Fighting humidity in the house

[AlohaSteven]

MarkP has probably forgotten more about this topic than I ever knew, yet to the note "Fireplaces are a much different animal. I define a fireplace as being open. Fireplace inserts or other airtight appliances are merely wood-stoves with big glass doors" maybe I can add a description of one useful variation on the beast.

Here in our Anchorage house there are two fireplaces, one downstairs and another upstairs, both of which work great for light, heat, and (if one desired) ventilation. The aspect of them which is so nifty is that while both are built-in features of the house (brick downstairs and fieldstone upstairs) there are two separate air flow systems in each. Slots in the stonework admit air which flows up and around the metal box atop firebrick in which the logs burn; the metal encasing the fire heats up and in turn passes that heat into air flowing over its outer surface, then the heated room air (still clean, free of smoke) rises up and out of other slots above the fireplace openings back into the room. The fireplace proper has baffles above and below the two sets of folding glass doors which can be slid into place, so air flows into the combustion chamber and then exits the house through the chimney pipe. They are full-fledged fireplaces in every sense and look just like conventional simple cavity style of open fireplaces (unless you look carefully and see the slots hidden in the rockwork below and above) yet thanks to this feature work great for heating the air in a room (with zero smoke). Move your hand around the wall when a fire is burning and you can feel the gushers of heated air pouring out the upper slots. If one wants lots of ventilation then leave the glass doors wide open, though that is not a goal in this context.

These are way better in every regard as a design than the inefficient, smelly, smokey fireplaces my great-parents had once upon a time.

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Vienna Teng in Düsseldorf, "Soon love soon."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8-mIouMbqM

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