Wood Burning Fireplace

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Simon96Taco

Not sure if this post was in regards to mine, but in case it was I'll clarify that I don't intend to use it as my sole source of heat. I just love wood burning stoves and would love to add one to my basement if I could. Having it upstairs might mean it would get used more, but I like the idea of the warmth spreading up through the house if I had it in the center of the house in the basement.

I'm the same way. When we move, I'd love it if we could find a house with a real fireplace that has a nice big hearth. LOVE wood burning fireplaces. Failing that, I'd be looking long and hard at a wood pellet stove or regular wood stove for the basement.

My parents house had a nice big river rock enclosed fireplace in the living room and one in the basement. I used to love watching TV at night with a roaring fire in the middle of winter. Only real drawback was the basement one didn't have a natural gas line so trying to heat the flu was a huge PITA because if you didn't and just lit the fire, you'd totally smoke out the basement.

[V]

Yeah, you have to start with small kindling for a while until the flue heats up. Kindling doesn't produce much smoke. We learned that one the hard way.

[Regular_John]

I typically make a small "torch" out of some newspaper to heat the flue, once the smoke/flame are pulling straight up for 30 seconds or so I light my fire. Haven't had any problems in Calgary, but I know we filled my parent's place in Manitoba up with smoke a few times in -40. Not fun.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Yep, we wound up doing that too. Then took it to the next level using blow torches with generous tips to blast heat up there. Good times.....