Possum Lodge: The lodge from The Red Green Show. A handyman (or woman's) paradise where if it ain't broke, you're not trying and duct tape fixes everything.
Skunk Works: A pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program. Originally a nickname based on the "Skonk Oil Factory" from Lil' Abner, the Skunk Works is the [unofficial] name of Lockheed's research and development arm. The Skunk Works has been responsible for numerous technical innovations, especially pertaining to aeronautics.
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Our house has a large double sided fireplace right in the middle of it. It has a vent above the doors on either side to circulate the hot air, which is not all that effective. I wondered if it would help to have air forced across the firebox and decided to try an experiment. I rigged up a window fan to blow air into the vent in one room.
It actually does help. It makes the living room, on the other side, nice and toasty.
My dad would love this. Back when we had a wood burning stove, he would set up all manner of fans to try and distribute the heat to the rest of the house.
Texas? Years and decades ago, we lived down there. It's the only place I've seen a double sided fireplace.
Close. Arkansas. They're probably pretty rare which is understandable. It would be very expensive to build one like it today not to mention It's a huge waste of space and is not an efficient heat source. I enjoy a nice fireplace but I would never install one of these.
The only advantage is that it's big enough for me to climb inside the firebox which is handy for chimney repairs.
I have seen many in New England. One was open to a living room on one side and a study on the other.
This makes a lot more sense. In the house I saw one in the fireplace was smack in the middle of a large living room.
I've seen some townhouses near me with a double sided fireplace in the exterior wall! They can enjoy their fireplace from the living room or the deck. Very odd.
I've seen them in PA and Colorado, in ski houses.
It's a 60's architectural feature.
Is there any risk to the fan exposed to too high of heat from this?
No. The glass doors radiate some heat but not enough to be concerned about.
I don't get why fireplaces don't have some sort of radiator fins to get more heat from the chimney into the room.
...used to be masonry fireplaces were a thing: once that thermal mass heated up, it would radiate for DAYS...
The average fireplace is probably only about 10 - 15% efficient. That's before you factor in the impact of the draft on the conditioned air space in your home. Ours fireplace draws extremely well. If we ran it with the doors open it would suck the air out of the house faster than it could heat it. Fortunately it has a fresh air intake from outside but which helps minimize the air drawn from the living space.
I'd imagine even with those the majority of the heat still just shoots out the top. There needs to be something that captures the heat/cools the air and dumps it back into the house. Sort of similar in concept to a condensing natural gas furnace (apart from the bit about converting it to water, just that it captures more heat).
https://www.hvac.com/expert-advice/what-is-a-condensing-furnace/
These days we just stay cold because electricity is too expensive.
Our parents were so fucking smart to decide hearths should be obsolete.
...builders cut construction costs; modernist fashion aside, buyers weren't crying out for cheap sheet-steel fireboxes...
Most fireplaces are just for looks, and don't heat much at all. Wood stoves work a lot better. I think a cooler chimney would increase creosote build-up and negatively affect draft.
Does creosote build up in natural gas fireplace chimneys?
No, just wood.