Does anyone else still use a fireplace?

My appreciation for fireplaces really went up this winter. I used it as a main source of heating and it was ridiculously cheaper than previous winters when I would rely on our ducted heating (even with solar panels installed the cost was still absurd).

Can't imagine the ongoing energy crisis (which will almost certainly get worse) is giving people confidence that their "traditional" electric heating is going to be a viable option forever. The thought of people having to ration or cut back on heating during cold winter months is pathetic in a first-world country so I won't be putting my trust in sensible energy policy keeping prices low.

Does anyone still use a fireplace, or is this like people who use house phones or dial-up internet?

Poll Options

  • 125
    Yes - I use it regularly
  • 36
    Yes but I rarely use it
  • 173
    No, but I wish I had one
  • 170
    No, don't need it, don't want it

Comments

  • +27

    The discussion will ended up with Covid-19 and I am 100% sure.

    • +3

      I didn't understand this one, until I read just 4 comments down. You were right! :)

    • +1

      For comparison ill clarify I have ducted heating, split systems and a fireplace (a modern unit).

      This was after we went without heating for a few years….never again…..

      anyway fireplace is not cheaper unless you have your own forest and they are pretty polluting (on a still day smoke gathers in the local area). We only use ours rarely, and when its windy but it can be really cosy when its on.

      We use ducted primarily and split systems sometimes to warm up a particular room when it needs it (the splits are mainly for cooling since our evap cooling sucks)

  • +2

    @SlavOz was clearly an Optus customer

  • +7

    when I would rely on our ducted heating (even with solar panels installed the cost was still absurd).

    When Ozzy Slav forgets that he's single

    • +12

      Probably him and his 90 year old mum whom be still lives with

      • +15

        What’s wrong with looking after your elderly parents?

        • +27

          Progressives - big on compassion via government policies, never willing to practice any of it in their personal lives.

          • +5

            @SlavOz: You make a good point, for true compassion we need to take the example of someone who self-identifies as conservative and religious, like yourself, right?

            That's my usual takeaway from reading something of yours on here. "Look at all that empathy, what a true disciple of the teachings of Christ".

            • +9

              @Crow K: Well, I never cheered on while other people's rights were being taken away. I would say that elevates my compassion far higher than the typical Aussie dipshit who not only welcomed restrictions and mandates, but demanded them.

              Take note there are many groups which I supposedly don't like but I have never gone as far as to suggest they should be locked inside and stopped from socialising. That is a special kind of sinister mind reserved only for the worst of today's society.

              • +2

                @SlavOz:

                the typical Aussie dipshit who not only welcomed restrictions and mandates, but demanded them.

                You do know that lockdowns during the pandemic were also applied in many overseas countries as well, don't you?

                • +6

                  @[Deactivated]:

                  You do know that lockdowns during the pandemic were also applied in many overseas countries as well

                  Sure, but Australia reached the special hallmark of enforcing those lockdowns with unjustified violence while the majority of people watched on and cheered.

                  Maybe you can find other totalitarian countries where that happens but I don't think we should take pride in being one of them.

                  • -1

                    @SlavOz: yawn

              • +22

                @SlavOz: sirens go off, party streamers decend, big banner "SPURIOUS COVID-19 LOCKDOWN ANALOGY MENTIONED" is lowered from the ceiling

                Oh, I won! I won!!

                Wait, I don't want this.

                  • +6

                    @randomvis: Is this illiterate shitposting specific to any vaccine/virus? Would having the measles vaccine (as you do) qualify?

                    And of course it wasn't a compliment. From your posting history, I doubt you've ever encountered one (online or not) to know what they are.

                    • -6

                      @Crow K: Calm down— you know exactly which "vaccine".

                      The vaccinated must be inheriting the earth after all those stupid anti-vaxxers suddenly died. Good thing we taped up those playgrounds huh.

                      • +1

                        @randomvis: It sounds like you've used your medical credentials to decide which vaccines are fine and which aren't. Good for you, I guess?

                        Thanks for bringing some (weak, sarcastic) talking points to me about whether the pandemic protection/vaccine events of the last 2 years were justified or not.

                        I feel like I should mention that I actually wasn't in charge of that, but you know, thanks for keeping me notified. I'll be sure to check in with you if that becomes a future responsibility of mine.

                        (Random bypassers, have a look at this guy's comment history. It's pure "destroying your brain to own the vaxxed" energy)

                          • +4

                            @SlavOz: "I can't believe we wasted all that money doing Y2K prep, code updates etc and worrying the machines would crash, because it didn't even happen in the end"

              • +1

                @SlavOz:

                I never cheered on while other people's (sic) rights were being taken away

                Tbh, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the restrictions aren't lifted and this goes on.

                • +4

                  @[Deactivated]: Which part there am I cheering for people's rights to be taken away?

                  I explicitly said "I feel bad for those".

                  • +3

                    @SlavOz: What about the part where you wrote that you wanted pandemic restrictions to go on forever and a day?

                    You kinda ….. sorta …… changed your script BIG TIME !

                  • @SlavOz: Peoples rights weren’t taken away. The majority recognised it was important for the greater good. The majority complied and prevented us from killing thousands more while the vaccine was implemented. It’s what you do in a society.

                    • +2

                      @Euphemistic:

                      Peoples rights weren’t taken away. The majority recognised it was important for the greater good.

                      "Good" is a subjective term and changes over time and place. To Russian people, cultural and ethnic purity are considered the greater "good" as they believe it protects national identity and wealth.

                      This is where policies like annexing Ukraine or systemically oppressing Uyghurs come from. Nobody does bad things like this just to be an (profanity). Every dictator, mob rule, lynching, or war mongerer genuinely believes they are acting in the best interests of their country. Yet it rarely turns out that way.

                      What we have here is Australia making the exact same moral fallacy as every other terrible regime in history, and somehow convincing themselves that this time its different.

                      Alas, history will not remember that way. You will be the textbook example that history books cite when they describe how easy it was to convince an entire nation that mistreating their fellow citizens was worthwhile. Your grandkids will distance themselves from your legacy.

                      • +1

                        @SlavOz: The only ones that were mistreated were the selfish snowflakes that decided mass gatherings during a global pandemic were a great idea.

                        Did Australia get it completely right? Nope. Did we do a lot better than plenty of other countries? Yep.

                        You want to cry about oppression, go visit Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar

                        • -1

                          @Euphemistic:

                          the selfish snowflakes that decided mass gatherings during a global pandemic were a great idea.

                          Does that include police operations? I saw thousands of officers huddled together, smothering people in an effort to prevent the spread of a virus..

                          BLM protests? Casinos? Government meetings? Hundreds of people flocking to the shop to buy toilet paper?

                          So many examples where your narrative just falls apart because the rules were only enforced in a way that was politically convenient.

                          • +1

                            @SlavOz: We get it. You are obviously persecuted. So hard done by. It’s just not fair everyone is out to get you.

                      • @SlavOz: Government is incompatible with freedom. The bigger the government, the smaller the liberty. Democracy is just another form of totalitarism. Marx said of democracy: "The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to exploit and repress them."

                        Governments are never benevolent. They always seek to increase their power at the expense of the people. Why is something as harmless as smoking pot a crime? Why does refusing to take a vaccine make you a dangerous extremist?

                        The phrase used to cudgel you, "for the greater good", is typical totalitarian speak. The individual and their choices don't matter, only ideological purity.

                        • +3

                          @RefusdClassification: Have you got an alternative to our admittedly flawed democratic government system? Allowing any single ruling group to maintain power indefinitely isn’t good for anyone. No government at all does not support a society.

                          In all, I think Australia isn’t doing too badly. Are there better places? Probably. Are there worse places? Way too many.

                          • @Euphemistic: Well our system is pretty bad. It’s just better than all the rest.

                            That doesn’t mean we don’t need to be constantly on guard of political class overreach. No government should get away with arresting pregnant women at dawn in their kitchen in front of her children for thoughtcrime, for example.

                            I don’t agree with her views, but the kind of government that would do that should not get a single, solitary vote.

                        • @RefusdClassification:

                          Governments are never benevolent. They always seek to increase their power at the expense of the people.

                          If there was no government, then it would be a different rich private organisation doing the same thing, just a different label. Probably worst as there would be no one else to hold them accountable.

                          • @Ughhh: They weren’t saying no government, they were saying to not let it get too big. I would also say always work to limit its powers too.

          • +1

            @SlavOz: Genuinely thank you slavoz for being one of the few to be willing to engage with these people in the hope they might realise the government policies were not appreciated….

            Otherwise all the progressives would've re-elected liberal for their great covid policies right?

          • @SlavOz: This is quite true. Had to endure a millennial complain about insufficient taxation in Australia and insufficient government welfare only to then endure him complain about parents wanting to see him more than once a year.

        • +8

          I recall a bunch of SOz rants about lockdown preventing him from visiting his parents and then another stream of rants about vaccine passports preventing him from visiting his folks o/s. He keeps tripping up in his stories.

          • +5

            @[Deactivated]: I'm almost certain that they're under 18 and living with their parents. There seems to be a distinct lack of life experience. Actually just yesterday I was thinking about how he never comments on cost of living type threads just culture war and gaming threads but here we are…

            • -1

              @Cheaplikethebird: Sometimes, I reckon he's married with kids and just likes getting his 'Karen' on here

              • +3

                @[Deactivated]: No way he is married. Women are beneath him, you just need to read his misogynistic rants to see that. That coupled with the right wing conspiracy theory nutjobbery, my bet is on “incel”. It’s basically like 4chan is bleeding over into OzBargain via Slav’s account.

                • +5

                  @pegaxs: Incel is too obvious …..the whole Jordon Peterson hero worship along with a dash of fascist politics & the other usual fare is just not convincing.

                  But hey, SOz can be whatever they want to be on the interwebs ;)

        • Nothing, if you moved out in your 20s and came back when they needed looking after.

          A bit, if you've been there the whole time.

        • Maybe he was talking about his elderly cats?

      • +2

        Probably him and his 90 year old mum whom be still lives with

        You've got it the wrong way around. She lives with him.

        • All the above should be marked as off topic by a mod

      • -1

        what next…youre going to start calling him a virgin? grow up and stop being a bully for internet points

  • +2

    We had a fireplace at our old joint that saw a fair bit of use back in the day, but we don't have a fireplace in our current home. (Ironically, we do have a landline phone, though.)

    The thought of people having to ration or cut back on heating during cold winter months is pathetic in a first-world country so I won't be putting my trust in sensible energy policy keeping prices low.

    Agreed, and it's definitely a concern of mine. I'm more worried about the summer coming up though, for us. We're not out of the La Nina just yet, but with the price of electricity skyrocketing, air conditioning in the warmer months is also going to be a killer. At least with winter you can layer up or start fires to keep warm. In a heatwave, without fans or air-conditioning we're just completely cooked.

    • Summer: run AC during your heatwave off solar
      Winter: make sure your house is insulated, run AC heating in the day to warm up, house will stay warm at night

      If you really want to, invest in a battery or a two way charger for you EV when you get one

      Not that hard. All this energy crisis BS is just a decades long lack of investment by governments, it's due to a lack of caring about the issue and listening to the lobbies that want the status quo to be maintained and the price to go up

  • +25

    My neighbor. He (like most people in Australia) doesn't know how to use it properly so it makes more smoke than heat, which wind patterns cause to be directly driven down into my property and makes going opening any doors or windows from May to October intolerable, as well as making the clothes on the clothesline reek of smoke and filling the vented bathroom.

    I'm planning to have a word with him soon about it to get a jump on next year

    • +6

      I thought we had the same neighbour for a sec, but mines a single old lady.

      I used to like the smell of a campfire - but it's just so constant that I've been put off it now. The entire street stinks.

      She's a bit of a hippy so she probably thinks she's doing good for the environment because it's all "natural" - but all that smoke she's producing isn't good for the earth or for anyone else.

        • +40

          Smoke from wood fires is by far the least harmful substance you're exposed to when you go outside.

          Wood fire smoke is hightly concentrated particulate matter

          How do you honestly believe it could be the 'least' harmful substance ?
          Another 'fact' made up for seamingly no reason other than so you can make a definitive statement :/

        • +10

          The environment is not more important than fulfilling human needs.

          Yeah, until the environment is gone or damaged beyond repair for that human need greed.

      • +3

        She's a bit of a hippy so she probably thinks she's doing good for the environment because it's all "natural"

        She's probably oblivious, as most PITA's are. The problem I have is that all these people is their knowledge on fireplaces is based on a scene from some old movie set in england, with the fireplaces all lazily emitting white smoke from the tops of their chimneys.
        Not realizing that England regularly gets to below freezing, and the "white smoke" isn't smoke at all but steam.

        A properly working fireplace shouldn't emit more than a trace of smoke, same way a working car doesn't emit more than a trace of smoke. But to get to that stage requires work and planning. so obviously its too hard. And because they often believe it's so simple, good luck trying to educate them. Might as well be volunteering to show them how to use toiletpaper

        Add to that the 'slow combustion' fireplace that seems to be everywhere in Victoria. Worst invention ever. Man would I like to beat the guy who invented that until he couldn't walk

        • +5

          Slow combustion fires are unreal! Just need to use them properly- they need to get HOT first. Like roaring making lots of noise hot before the airflow is shut off. They work by enhancing secondary and tertiary combustion, driving efficiency way up.

          But if the hot box doesn’t get hot enough first, you only ever get primary combustion and smoke. Smoke is unburnt (wasted) fuel!

    • My neighbour has multiple chimneys and burns every single day of the year.

      Good luck with your word. I tried and she built another chimney.

      It’s not just wind, my neighbour burns bad wood and wet wood.

    • Tell him to buy dry aged firewood not cheap wet wood.

    • yeh ive got a neighbour like that too…

  • +10

    ridiculously cheaper than previous winters

    you are not taking into account the cost of pollution and the cleanup! Image every house in a capital city burnt wood for for heat every day of winter

    • +3

      We don't even have to imagine, the Germans lived it this past winter so the data for this should be available.

    • +8

      This is Australia; we should be burning coal. We apparently have lots of it.

      • You probably already know this but this was actually be a thing in Newcastle (prior to the 50s, ish), plenty of families would get it off the cart that came by for cooking/heating.

        Heard that the miners in Lithgow were given 1T a year as part of the salary package at one stage too. Was pretty smokey when lots of people used it.

    • Nobody seemed to mind during the industrial revolution!

      https://www.historytoday.com/sites/default/files/articles/le…

  • +10

    By fireplace I assume you mean a wood heater as opposed to an open fireplace which are horribly inefficient.

    Our house has full ducted reverse and zoned system but for 5 months of the year it doesn't get turned on. Over winter we exclusively use our wood heater. It burns 24/7 over the winter months and in the evenings either side of winter. We have an unlimited supply of hardwood on our property and I fall, cut and split the wood myself. I enjoy this process so it's not a chore. It keeps me fit over winter and my time is cheap - just like our winter electricity bills. It takes time and effort but the rewards are worth it. Wood heating is not for lazy or time poor f#@kers.

    Once the house is up to temperature you just can't beat wood heating (hydronic is probably better but very expensive to install). We spend winter evenings watching tv in tracksuit pants and t-shirts. The house rarely falls below 24 degrees especially when I get that grey box burning. It's so friggin' cosy I wouldn't have it any other way.

    • +16

      Sounds fantastic.

      Woodheaters/fireplaces are incredible expensive to run if you had to buy firewood.

      • +3

        You don't have to buy the firewood though.

        I easily kept mine well fed for four winters using only wood sourced for free from around the neighborhood.

        Toasty warm inside the whole house, all winter, for free.

      • Wood is free from mitre 10

    • Wood heating is not for lazy or time poor f#@kers.

      I'm time poor and also value air quality. Plus I don't currently have access to free fuel. I do love a fire now and then but not 24/7 through winter.

    • +1

      We have an unlimited supply of hardwood on our property

      No you don't

  • +2

    I'll reframe from my usual nonsense replies to your post as I think you've raised a good question.

    My new place has a gas fireplace though it's pretty terrible in terms of heating the place. The air con unit is better though still takes forever to warm the place and never has that fireplace feel to it.

    I'm in 2 minds whether to spend money on better heating or better insulation in my older home.

    • +11

      Insulation 100%. Don't worry about replacing your air con until it dies, that would be a waste. Better insulation will fix the problem until then though. And still provide benefits even when you've replaced the aircon. Gas fireplace is just for ambiance rather than serious heating

    • +1

      Also draft, that the real thing that brings in the cold if your house is sealed well and insulated. Your house will warm up quickly.

  • +1

    Don’t have one in my apartment but my hunting cabin has a nice little potbelly stove.

  • +4

    If the crypto guy was still here, he would say he uses his gpus to keep himself warm.

  • +1

    yes use a fireplace, and have 5 years of wood on hand

  • +5

    Fireplace, no.
    Combustion heater, yes
    .

  • +6

    Light a fire for a man and he is warm for the night. Light OP on fire and he is warm for the rest of his life.

    • +1

      Are you OK?

      • +3

        Pretty good. Just making a joke at OP's expense who I assume is a troll most of the time judging by their post history.

        • +1

          I don't think it's trolling when they're genuinely held beliefs.

          • +1

            @us3rnam3tak3n: I think you're right but it worries me if someone is genuinely like that. So I like to hope.

  • +1

    The real question is why is your insulation and window/door seals so bad that you're forced to use any form of heating?

    • +7

      Australian building standards are behind the times and look medieval compared to Europe

  • -5

    Choose a properly north-facing property with nothing blocking the sun, and you won't need a fireplace, nor ducted heating. Also won't need air conditioning in summer.

    • +2

      yeh rubbish, my property is north facing and my balls are like metal during winter, and i live in qld.

    • +1

      .I live in the Sydney basin, but 58k from Sydney. Yep. North facing house. Fully and properly insulated so please tell me how to keep my house warm in winter when mornings are 1 to 3 degrees and how to cool to keep it cool in 38 to 45 degree days in summer.

      • +1

        … so please tell me how to keep my house warm in winter when mornings are 1 to 3 degrees

        Install a fire place

    • Lol what a load of rubbish.

      I have a north facing house, and yeah, the north facing rooms get good sun - but that is it. Not going to keep you warm in winter.

      • Funny, it works for me. It probably depends on the house design, window size, aspect, surroundings, etc. I get sun all day (literally all day) in my living room, main bedroom, and study, and it keeps the house warm even at night during winter.

    • +1

      This works ok when you have nice sunny days. Only trouble is it gets a little too cold at night and then you have the dark times in winter with not much sun for a week.

    • Bs. My 10yo 6 star energy rated house is north facing and it’s cold in winter and hot in summer.

      Had I know how little the star ratings helped, I would have paid extra for double glazing and more insulation

      • I'm in the same boat. My 8 year old house is supposed to be 6 star but it very clearly is not.

        It's a project home built on spec. I suspect the building surveyor was chosen by the builder and money changed hands (the building industry has always been thoroughly corrupt). Fortunately the house seems structurally sound.

    • My north facing windows warm half the house in winter. Have multiple small split systems with solar to balance it. Have not been here through a summer yet but anticipate using the split systems more.

  • +24

    Where is the "No, and I wish other inconsiderate arseholes in my neighborhood would stop using theirs as well…" poll option??

      • +28

        They have a right to be warm, so don’t play that pathetic shit card, you know very well that wasn’t what I was referring to. My daughter suffers from asthma, so their right to “stay warm” doesn’t trump my daughters right to f@#king breathe

        No, it’s inconsiderate that they burn dog shit or unseasoned timber and fill my house full of their filthy f@#king wood smoke. I am pretty sure they would not appreciate me backing one of our trucks up to their driveway and belching black smoke all over and into their house.

        These wood burning arseholes blanket the entire street with smoke and it gets into my house no matter how much I try and seal against it, it still permeates through. It never affects the arsehole burning the fire, because the chimney is on their roof and the wind carries the smoke away and onto the surrounding houses.

        But I could have guessed you were one of these “iT’z mUh RiGhTz tO sTaY wArM!1!!1!” types even if it means the hospitalisation of others that have no choice. Ironic how you complain about people being at the hospital for no reason, yet are happy to put people there… or how Covid vaccinations are wasting nursing resources, but happy to burn wood and send my child into emergency for an asthma attack… but you know, so long as you get to keep “warm”…

        I have never met one person who has a wood fireplace in their house that isn’t an entitled prick about it.

        • +6

          I have never met one person who has a wood fireplace in their house that isn’t an entitled prick about it.

          I'll be your first if ever we meet. My nearest neighbour is 1km away. 👍

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