Cast Iron Firebacks Get Hot Radiant Heat From Your Fireplace
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Wood burning fireplaces can be a great source of heat while they are burning. When the fire dies
down you can’t close the damper until it has cooled. The hot coals are still pulling heat from your
home and gently pushing it up the chimney. Many times you awake in the morning only to find the
room with the fireplace to be several degrees cooler than the rest of the home. The fire has died
down, the coals have cooled and now cold air is settling in the room. Heat rises cold falls.
Go green with the century old heat recycler for your fireplace place. That’s right century old “Your
great great Grandparents knew something!” Since the invention of cast iron, around the 2nd
century BC., man has know that cast iron absorbs heat and radiates it back out. Many older homes
today still have cast iron radiators.
When a cast iron fireback is placed in your fireplace behind the grate it heats up and intensifies the
radiant heat back into your room while absorbsorbing some of the heat that goes up your chimney.
Once the fire dies down the cast iron fireback will radiate hot heat back into your home for several
hours. This helps to keep the room warm and cuts down on the heat loss through the open damper.
Cast iron firebacks come in an assortment of sizes. Measure the width and height of the back wall in
your firebox. For the height measure from the floor to where the smoke chamber starts to curve. All
cast iron firebacks are around 1 to 1 ½ in deep so they won’t take up much room. Most firebacks
can be place in the fireplace leaning back against the wall and be supported by the grate. You may
not need the optional feet for the fireback. If you are going to use the feet subtract 2” from the
height dimension to allow for the feet.
Cast iron firebacks are available with all sorts of decorative designs cast on the front but they all
provide the same radiant heat. There is a difference in the quality of the cast iron. Cast iron
firebacks made in China can be less dense and weigh less than the firebacks made in the USA. We
have found the best firebacks come from Pennsylvania Firebacks and of course they are still made
in the USA.
Pennsylvania Firebacks
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