Fireplaces

It is a GREAT wood for wood stoves, with heat values similar to anthracite coal. However, it has a tendency to "spit" burning coals a good distance. Be sure to use a screen, be careful of health issues some folks have with bark. (skin contact)

Well, we don't know what IT is- you did not share that with us. However, many spray insecticides are combustible- they can burn. IF you used an insect spray in a fireplace, you should wait several hours before lighting a fire, and give the flue time to air out. Or you may get a large KAWHOOF when lighting the fire. Be sure that a large wasp or hornet nest has not blocked the flue.

NO. They have been treated with preservatives that will produce possibly poisonous gases.

A gas log can be installed in a regular fireplace, or in a prefab, but it should be done by an installer familiar with the process. Burning any fuel, including gas, uses up air, and produces products of combustion. Done badly, it could be very dangerous.

Benjamin Franklin is generally credited with the invention of the wood stove.

The development of the wood stove is rather more complex than a single invention, however. What Franklin did was to improve on the fireplace with an iron fireplace insert that heated air from the room and pushed it back into the room to warm it. Some people would say this was not a wood stove, so much as an improved fireplace, leaving the actual stove to be invented by someone else. Others might object that other inventions anticipated Franklin's, so the invention should be ascribed to someone earlier. Nevertheless, if you want a name of an individual, the best name to choose might be Benjamin Franklin.

There are a number of websites that offer information on the best wood for heating. Generally, hardwoods such as Ash, Oak, and Hickory will be the very best. Softwoods such as pine and fir will have low heat values, burn up quickly, and produce a lot of creosote (but makes good kindling) There are a few toxic woods I would NOT burn, including poison oak, sumac, and treated lumber scrap. Treated lumber (may be called CCA, Tanalised, salt treated, or "green wood") is treated with heavy metals to keep bugs and fungus from destroying it.

Gas Fireplaces are expensive for a number of reasons:

1. They are a relatively new appliance on the market.

2. They offset the cost of using other types of fuel to heat the home.

3. They are convenience appliances. No buying and hauling around wood or pellets, no messy ash to clean. No worrying about smokey rooms, draft issues, etc. No more paying for chimney sweeps, and dangerous creosote buildup.

4. They are an efficient heating source. (not just for looks, like most gas log sets which are much cheaper)

5. In most cases, one insert unit is composed of many components that come from various companies. (for instance, the sheet metal, ceramic glass, valve, electronics, etc. all come from different companies). This skyrockets the cost, because you have 17 companies who all must cooperate to produce a unit.

6. The gas fireplace industry is complicated, especially insert units. They must be designed and tested to meet safety codes. This costs money to them, which in turn drives up the cost of the unit. (This also goes along with #1).

7. Providing parts support, warranty support, etc on products costs manufacturers a ton of money.

8. Masonry Fireplaces have no standard dimensions. New homes follow traditional paterns in size, but older homes (pre-1980) often have varying sized fireboxes. That means Manufacturers who are competitive must create a wide array of units to fit small to large fireboxes.

9. Much of the manufacturing & assembly takes place in the United States.

(would you rather we outsource another industry to China?)

*10. Think big industry. You have 1-2 Manufacturing Plants in the country. Then you have 4-5 Distribution Centers around the country who then, in turn, sell the units to a Fireplace Dealer. By the time the Dealer gets the unit in the showroom, the unit has been marked up a few times so every company involved can meet their margins.

- The Consumer is usually paying almost twice the original cost of the base unit. That is before you add in accessories, venting system, whatnot.

--There you go. I know the industry.

Pine has a low heat value per pound when compared to hardwoods. It will tend to burn quickly, meaning you will be adding fuel more frequently. It does produce a lot of creosote, but that may be a minimal problem for an outdoor furnace.

Air circulation is the most effective means of drying wood- both firewood and lumber.

Stack the wood off the ground, in such a way that air can move through the stacked wood. Do NOT cover the sides, but cover the top with anything that will shed water. Of course, split firewood will dry quicker, since splitting it exposes more of the inside to the air.

You might want to consider building a firewood storage shed.

no. It is very harsh. fire.

Seasoned (dry) white oak may be one of the BEST woods you can use. Oak, hickory, and ash wood have high heat values, low creosote production, and long lasting coals. Good stuff!

Not a good idea. Most aluminum alloys will warp under the heat of a wood stove. Probable fire hazard.

"Treated" lumber COULD have several meanings, but it usually means treated to resist rot and attack by insects. Early treatments included creosote (thin railroad ties). "Green" lumber was treated with Chrome, Copper, and Arsenic. Due to health hazards, wood a consumer would be likely to come in contact with (handrails, etc) are now treated with a Copper Boron mix. These woods are used for outdoor stairs, decks, docks, gazebos, etc.- anywhere you would have direct contact with the ground.

In Hawaii, the Formosa Termite can do GREAT damage to lumber, so much of the house that is built in Hawaii uses treated lumber.

Fireplaces, especially gas fireplaces, don't really do much to heat your home unless a fireplace blower or fan kit is installed. A blower kit will dramatically increase the efficiency of your fireplace by helping to distribute the heated air your fireplace produces into your home.

They have kits and replacement blowers for most major brands of gas fireplaces. Even some wood fireplaces.

It all depends if the exaust flue is on top on at the rear. In both cases Throat plate or fire deflector plate as some call it will be different for top or rear exaust.

The rear throat plate is usually at a 45 degree angle from the back to mid portion of interior of stove , preventing flames from entering diectlt into stove pipe. For Top exaust throat plates, Plate will be from the back wall to about 2/3 the depth of the interior of the stove at about 3 inches from ceiling thus preventing flames from entering directly into stove pipe at top. It usually secured at back and on sides in this case and for the Rear exaust plate, it is a plate that slides in a cradle at a 45 degree angle. Plates must be renewed as they will deterriorate over the years.

That is sort of like asking what is a Ford automobile worth. Typically, timber is measured in the estimated board feet that is growing on property, and on the type of wood (half pine, half, white oak, or WHAT?) Board feet will be based on size and number of trees.

This is a pretty specialized field, and I am NOT the specialist- but have watched a few work. If you are in the US, a good place to start to find a timber appraiser will be your State Forestry Dept.

A fireplace heats a room by radiating heat in all directions. People directly in front of the fireplace feel the warmth more because they are closer to the source of heat and receive more radiant heat energy. The further away you are from the fireplace, the more the heat dissipates and the less warmth you feel.

Not as good as some others. It can be mixed with hickory or apple if you do not have enough of those.

The basic reason for having a chimney tray is to segregate two (2) different Unit Operations within the same piece of equipment - usually a pressure vessel. This technique is used in a variety of processes.

For example, let's consider a TEG absorber (contactor). The basic process requirements for a TEG absorber call for the incoming feed gas to be totally devoid of any liquids - particularly water and/or hydrocarbons. In order to comply with this important specification, special, efficient vapor-liquid separators are installed upstream of the contactor. However, in certain situations - such as in offshore platforms - space and volume come at a premium and as a consequence, process engineers make use of a chimney tray to combine a vapor-liquid separator in the bottom section of the contactor tower and the actual, absorber section on the remaining top section of the same tower. By introducing a chimney tray between both section, the process engineer ensures that there will be vapor-liquid separation (one Unit Operation) in the bottom section and only the product moist gas stream will be injected into the bottom of the absorber section (another Unit Operation).

Another example can be found in strippers or distillation columns. Sometimes there are needs in either of these two types of Unit Operations to introduce side-stream drawoffs or to selectively take a liquid portion and impose another Unit Operation on it (such as heating or reboiling). Taking a drawoff and diverting it to a reboiler while returning the reboiler vapor product back into the top section of the drawoff is done in many distillation towers and strippers. This is done by incorporating a chimney tray and gives the operation a more realistic credit of having one additional theoretical separation tray because the chimney tray segregates the feed liquid and the product vapors to-and-from the reboiler.

The chimney tray does this without any moving parts.

FIREPLACE

Well is the question the total amount of heat, or total USEFUL heat?

In general, a wood fire burns a bit hotter than gas- hence the wood fired pizza ovens. Hoever, gas fireplaces usually have a heat exchanger that draws in room air, warms it, and returns it to the room. It has less air going up the chimney than a wood fireplace (a major point of heat loss)

The chimney of a wood fireplace may be more massive brick, which will hold heat after the fire burns out.

Assuming your question relates to life safety in building construction, and not to parts of a wood burning device- Smoke dampers are intended to limit the movement of smoke within a building, or section of a building. They are not intended to inhibit FLAME spread. A fire damper will inhibit smoke movement, but is also insulated to stop fire. A simple smoke damper might be light weight sheet metal- but that is not enough to stop very high temprature. A fire damper is heavier, may be insulated, built of fire resistive material, etc.

A tall, shallow firebox with a sloping back radiated more heat into the room than the earlier, boxy style of firebox. The throat was rounded, and did a better job of removing smoke. Purely my opinion, but it was a good design for the 1700s. There are better ones now. A Rumsford needs a large hearth- shallow firebox can give you a "burning log on the floor" surprise.

Yes. Has a high moisture content, and needs drying. Not the best in the world, but can be burned.

Not as good as oak or hickory, but much better than some other woods. We use a fair amount of it mixed with oak. It is very difficult to split, but burns well when seasoned.