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Semi lost piece of historical technology that may be worth knowing about.

A Fireback is a simple steel or cast iron plate placed against the back wall of a fireplace. It serves a double purpose. It acts like a mirror for the heat of the fire in front of it, reflecting it out into the room before it can go up the chimney. Second it is a large thermal mass putting heat into the room long after the fire has burnt out.

Mine is a 1" thick 200lb piece of steel. Adding it doubled the comfortable sit in front of the fire distance for my fireplace. Since it is not my primary source of heat I do not get up to feed the fire overnight. The next morning hours after the fire is gone the fireback is typically around 200f and still warm enough to feel it when you walk past.

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Discussion

Tommy "The Purchase" 1mo ago

In some regions of central Europe, people use or at least have historically used tiled brick ovens/fireplaces that extend well into the room or two rooms if built between them, with cozy benches around them, those are nasty to get going but stay warm for ages.

I now prefer the giant steel slab though, it's so metal.

Bill Cypher 1mo ago 💬 1

Why not both? In my case because I didn't design the fireplace so 1 is the cost of steel and 1 is a major renovation.

Tommy "The Purchase" 1mo ago

Certainly, both are pretty decent 👌🏻

m00ninite 1mo ago

Good to know. I was actually recently wondering how all the heat in a fireplace doesn't just escape straight into the chimney.

Bill Cypher 1mo ago

Heat from a fire is actually 3 things. The air that has been warmed by the fire, the infrared light coming off the fire, and the thermal mass of all the masonry that gets heated.

The air does mostly go up the chimney, of course because otherwise your room would fill with smoke. The infrared and thermal mass are where you make your gains.

There are also losses from sucking cold outside air into your home. This matters in a newer airtight home where you have to crack a window for your chimney to even work. On a drafty older home air was coming in anyway so not as big a tradeoff.

m00ninite 0mo ago

That's terrifying to think that a chimney doesn't work unless somebody has the wherewithal to crack a window 😨

Bill Cypher 0mo ago

The air to go up the chimney has to come from somewhere.

Personally I think if the house is that well sealed an external intake should be built into the fireplace with its own seal the same as the flue on the chimney.

m00ninite 0mo ago

Yea, that would be pretty smart. I imagine this sort of issue comes up in older houses with new windows and doors and such, though. You'd probably have to retrofit the fireplace