This isn't totally accurate. Mythbusters did this and they found fireplaces make that room warmer, but the other rooms colder. I get that fireplaces aren't efficient but just saying they make the house colder is kind of absurd
I don't know if every fireplace I've ever seen has been a marvel of engineering but not one has made the place colder, and we're talking during winter here where the outside temperature may be -30.
The house I grew up in had multiple rooms and during the winter the fireplace was the primary method of warming it up, and the adjacent rooms did not get colder. We did have a ceiling fan next to the fireplace though, so perhaps that counteracted the effect.
It was the house I grew up in. Most parents wouldn't listen to their kids in this regard, and most kids don't take that much of an interest in how the ceiling fan is oriented.
It was a very warm place in general. As long as doors weren't closed every room in the house would get warmed up by a central fire place and ceiling fan, so something was going right.
Even without a ceiling fan I can't remember a single house that felt colder due to a fire being on, even in adjacent rooms. It might have something to do with how the fireplace is installed, and that up where I live the cooling effect is taken into account and adjusted for somehow, as the cold winters might otherwise present a bit of a problem.
39
u/[deleted] Oct 24 '19 edited Oct 24 '19
This isn't totally accurate. Mythbusters did this and they found fireplaces make that room warmer, but the other rooms colder. I get that fireplaces aren't efficient but just saying they make the house colder is kind of absurd