With all of the green concerns, the fireplace has lost a little of its glamour, but it still is a favorite spot for many. Sitting in front of the comfort of a fireplace, revives many treasured memories for a lot of people. The fireplace provides a lot of benefits for your home, but there are also a few important downsides that need to be fixed. With the cost of energy soaring year after year, your fireplace has to dissipate energy in a very cost effective way. When you have a fire going in the fireplace, it can literally extract warm air away from the room, making your central heating work harder. In case you dont have a fire lit, the damper is designed to keep heat in. However, dampers are not terribly efficient seals, so all the warm air escapes and allows cold air to come into the home.

What most homeowners usually do not know about their fireplace is that it doesn't do what they think it is doing. Instead of heating a home naturally, a fireplace can essentially add hundreds of dollars to your heating expenses. You will find there's a way to take your ineffective fireplace, and remake it into a heat producing system that your budget will love. Just about all you need to do is only four fundamental things to fix your fireplace. All of these is going to make your fireplace very economical and very efficient.

The first suggestion is to change your current fireplace damper with a top sealing damper. A top sealing damper is fitted right at the top of your chimney that also doubles as a storm door. It stops the inside air from coming out, and the outside air from entering, and functions in hot weather or cold. The seal is simple to set up, and can be purchased online. A second thing which can be done would be to position a fire-back at the back of your fireplace. This is a cast iron plate that is intended to add to the room design, while shielding the back wall from damage due to the fires. The fire-back absorbs the heat from a fire, and radiates the heat back inside the room, enhancing the efficiency of the fireplace.

Next point that is going to help is a fireplace heater, which heats the room air that is being circulated through a chamber, and blows it back towards the room. These heating elements are enclosed systems, so no smoke is discharged, and they can really make a difference in the temperature of your house. The final thing you're able to do is to fit glass doors, which might be your biggest expense. Searching around, you will be able to find a good deal, and with instructions, you can install them yourself. These glass doors help to keep the heat from leaking out plus it keeps children and pets from getting burned.

These suggestions are not terribly difficult to do and you can purchase all of the items from the Internet. Retain your fireplace and lower heating bills by making it more efficient.