Living

Published: Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Modernizing the inefficient wood-burning fireplace

A new unit can dramatically boost heating efficiency, according to Sooty Goose Fireplace Shop

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A wide, open hearth offers plenty of comfort and ambience, especially on a chilly winter night. As for heat — it probably offers less than you think.

Peter Rasi, who owns Paso Robes’ Sooty Goose Fireplace Shop, specializes in replacing inefficient fireplaces with superheating efficient ones.

Rasi learned the fireplace business from the inside out. A former General Telephone utility lineman, he quit his job in 1988, relocated to Cambria from Southern California, and bought a chimney sweep business that he now co-owns with daughter Peri Rasi.

He changed the name of the business to Sooty Goose and began to offer fireplace sales and installation. In 2001, the business relocated to Paso Robles. By 2002, he’d had enough of chimney sweeping and discontinued the service to focus solely on sales.

Today, the shop sells and installs stoves, fireplaces and inserts that run on wood, pellets, gas and electricity. It also sells and installs mantels.

Although Sooty Goose does carry a few decorative fireplaces, most of the units are furnace-rated, meaning they are highly efficient at heating the home. Rasi’s wood and pellet fireplaces are around 75 percent efficient, meaning 75 percent of the unit’s heating capacity is returned to the home. Gas units are even more efficient.

In contrast, old open-hearth wood-burning fireplaces range from 15 percent efficient to minus 15 percent. Yes, that means your old fireplace could actually be making your house colder, even when it’s burning.

“You’ve got this 3-foot-by- 24-inch hole in your house and once your chimney gets going, it’s just a direct line sucking air right out of your house,” said Rasi.

Most fireplaces manufactured today are designed to burn with closed doors. What’s more, county building codes have prohibited the installation of open hearth fireplaces since 1994.

Fortunately, the solution is a fairly simple one. A masonry fireplace can be outfitted with an insert that operates on wood, pellets, gas, or even electricity. The cost is relatively low — gas inserts start at around $2,200 installed, and the entire process takes around two hours.

Many tract home owners are also in the market for a fireplace overhaul. Some pay more than $5,000 to completely replace their nonheating decorative gas units. But Rasi offers another option. A pellet-burning insert starts at $3,000, can vent through any exterior wall or ceiling, and takes just a few hours to install.

If you’re mourning the demise of the roaring, open hearth, Rasi offers reassurance that there are still ways to make your new fireplace feel plenty homey. Faux brick interiors offer a traditional feel. Face options include Old World styles and materials, like hand-hammered wrought iron. Even gas units have come a long way with more realistic log sets and flames.

“We’re selling a lot more gas because of the convenience,” said Rasi. “It’s a lot easier to go click than to haul in a bunch of logs and deal with the dirt and the bugs.”

So it seems that old-fashioned fireplaces aren’t so hard to part with after all — once you warm up to the idea.

Sooty Goose Fireplace

Shop is at 525 Pine Street

Suite C, Paso Robles; phone

239-1964.