at the same time. So, I guess my home is doomed to lose a few percent of efficiency, but a wood fire is so primal in this case I think it is worth it. Imagine it's Christmas Eve and your guests arrive and the first thing they see is a heart-warming fire. I will never forget how comforting a fire was in our old house built in the 1800s.
See-through fireplaces almost always smoke. In order to not smoke, you will have to put in an extremely large flue. They can be done, but one must be very concerned about draw. I would also recommend smaller fireplace openings. 36" or less. A chimney-top damper should be considered.
@@hardpathpoet2859 How do you feel about Fireplace Xtrordinair's behind-glass wood burning models? I believe they have fan blowers to suck in fresh air and expel warm air into the living space. What size would you suggest? Is 36" best or could I go to 44" size?
@Christopher Calder I am not experienced with that product, but there are many good fireplace inserts. They all have their concerns, though. If it has metal in contact with masonry, rusting is a long-term concern, and they can be difficult to remove or replace. By that, I mean when masonry is laid against metal, it's less of a concern when the masonry is laid, in preparation for installation. Glass doors work for their intended purpose, but heat-resistant panes can be hard to find when they need to be replaced. The firebox size is really just about how big of a fire you want to have. That's an aesthetic choice. 36" is best for most rooms. 44" might look a bit weird unless the room is large.
@@hardpathpoet2859 The room is 22' 6" by 35'.
@@BanBiofuels Well. A big fucking fireplace would be awesome in that room. Something with a raised hearth and a nice big hearth stone.
would you say a stand alone wood/pallet stove could be a better alternative than a traditional fireplace? I'm at the northeast which winter can get really cold, a fireplace/stove can be useful as a last resort.
So what do you suggest to use to heat your house in -15* when the power goes out? Ice storms can knock out power for 7+ days so you still need to eat, take warm baths, and survive. I’m still standing by fireplaces in my house.
I'm about 60 miles north of Austin and my home was built in the early/mid 80's. Is there anything that I can do to improve the efficiency of my metal boxed fireplace? I have already replaced my windows and doors, but I'm wondering if there is possibly a cost effective fix that doesn't include blocking off the fireplace, or opening a window to let cold wind in and creating a draft.
When I was a kid we had a new house built with a real fireplace in the family room. Light that sucker up and the entire house got cold fairly rapidly. Even closing the damper only slowed down the cooling. Outdoor air exchange to supply air for the fire and indoor flue heat exchange systems are required so the house heat doesn't get sucked up and out the chimney.
Could you add a heat exchanger or something to an outdoor fireplace to provide some optional heat for the house?
Hey Matt I need help. I'm using your techniques on a new home in Hartwell GA. Trying to build it tight and ventilate it right. Make up air for the vent hood/dryer, ERV for fresh air, and dehumidifier in attic and basement. Zip r3 sealed from foundation to ridge. Closed cell in roof and Rockwool in walls. I've been told NO chance that the fireplace on the first floor gets eliminated. So I'm looking to do a precast masonry (Isokern). I will likely use a metal flue. I am told Isokern has a metal damper that looks to seal tighter than a cast iron one. I''m thinking maybe I can insulate and seal the chimney chase off from the house to minimize leakage. We will be stubbing for propane fire starter/logs. Likely have at least one fresh air vent. I can't find any information on tight built homes with fireplaces? Maybe because there is not such animal? Oxymoron? Looking for some direction. Makeup air system for the fireplace? This is easily the most expensive feature in the house per sf. Again, my boss has told me she will have a fireplace in her living room and it won't be one of those fake ones with a glass front. I may have some custom doors made for the masonry precast. Thanks Man. Oh, by the way, your emphasis on bug free as a benefit of a tight house has her on board with all the details.
I'm planning on a passive house build up near Canada. The best solution I've come up with so far to having a fireplace included is to put a good quality wood burning stove on an enclosed porch/veranda that is outside of the main building envelope. That way, we can use it more often but not have our efficiency suffer for it. I'd be interested to hear @MattRisingers' thoughts or ideas for alternatives!
Here is what I wrote to Matt in comments to compliment your comment, fellow Canadian:
Matt, glad you brought up this topic. Cold climate Canada with power outages: I live in zone 7, ☺🇨🇦 Atlantic Canada and selectively log on our 8 acres of forest. We only keep the two storey 4 bedroom home heated with burning wood in the air tight insert. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
The family home is connected to the oil furnace system with base heaters....only when we travel in the winter for a few weeks twice a year on back country mountain remote hut trips do we switch on the furnace to maintain the house at 5C to prevent the pipes from freezing....we get home and shut the furnace option off and keep burning wood that we gathered, hauled and split to stack in the large carport.
The family home is not modern, built in 1983, so no ERV or HVAC. We have two dehumidifiers in the basement for those 3 weeks of humidity that pop up. Other than that we feel quite comfortable and just L O V E the heat from the air tight fire insert to keep us warm all winter long.
Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement. Our electricity bill over the past two winter months was $111.00 and $106.00 CDN dollars folks....so a lot cheaper in USA cost when you do the currency conversion.
I did some air tight sealing work working with Efficiency Prince Edward Island and a door blower test before and after to get the rebate if significant improvement.
I am hoping to add an extension on to this home, with doors to seal it off from the main home. The plans have the Perfect Wall and Perfect Roof, Lstiburek with the Steve Baczek air tight details listed as part of the building details. A door blower test is also part of the plan. Due to power outages that we have here in the country, a very small air tight wood stove is planned to be on the main floor. The basement is full ICF.
The power outages mean that continuing to be self sufficient without having to rely on a generator and look for fuel has been Perfect for peace of mind. The plan would be to have the air intake from the outside because the science in wood burning is that the heat from the stove builds up in the home and pushes against the windows as opposed to looking to suck air in from leaky windows. That is why the intake air will be from the outside. So much to learn, so little time. Long live Our houses.....👍☺🇨🇦
I'm a stonemason. Renovator. 30+years. In SW Ontario. I'm planning a new build, am in the permit stage. Up north - Charlton, Temiskaming District - ha, in the deep south of Canada, totally below the 49th parallel.. Most people won't get the joke.. Nuf said.
I'm planning, ICF, infloor heat, etc, as airtight as I can. With a natural fireplace outside the 3 season, covered deck.
I've no intention to try to hydronically recover the heat in the fireplace. What is the cost if the glycol to withstand - 50°C? What are the all the potential issues of breakdown or maintenance - in not touching it.
I'll stick with geothermal, and a solar water heater plumbed through the geothermal bed, to warm it up in the summer. I've been warned, after a long cold winter, the ground may not "heat-recover" enough.
Grid connect, net metering, electric boiler backup. And a back up woodstove, kept in the garage, ready to move into the living room, if - "tshtf". Outside air supply - one flue drawing air in running directly beside and the air being preheated by the flue drawing smoke out. A few builders are liking this package plan.
I could go propane backup, I do plan a gas kitchen range & maybe the bedroom stonewall fireplace. My wife has put in her request 😉
I've thought this through. Am not planning to do this.
If you are set on a wood stove. For insurance purposes as well, keep the stove outside. Away from the house. Run your heat recovery fluid, not through the firebox, but in the chamber are the firebox & after burner. Do not cool the fire chamber - the heat loss cools the wood fire - causing many issues - do your homework.
A a variable speed. Run that heated water into a large enough thermal mass tank. You don't want that tank to get above 80C or the system becomes too inefficient.
The firebox temperatures should be over 500C, the afterburner (catalytic converter device) temp will be.
I'm unaware of anything available to be bought. A wood pellet boiler does the same job, btw, but doesn't have the ambiance or self-sufficiency of real wood. So, custom made, can't be insured. You'll probably never get a WETT Inspection "pass"... - therefore, go outside, away from the house.
I've been a masonry heater enthusiast. Contact a Russian guy in Toronto, regarding masonry heater boilers. He might be able to help. Including passing the WETT Inspection.
BTW, my "custom wood stove" is planned to be in my passive solar Greenhouse, heating my year round pool (hopefully) tied to the geothermal system. Planned - is the operative word.
My fireplace is sealed from the house unless the door is open which is only when you load wood. It has a 4" outside air intake and the chimney is 8". I open the window right next to it when loading wood or starting the fire. During normal operation the door seals airtight and no home air goes in it, the unit also uses very little air during operation since it does per say burn as it more smokes the wood and the smoke is "burnt" in the catalytic converter. my blower door test was 2.9 iirc. the stove mfg is blaze king.
Do you have a video explaining this build? 😮 I would love this in my yard!
What about the more “enclosed” natural gas fireboxes, with a glass cover? We have a couple of those. They put out a good amount of heat and still have decent ambiance. They probably have similar problems as those you discussed in the video. We have the ugly exhaust on an exterior wall for one of the fireplaces (the other goes through the roof on the back of the house).
I think I remember you being anti ventless fireplace but I’m not sure you went into why?
I got a German freestanding stove for my passive house and our blower score with stove was 0.2. I'm in Canada so I did have to get a preheater for the Hrv to ensure it doesn't go into defrost mode and stop supplying air to the fire.
Would you have any suggestions on how to address the drawbacks of the standard gas powered metal fireplace most track homes are build with? Some type of removable cap or something that may limit airflow maybe?
Matt, how would you insulate a corrugated tin barn that only has tin siding and thick wood studs 4-5' OC? its a really old building my dad is turning into a shop and pouring a new concrete slab. The tin gets really hot in the summer but re-sheething isn't really an option. high roof ceiling though. I was thinking spray foam insulation?
My biggest draw on these fireplaces is the massive amount of heat loss. We have a huge room now with one in it and to actually realize any heat that fire has to be stacked and blazing an then I think the room retains only 10-15% of the actual heat at best. I have seen some vented racks that the wood burns on that blows air into room. Plan on trying one of them.