warming the house with a fireplace

[Trickey280]

We have a 14 x 70. The 2 bedrooms are located at each end of the house. When we run the fireplace the bedrooms get extremely cold. What can we do to get the heat circulating that way?

[Manitoba Bill]

When I used my wood stove I placed a 12" fan on the floor in the bedroom doorway and on low speed I pushed the cold air near the floor towards the stove. I hung a string at the top of the doorway and you can see the warm air is moving near the ceiling and into the bedroom.

Depending on your mobile re; insulation, location, etc. some run the furnace fan to move air. Mark sells a thermo timer to cycle that fan.

[SpongeBob]

HI Trickey,
IMO, a truly open fireplace does not offer much heat to the entire home unless you are directly in front of the firebox. A wood, pellet, coal, stove or fireplace insert does however eminate heat to the home. If you are a familiar with a smoke test (fake non-poisonous smoke) or even from a candle (be careful) you can actually see the smoke being sucked up the fireplace flue. I believe that is why your end rooms are as you describe much colder. A fireplace is great for a one room cabin or something similar. But, I believe they really extract most of the heat from the home. Hope this helped.
-Bob

[NoDinero]

Dump the fireplace and get a good wood burning or pellet stove.
IMO the fireplace wastes too much valuable fuel to do any good.
After I fixed my own furnace, removing the fireplace was the next thing I needed to do.
Next winter I will be prepared with alternative heat.
Steve

[DavidW]

I am planning on installing a chimneyless propane gas log firebox/fireplace.

There would be no loss of heat since there is no chimney.

30,000 - 35,000 BTU is not unusual for these type of gas logs.

I'm hoping to find an off-season special on one. A friend of mine bought the gas logs, firebox and an oak mantle for $150.00 on sale.

It works great heating a large sunroom.