[Cob] regarding fireplaces

[Amanda Peck]

True.  The Rumford fireplaces are apparently pretty good, though.  Ken Kern 
liked them.  Ocean on this list has mentioned them a couple of times.

and I expect you can run makeup air into them.  But the instructions usually 
say to put the wood in tipi style against the back wall.  Most of the 
pictures have wood on andirons--although I saw one with the andirons holding 
a couple of pieces of wood upright.

Explanation here says why they are better.

http://www.rumford.com/articleWhat.html

...........

Bill wrote:

Hidare,,, The big problem with open ended fireplaces, is

that with the incoming air to the fire not controlled,

the outgoing air up the chimney has to also be free flowing.

Other wise , you get smoke in the room. And this is what

Ben Franklin fixed by putting a front on the fire place.

Without something to control the air coming into the fire

and up the chimney, one must keep the fire at or near

its maximum, or other wise warm air from the room will

be suck out and up the chimney..

Back when we had no choice, and all the wood that we could

ever use was with 50 yds of our door.. We did not worry

about 20 % efficiency.

But there are a lot of things today that style is more important

that practicality or efficiency. So if it trips your trigger, and that

is what you want,,, then go for it...