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We have a see-through wood burning fireplace between the kitchen and dining room with no adverse issues. As noted above, they are not good for heating the house, but do provide a nice view in two separate rooms at the same time (great when having a dinner party). We do not have any smoke issues because it has an excellent draft.
In the home we are currently building we are installing a similar setup (see-through fireplace, but propane this time) between the kitchen/dining room areas into the living room. The fireplace has a sealed fire box and uses outside air for combustion. The manufacturer states it can heat a 2,000 sq ft space. We are not planning on using it for heat and like the idea of instant on/off with a remote. I would not let the fireplace alone be a deciding fact in buying a house. Good luck.
If that's the only issue, woo hoo we have a new house I like! I was concerned there might be problems with smoke or inability to heat a room as well.
They are purely decorative. They don't heat anything. You will suck more heat up the chimney than you get out of them, though if you install glass doors on both sides to limit the draft you can improve things a bit.
Since I'm the one who said gas fireplaces were good for heating the house, perhaps I'll concede that fireplaces may vary in their efficiency, and maybe it depends how the space is laid out. Ours puts out a fair amount of heat, and when we can get propane at $1.20 per gallon (buy in late summer.... 500 gallon tank) it lasts most of the winter. It's cheaper to run the fireplace all day than our furnace. And it's gotten us through many a power outage as our only heat. Your mileage may vary.
Since I'm the one who said gas fireplaces were good for heating the house, perhaps I'll concede that fireplaces may vary in their efficiency, and maybe it depends how the space is laid out. Ours puts out a fair amount of heat, and when we can get propane at $1.20 per gallon (buy in late summer.... 500 gallon tank) it lasts most of the winter. It's cheaper to run the fireplace all day than our furnace. And it's gotten us through many a power outage as our only heat. Your mileage may vary.
My parents had a gas log fireplace insert installed when they retired. It had a glass front and a blower, and ran on a thermostat so it would heat the living room nicely. It would take the chill off the room during a power outage, but for comfort they were back to the wing back chairs facing the fire of the 19th century. They got by with extra blankets on the bed at night.
After Dad died, I set up a generator for Mom that would run the furnace, some lights, a coffee pot and a hot pot. She was warm and could make warm meals.
Any heat source is better than nothing in a power outage, but most 2-sided fireplaces I have seen are as close to nothing as you can get without actually being there.
We put one in a house we built back in 1991. Separated the entry from the LR. Two-sided glass doors. We really liked it but never considered it heating anything. It was a design element.
We've actually had good luck using a fireplace as a source of heat; guess it varies from house to house.
Here's how we do it: our current house is 4000 sf. However, during the day we mostly hang out in the family room and kitchen area. So we set the thermostat at 62 during winter days. Then we turn on the fireplace in the family room, which heats up the area we use during the day perfectly.
At night we start using the rest of the rooms, so we turn off the fireplace and turn the thermostat back up to 68 or 70.
This system has saved us a nice amount of money over the years.
What we have now is a single sided fireplace, however. I'm not sure a double sided fireplace would be quite as good for heating a room. If we do buy that house, I'll post an update and let you know how it worked out.
As an update, we bought the house with the double fireplace, and have now had a few days when the temps dipped below freezing, so we could try it out as a heat source.
The fireplace connects the sunroom and the living. We have set the heater to kick in later in the evening. If it starts to get chilly in the afternoon we turn on the gas fireplace until the heater goes on. It works well for heating the sunroom, which is a small space. I don't think it has much affect on the living room, but since it helps the sunroom we just hang out in there in the afternoon.
Ultimately I think it's saving us a small amount of money. However, this is only the beginning of winter. We'll have to see how helpful it is when real winter hits, LOL.
We had an efficient gas fireplace insert installed in our home in Minnesota.
Wasn't double sided, but it was great. We keep the house at 62 degrees and closed off the bedroom doors throughout the winter.
The fireplace warmed up the living room, dining room, and kitchen in no time.
Loved looking at it. Kids sprawled out in front of it and read. Favorite spot for the dogs.
Husband claimed we saved money. Who knows? But I loved it.
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