Is a furnace or fireplace more efficient?

• A fireplace is 17% efficient. With a blower unit installed in the firebox, that increases to 35%. Nearly any furnace will beat that. Hands down. by lorenzo

• Most of the heat in a fireplace goes straight up the chimney. Some heat, however, will radiate directly in front of it. The best way to get heat from wood is to burn in a EPA rated wood stove. Efficiencies vary with the brand/type (eg. catalytic vs. non-catalytic wood stoves). An inefficient gas furnace will still, in all likelihood, be much more efficient than a fireplace. by Bre

• Most new furnaces are 80% efficient or more. With a fireplace, you won't get 40% efficiency. In other words, a BAD furnace is at least twice as efficient as a GOOD fireplace. by STEVEN F

• Go with a good wood stove, even an outdoor wood burning boiler if zoning allows it in your area, Thats what i have and its VERY effiecient, fireplaces look pretty when you have guests, but pulls a draft through your entire house from every nook and cranny and pulls all your heat up the flue. And thanks to bush oil is far to expensive, where im at i can get a cord of hard firewood for 100bucks by Joe

• Im not sure where these other percentages are coming from. WP&L Energy sent out a newsletter that said using your wood fireplace will make your furnace heat bill go up 10%. According to their study Wood Fireplaces use more heat than they produce, they operate at negative 10% efficiency. So hands a furnace is better to heat with. If you are serious about heating with wood a wood stove or insert with blower is about the only option, but the $3K and up price tag is a bit daunting for some. I have seen plenty of retrofit heat exchanger/blower contraptions and they kick out some heat, but they dont make up for the heated air the fireplace sucks from your home. You have to have a good free wood supply to make it worth the investment in a stove or insert. by HalfHandy2