How to Obtain More Heat From a Wood Burning Fireplace

Fuel your fire with dry wood to obtain more heat for your home. According to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, wood that is dried for at least six months, and preferably as long as nine months, is more efficient and gives off more heat. The Wood Heat Organization recommends using sugar maple, white oak, rock elm and beech woods, as they are among the highest in energy efficiency and burn hotter than green or wet woods.

Keep safety barriers such as glass doors or screens open while your fireplace is actively burning. While the barriers provide protection from the heat from a safety standpoint, they also block the radiant heat from warming your room. You'll get more heat in the immediate vicinity of the fireplace when the doors are open.

Install accessories such as a tube grate or a heat circulation duct in your existing fireplace to get more heat flowing into the rest of your home. Both of these devices pull the warm air from the fireplace and direct it into the room, making your heating system more efficient.

Put a fireplace insert into your original brick or masonry fireplace to obtain more heat. A fireplace insert can burn wood or run on gas, and usually includes fans that direct the warm air into your home instead of up your chimney. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality estimates that your fireplace can become about 40 percent more efficient when you use a wood burning insert.