Hi Christine,
Most fireplaces in existence today are inefficient and really bad for the environment. The main reasons are that they don't burn the wood cleanly and thus give off a lot of smoke, and most draw the combution air from the surrounding air in the room. the huge volume of air that you see escaping from the chimney must be replaced from outside. That means it usually comes in through cracks around windows, doors, baseboards, etc. Your house gets really drafty. If it is below about 10 degrees outside, it is going to get cold in the rooms furtherest from the fireplace. The more vigorous the fire, the colder they will get.
Some places now have codes calling for outside combustion air, and catalytic plates above the fire to aid combustion. This helps a lot, but the best answer for a fireplace is a videotape of a fire playing on your TV. The TV will give off about 100 watts of heat while it's on, and no embers will shoot out on you carpet.
Although they are sensual and pleasing to most people, fireplaces are dirty and pollute the air. Their main value is that they are usually made of stone or brick, and those materials act as a heat sink.
There are no design limitations to a steel frame house. If anything, I would have more freedom of design. I want to build a very energy conserving shell. You can design the inside.
Del |
