Many of our houses have working fireplaces and they add a great deal of charm and value to our homes. However, as a source of heat, a fireplace is typically very wasteful. When the flue damper is open, a tremendous amount of heated air goes up the chimney and must be replaced with cold, unheated air (air infiltration). It's like leaving the front door open! In addition, most flue dampers don’t close tightly when the fireplace is not in use.

Without getting into wood burning stoves or inserts, there are a couple of solutions to heat loss up the chimney that still allow for an occasional fire in the fireplace.




One solution is to install an air-tight damper on the top of the chimney. These open using a stainless steel cable that drops down the chimney and fastens in the firebox. They generally cost less than $200 and the silicone gaskets do a very good job of sealing the chimney when the fireplace is not in use. A drawback is that they require access to the top of the chimney to install them -- not a problem on some of our homes-- best left to an expert on some of the two story homes. Dampers are available online and possibly at local fireplace shops.





Another solution is to install glass doors on the fireplace. This may be a better choice if you frequently use your fireplace. They tend to be not as airtight as the damper on top of the chimney. The costs of these vary, but look to spend about $500 for a quality set. Glass doors less than $300 probably won’t hold-up very well.


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