I understand that with a traditional fireplace, most of the heat is lost through the chimney and you have to be very close to it to feel much heat. A wood stove or insert performs much better. However, I’m curious how people stayed warm enough in a house. It would seem that everywhere besides being near the fireplace would be freezing. I guess fireplaces were mostly meant to locally heat people near the fireplace, and not so much that the fireplace is a central heat source. That would explain why people often had a fireplace in every room. Just light the fireplace that you will be near for most of the time, etc. rather than heat the whole house. Just curious since you often hear “warm by the fireplace”.
In: Technology
For a time when growing up, we used a wood burning stove as our primary heat for a 2-story 4-bedroom house. The stove was in the living room. The living room and kitchen were very warm. Upstairs in the bedroom, if you brought a glass of water when you went to bed, there would be ice in the morning.
Electric blankets and heated waterbeds kept us warm while sleeping, and then the day was less cold. Still most of our time at home was spent in the living room.
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