Ok I bought my first house earlier this year and it has a wood burning fireplace in the living room. Last night I fired it up for the first time

I actually did very well I think for my first ever fire in a fireplace. I reversed the draft and then lit the fire. In a few minutes I had a blazing fire with minimal smoke in the house.
Now come the problems... The fire was very hot and keep the living room warm but not hot (I kept the heat on as well). My fiancee kept complaining that it was cold in the house and I have to agree that I was disappointed because I was hoping to heat up the house with the fireplace. Is this normal?

Also anyone have any recommendations for putting the fire out? When we were ready to go to bed the flames were gone and there were just some red coals and some glowing sticks left. I would have let the fire burn out but my fiancee is very afraid of house fires so she made me put it out. I poured small amounts of water on the fire until it was almost completely extinguished then I closed the damper. I have now read that its bad to pour water on it because I could crack the fire bricks. My fireplace has a built in screen and glass doors. Can I just close the screen and doors and go to bed?

 

I use either gas or a dura-flame type log to start the fire -- it establishes the draft up the flue with minimal smoke. You won't be able to heat the whole house with the fireplace, especially multiple floors.

I use the dura-flames now because my fires tend to be so hot that they eat up the gas start pipe in a couple of years.

Glass doors are good. When the fire's down to embers, just close the screen and doors and leave the damper open! Close the damper in the morning when the fire's gone out.

Do not pour water on it, it'll just make a mess of things and yes you could crack your firebricks.

 

i usually use those dura-flame type logs also. it doesnt heat up the entire room or anything but just like you said, its warm but not hot.

 

I use them to start my fires -- I put one duraflame at the bottom of a small stack of firewood, then once started the fire gets a steady dose of new firewood.

 

Starting the fire is no problem. I bought a box of Starter Loggs and just break off a small piece and light it under rack with fresh firewood on top. The fire blazed up in less than 30sec with little or no smoke entering the room. After the first two pieces were nice and blazing I added more firewood as needed the rest of the night. I have a nice stack of cherry wood out back so wood is no problem. My fireplace also have a heat blower but I couldn't feel a difference with it on or off. I might see if I can access the blower and see if it needs cleaned or something

 

I would be careful about closing the damper until the fire has been out for a while. If it restarts you're gonna end up with a room full of smoke.

As for putting it out, my Dad used to keep a bucket of ashes and would use a small shovel to dump over the fire. Put it out very quickly.

 

Thats a great idea, Thanks

 

Who needs a fireplace.. just replace it with 2 TVs

 

Absolutely. Then you can play two videotapes of fires on the TVs and have twice the ambiance of a single fireplace.

 

once the fire burns down to embers we usually just close the screen and doors, and go to bed. Keep the flue open though.

 

Don't forget to have sex in front of a roaring fire sometime.