Fireplace Cover

[BabyShark]

I have a fireplace in my living room that I fear is sucking a lot of heat out of the room and causing quite a bit of energy leakage.  Does anybody have any suggestions for something that will stop the leakage but still be easily removable if we actually want to use the fireplace?

[sabertooth3]

Glass fireplace doors will be helpful. You can use the fireplace but get a decent seal when you aren't. Home Depot, Amazon, Lowe's, etc. all have them.

[BabyShark]

The fireplace has glass doors on it already, but they don't seem to be sealed very well, maybe we should just go ahead and replace them...  I didn't even think of that.

[Frugal Lizard]

A home energy auditor suggested a black garbage bag with a small amount of insulation inside to stop up the gaps not sealed by the damper.  Eventually we installed an insert for a more efficient fire.  Garbage bag worked well.

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[Fishindude]

Fireplaces do suck a lot of heat out.  The only time you are gaining heat is when the fire is rip roaring.  When flames are low as it's building up and while it's smoldering out with damper open you are sucking heat out of the house.   Good glass doors that seal up tightly will help a bunch, but most still have a certain amount of air leakage around the perimeter, where doors meet, etc.

A good old open fireplace is sure a pleasure to sit around.  Just be mindful and close the doors when it's going out so it's not sucking out too much heat as it extinguishes.

[trollwithamustache]

In bachelorhood a blanket was placed over the fireplace doors and it worked just fine.

When the DearTroll came along and began to educate me on proper home décor a piece of plywood was cut to fit  painted the correct color and some window weather stripping put around the edges to seal it up tight. This was not an inset unit, so the doors where hinged on the front to open all the way out. (and most definitely didn't seal well at all)

[AMandM]

A home energy auditor suggested a black garbage bag with a small amount of insulation inside to stop up the gaps not sealed by the damper.

Could you explain where you put the bag?  Do you stuff it up the chimney above the damper?

[Frugal Lizard]

We closed the damper first before stuffing the bag up there.  You could see the  just barely.  It was a little bigger than a throw cushion.  But it was completely obvious it was there when you were building a fire but not so noticeable when using the living room.

[AlanStache]

A home energy auditor suggested a black garbage bag with a small amount of insulation inside to stop up the gaps not sealed by the damper.  Eventually we installed an insert for a more efficient fire.  Garbage bag worked well.

good idea, will be doing that after work!

[Linea_Norway]

Our fire place has it's own air canal (breathing canal) from outside. It is placed below the fireplace. This is the only way to not suck warm air out of your house.

[Fishindude]

Our fire place has it's own air canal (breathing canal) from outside. It is placed below the fireplace. This is the only way to not suck warm air out of your house.

This will help, but not entirely cure the problem.
I wide open fireplace is still going to draw air out of the room.

[AMandM]

Thanks, FrugalLizard!