Added on 11/19/08
WITH the price of home heating fuel uncertain, homeowners who have fireplaces may be tempted to use their hearths to supplement their heating system. But while an old-fashioned open-hearth fire might effectively warm the soul, it will do little to...
See more 
WITH the price of home heating fuel uncertain, homeowners who have fireplaces may be tempted to use their hearths to supplement their heating system. But while an old-fashioned open-hearth fire might effectively warm the soul, it will do little to warm the rest of the house. Nevertheless, there are a number of ways to convert a drafty old fireplace into a fairly efficient source of heat for the home. ''The problem with most old-fashioned fireplaces is that they just aren't efficient at converting wood into heat,'' said Alex Wilson, publisher of Environmental Building News, a monthly newsletter published in Brattleboro, Vt. ''In fact, they generally provide a major heat loss avenue by allowing warm air from the room to go out the chimney.'' So, he said, anyone who wants to use such a fireplace as a supplemental heat source is probably going to have to make some modifications. ''The most important thing you can do to increase the efficiency of your fireplace is to retrofit it with glass... See less 
.value, '<a href="http://www.kaboodle.com/flutegirl150/house-family-room.html"><img alt="" src="http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/79/b/AAAAArRWfZIAAAAAAHm-9g.jpg" width="100px" /></a>','http://www.kaboodle.com/flutegirl150/house-family-room.html','1');)
