Fireplace, fireback question

[Rob Whitton]

Hi,

When I moved into my current house it had a fireplace in the lounge. It has the usual fancy back panel, surround etc but is missing a fireback and a throat restricting lintel - the original brick opening (about 21-22" wide) has been rendered up to give a nice neat rectangular hole. I would like to install a fireback so I can burn logs/coal. I've found that firebacks come in standard sizes of 16 and 18". However the hole in the back panel is 17 inches wide. Surely this can't be normal - if I fit a 16 inch fireback then there will be an ugly step in from the back panel to the fireback - similarly if I go for the 18 inch model (which may be too large overall to fit in my brick opening) then it will step out. What I don't understand is that if firebacks come in standard sizes then why does my back panel apparently not match either of the standard sizes? Am I thinking about it the wrong way?

Obviously I can use a cast iron basket with integral fireback but the chimmney dimensions are such that most of the heat goes up the chimney - I'm convinced that with a fire burning it actually cools the house down as so much of the centrally heated air in the house is drawn up the chimney.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

Rob

[The Natural Philosopher]

I don';t understand waht you are taliking about here,..

..but here...

The outout of a good open fire is about 6-8KW at least, and te chimney and brik surrouds make a great storage heater.

Thus is enough to offseet ventilation losses, especially if you install nedrfllor air vents to feed the fire.

The secret for open fires is to light them at diusk, or a little before, as teh yatimne te,eperatires fall, and have the fire well established by the time you really need it - about 4-5pm at this time of year.

Then let them die back an hour or two before going to bed. The whole chimney area acts like a huge storage radiotor.