Traditional fireplaces, glass doors and grates

Traditional fireplaces - built from brick, block, stone, and also many ancient steel factory-built models – are poorly designed and energy-inefficient.

They cause rooms to feel drafty, they are a cause of pollution (due to smoke emission…) and health problems, and they do not heat efficiently.

They lack the well-designed casketed doors, heat exchanger or combustion chambers of modern units. Glass doors, tubular grates and other options do not improve significantly their performance.

Alternatives to traditional fireplaces and stoves

There are good and cheap alternatives to traditional fireplaces (and stoves) - good environmental solutions and will provide huge energy savings and, consequently, lower energy bills. These alternatives include:

- certified fireplace inserts
- modern gas stoves
- modern pellet stoves
- certified wood stoves
- certified hearth-mount stoves;
- well installed and designed wood masonry heaters

Tempered-glass doors for fireplaces

Pay attention: some features advertised by many fireplace-stove manufacturers do not correspond to reality. These features rarely improve significantly heating efficiency of traditional fireplaces.

That’s the case of tempered-glass doors applied to fireplaces, to solve the cold draft. The door can reduce the leakage of polluted air, but in most cases the tempered glass also blocks much of the heat coming from the fireplace.

Tubular grates

Some manufacturers advertise tubular grates and special firebox liners as improvements. But they do not represent a significant improvement of traditional fireplaces, and may even be dangerous, due to the overheat that they can cause.

Outside combustion air ducts

Outside combustion air ducts to the firebox are another poor improvement, also involving disadvantages. Under specific wind conditions they can cause the reverse of the normal air flow direction, driving exhaust gases through the duct system.

True alternatives to inefficient fireplaces

If you want really good upgrades to your old masonry fireplace or stove, consider modern fireplace inserts, modern gas stoves, pellet stoves, modern certified wood stoves or eventually less common solutions as hearth-mount stoves and well installed and designed wood masonry heaters.