Free standing woodstove or fireplace insert?

[hedgehog]

When we add on to the house, we what to add a woodstove or fireplace. Here are the considerations:

We want an additional heat source, so it has to be efficient.

I want to see the flames, so it has to have a viewing window.

We have cats and dogs, so I am a little concerned about exposed hot surfaces.

A mantle would be nice to have, and sitting in front of a fireplace seems more natural than sitting in front of a wood stove.

[Kingshakabobo]

1. I think you can get a fairly efficient fireplace if you are......

........starting from scratch. Opt for the enclosed glass, blower motor and outside combustible air source. That should do the trick. My SO's parents have one they use to heat their whole two bedroom smallish cottage...they use a furnace as back-up at night when they are not tending the fire.

One of my biggest regrets is not doing the blower motor with outside combustible air when I added my fireplace. She looks pretty but doesn't give off that much heat - most goes up the chimney.

[Warpy]

2. Fireplaces are for herbal romance, always less efficient

than free standing wood stoves. If all you want is romance, by all means put in a fireplace. However, if you're looking for heat, there are plenty of wood stoves out there with tempered glass fronts. They range from simple box stoves to ornate, enameled cast iron stoves.

Fireplaces can never be made truly airtight, and a lot of the heat will always go right up the chimney, along with the ambient heat in the room. All you get from a fireplace is radiant heat, fine if you're sitting in front of it, not so fine if you're elsewhere in the room.

The main advantage of a fireplace is that mutant logs will fit into it. Woodstoves require wood cut to length.

[Dora]

3. Go woodstove.

We once lived in a house with no furnace, and our only source of heat was electric space heaters and a ratty old fireplace without glass doors. The space heaters were huge energy hogs, driving our winter electric bills as high as summer's bills. So we ramped up use of the fireplace, and I bought a cord of wood. It did help keep us warm, but it was most effective when we burned a large fire in there long enough to heat up the brick face so that it held heat through the night.

My dad's an architect and has sworn by the efficiency of wood stoves for years, and has used them in two of his homes. As well, my cousin lives in a damp, wet climate, and their two-story, 100 year old home is heated entirely (and efficiently) by a large wood stove that's in their dining room.

[NMDemDist2]

4. I've had both. it really depends on how big the room you need to heat

is. I had an insert in a small (900 sf) house and it would blow us out of there it kept the place so warm in fairly mild winters of Central Valley California

for bigger spaces a woodstove with ceiling fans is probably a better bet. Pellet stoves are the most efficient, but you lose the dancing flame action.

as for your pets, they are smart enough to stay away when the metal is hot, it's never been an issue. the only exception was once my dog was laying in front of an open fireplace and got hit with an ember that leapt over the screen poor baby.