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”.
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When I was a kid we used to live in a large former farmhouse that had an open fireplace in every regular room, including the bedrooms, and one at each end of the main “lounge” room. 9 open fireplaces in all, plus the fire under the old copper in the laundry room, which also provided hot water for bathing.
We used to go through a lot of wood and coal in the middle of winter, and usually wore multiple layers, even inside.
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