Wood fireplace

[Jayv]

Grew up in Southern England back in the time when coal was king. Last home was a gas fireplace, but now the new digs has a wood fireplace. Got a little fire going this past weekend reminded me of my younger years camping i was loving it. Downside is the wife is ultra allergic to everything. What's your go to choice of wood that emits less smell but still good packs a good punch on the heat output?

 

[crankcall]

I'm not sure anything is going to be happy for her, I've heard of people allergic to the "environmental " smoke, it may not matter what wood you burn. Sorry best of luck

 

[nobbie48]

I'd try birch but if you can smell it there's a good chance someone else will be affected.

 

[Robbo]

I’ve been burning these for the past two winters. $4.99 for a 10-pack of logs and they go on sale for 20% off. I always get them on sale.

You could buy one pack just to test the product out. Newspaper and kindling as a starter and you can build from there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GreyGhost]

All of the above is good info. Make sure you have your wett certification and your insurance company knows. Another great thing made difficult to try to drive it out of existence.

 

[Jayv]

Thanks for the tip about wett certification, I will look into getting that done. I had no idea.

 

[Trials]

Since you can smell the wood burning in the house, it must not be an air tight type fireplace.
Try Maple, Beach or Yellow Birch, stay away from woods that contain a lot of natural oils like Cedar or Pine.
Fruit wood trees like Cherry or Apple give off tremendous heat and smell nice.

 

[Hack]

You know.... There's another web forum I frequent where the first answer to the OP's post would be... "EJECT", as in eject from the relationship and get rid of the wife.

You guys are so nice...

 

[oioioi]

Lucky you, for the fact you have a wood burning fireplace. Unlucky about the allergy.

I wish new homes were still built with wood burning fireplaces.

I hate my gas fireplace. Not in the sense that it has ever done anything tho me but it just don't care for it.
It just doesn't create the same atmosphere as a wood burning one.

My parents have one and every time i'm there during the winter i get it going.

Not much useful info from my but I hope you get it all figured out. It would be a shame to have one and not be able to use it.

Have it inspected if its air tight/sealed regardless of the allergy.

 

[Trials]

You can install an air tight insert fireplace into an existing open hearth fireplace, if it was originally constructed properly.
They are very good. You won't get the smoke and sparks in the house, it will burn the wood more efficiently and output a Lot more heat.

 

[backmarkerducati]

We have an open hearth, which can be very smokey. You need to get a good draw going but you still get some smell in the room (which is half the point IMO). If you take a look at my pic, I lowered the front a little with a baffle (just aluminum foil and tape for now), this made a huge improvement in my draw, way less smoke in the room.

Doors or an insert will also obviously make a difference but at the downside of "ambience" and at that point it is a slippery slope to gas or even electric insert

As for wood, I burn mostly Norway and Silver Maple that has been seasoned for a >year preferably two. Why, because that is what is on my property and it is free. If I know anyone that is dropping a hardwood or trimming a large one I usually try and grab the logs. I avoid Ash as I have been told it does not produce as much heat (just what I was told) but more importantly as I do not want to spread the Emerald Ash Borer. Stay away from most softwoods and anything that has not been well seasoned (wet) to keep smoke down. I will also burn the sawdust logs Robbo listed above but it can get pricey if you have a lot of fires (I like free). I tend to use them as the last log at the end of the night.

I switched to these (link below) and some hardwood kindling for starting the fire, I will never go back to the "old" way....

Fire Starter - 60/Pk

Make sure everything is properly maintained, I use Walter Townsend ans Sons.

 

[Trials]

White Ash - splits super easy, burns even green if you stick the oxygen to it, that and Iron Wood are some of the few trees you can burn green.
Dead Sumach burns hot, put those three things together and you can start a good hot emergency or cooking fire faster then most.


... Not suggesting you should use green any type of wood for an indoor fireplace btw.

 

[MRR11.6]

Doesn't matter what type of appliance you are still going to get some smoke in the house. We pretty much heat our 175 year old farmhouse with a Pacific Energy woodstove. Most open fireplaces are a net loss on heat as opposed to a gain. We burn mostly white ash and dead elm. The drier the wood the better to prevent excessive smoke production.

 

[Trials]

... and creosote, that's the nasty black tar stuff that boils out of not so seasoned wood and condenses into solid fuel on the inside surfaces of your chimney, usually around the first place the chimney exits the roofline is the first cool spot.

 

[backmarkerducati]

Doesn't matter what type of appliance you are still going to get some smoke in the house. We pretty much heat our 175 year old farmhouse with a Pacific Energy woodstove. Most open fireplaces are a net loss on heat as opposed to a gain. We burn mostly white ash and dead elm. The drier the wood the better to prevent excessive smoke production.

The big problem with any fireplace that draws combustion air from the house is it creates a vacuum and pulls outside cold air in every place it can (which will generally be a net loss). Hot air and gasses leaving means a draw of "fresh" air somewhere. We crack a window in the room with the fireplace, this helps a lot. Close the flue when not in use (but well out of course).

You have to be careful, neighbours replaced all their windows and doors, first fire of the season was drawing in the fireplace smoke down the furnace chimney, (up one side and sucked down the other side) basement was full of smoke! House was too sealed up, it will suck air in somewhere.

Insets that draw air from the outside stop all this, but it is just not the same...

Don't forget CO detectors! We have one right in the room with the fireplace and of course all sleeping areas.

 

[Trials]

Helps to heat the chimney before you light it.

:| that is also when a lot of people start a chimney fire so be careful of that.

 

[mimico_polak]

Good timing. I can’t contribute much but our new house has 2 wood fireplaces and just looking for recommendations on someone to inspect/clean prior to winter.

thanks, and sorry for the hijack OP!

 

[nobbie48]

You have to be careful, neighbours replaced all their windows and doors, first fire of the season was drawing in the fireplace smoke down the furnace chimney, (up one side and sucked down the other side) basement was full of smoke! House was too sealed up, it will suck air in somewhere.

That's why we got rid of our fireplaces. Two flues side by side meant warm and fragrant in the rec room and cold and smokey in the living room. Or vice versa. You need horizontal distance between the flues.

 

[Trials]

any insert that sticks out like this, they work pretty nice.

 

[J_F]

I’ve been burning these for the past two winters. $4.99 for a 10-pack of logs and they go on sale for 20% off. I always get them on sale.

You could buy one pack just to test the product out. Newspaper and kindling as a starter and you can build from there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

for $5 this seems to be the best suggestion so far
any natural wood is dirty and dusty

depends on the nature of the allergy
if it's dust from wood it will very difficult to mitigate

these manufactured wood logs with I'm assuming a bonding agent will be cleaner
not a viable solution to heat your home
but for the occasional time to enjoy the fireplace it's worth a shot

as for natural wood and energy content
one of my places over the years had an airtight wood stove
got a good deal on a load of apple wood from a grower in the Brighton area
parts of the stove were turning red and had to go easy before it had a melt down and ended up in the basement