i’ve never used them so i don’t know. the way they are marketed suggest they are hyped as to their benefit.
if they are effective they also might be corrosive to your chimney shortening its life. i recall a claim that they do cause faster deterioration of your chimney.
even if they work you still have your chimney inspected every number of years and brushed if needed..
Reported
I suggest you compare prices for fireplace insert versus glass door installation.
The fireplace insert will cost more, but it could be well worth it. It is basically a wood stove* inserted into the fireplace. Most (if not all) have a glass window for viewing the fire, which stays closed during operation. Just make sure you know how you will supply it with electricity (for the fan motor- which blows air around the outside of the firebox to more efficiently heat your home).
We were faced with a choice of a chimney liner or (slightly more expensive) fireplace insert due to cracked flue. At first I dreaded going with the fireplace insert- I didn’t want to shrink my fireplace! But now I LOVE it! It makes it easier and simpler and safer to have wood fires, and my biggest problem is that the living room can get TOO toasty!
*There are also gas fireplace inserts, which are also far more efficient than gas fireplaces. They don’t make hybrids, AFAIK.
Is there significantly increased risk of smoke or carbon monoxide in house with fully damped stove or fireplace insert? I’m sure that there must be some increased risk, but is there a credible danger?
I think Antigen has the right answer. Fireplaces are for ambiance. If you want heat out of them, you should get the grate heater/blower combo with or without the glass doors.
Agree 100%. It sounds like the glass doors you’re looking at are strictly ornamental, which is why they say to keep them open during a fire. An insert, on the other hand, is designed to be have a fire with the doors closed. I believe the kind of glass used is actually a type of clear ceramic that resists high heat.
Anyway, an insert (and chimney liner, which we also got, as we had chimney issues) is expensive, but well worth the investment in my opinion. It keeps things nice and toasty, makes winter far more tolerable, and heats up our entire home.
They ran a stovepipe up our chimney, which they said obviated the need for a chimney liner.
This is an If, Then dilemma.
If you want longer, slower radiant heat, you want coals/embers that really pile up from a fire that isn’t burning insanely fast, so if you find that your particular fireplace and home wind up burning everything in a flash from the doors being wide open, you’ll probably want to find a point where the fire burns just right, with the doors open or closed to various degrees.
Lots of variables, specific to your home, chimney, the materials used, etc.
For example, I had a large stone fireplace that I built, and it was just a rock star with the doors open. If I closed the doors, it just didn’t work right. On a more pre-fab type firebox that made up a different fireplace, with doors closed and the vents that drew in the right am’t of air, it got incredibly hot with the doors closed, with coals and embers.
YMMV
Hey BBB! Hope you don’t mind a question. What caused you to post in this thread after 3 years?
I previously started a thread asking about the many zombies being resurrected. The most common explanation was that newbies run a google search, a thread pops up, and they join SDDMB to add something without realizing the age. That seems pretty common, as I’ve noted from join dates. Another possibility is if someone thought something changed, there had been some new development, or they wanted to relate their recent experience.
But you’ve been a member since 2011, and you don’t add any real new developments. Instead, you just pick up the discussion as tho there had been no gap.
Hey, do whatever you want. In no way am I trying to be a Jr mod. I was just wondering what caused you to do so? I’m wondering how a 3 yr old thread on fireplace doors even came to your attention.
Why do people give a darn about “zombie” threads?
Huh- you’re right. :smack:
I just found it fairly high up on GQ main page this morning, which I always thought posted in order of recent activity, therefore should be pretty recent. I didn’t think to check the date in that context (although I admit I have been slow to develop a good date checking habit).
Seems to me that mentioning a fireplace insert is a significant addition to the thread. Why do you say he didn’t add any “new developments?”
Well, someone else did bring up inserts, also. I just enthused more.
Yeah - mentioned by billfish in 12/12.
I really don’t “care” about zombies, but I am mildly curious about various aspects of human behavior - large and small. And I’m constrained by my own practices/thoughts. I know there have been prior threads about how different people browse forums differently. There’s just no way I’d turn up a 3 yr old thread unless I were searching a specific topic.
Thanks for the response, BBB
Agreed with Dinsdale. Zombies don’t bother me, but I am curious. Thank you for the explanation, Blue Blistering Barnacle.
The next thing Dinsdale and I have to work on is figuring out why 99.99% of newbies that resurrect zombies only ever post once. Is there a massive population of users roaming the internet, sprinkling drive-by resurrections like Johnny Appleseed, and never returning? Seems oddly specific behavior to be repeated so many times.
Back to your regularly scheduled fireplace discussion!
Perhaps they feel dumb for responding to an old thread. 
Yeah, such behavior is awfully foreign to me. But with a couple billion internet users, not EVERYONE can be right like me!
Every once in a while when I’m searching a topic, I’ll turn up something from a forum. Home construction would be an recent example. But I wouldn’t go through the (admittedly minimal) effort of registering if I didn’t actually want to engage in some exchange of information, and if i didn’t plan on going back.