Is a fireplace a safe heat source for a house in the woods?

Since you haven't built yet, you have a lot of opportunity to set the house up to be ready for whatever the weather throws at you, and you'll be insulating to modern standards which is a big help keeping warmish when the power goes out.

Get a woodstove if you're going to have a chimney at all, and put it in your main living area which is where you'll want the heat. Fireplaces are very inefficient. If you have to buy or chop wood, it will be a lot less expense and trouble to keep a woodstove supplied. A woodstove will keep the house warm overnight, a fire in a fireplace will be burnt out very quickly and isn't as safe since it can spark into the house. You can leave a woodstove burning while you go out once it's burning well. An open fire should be watched pretty closely. A spark arrester on the chimney will do a lot to keep sparks from flying around, but as a general thing they don't get far from the chimney, maybe 15 feet up, before burning out. They're more likely to land on your roof before they get to the trees. You can always have a few branches trimmed if you still don't like the look of things after it's all built, or have the whole tree taken down and use it in the stove. A properly installed and operated woodstove doesn't put many sparks out the chimney. I don't think you have to worry about it. Besides, in winter in the Pacific Northwest it's hardly every dry enough to let any fires start.

There's propane for back-up heat. Many people use those gas fireplaces for shoulder season heat. They certainly put out enough to take the chill off but probably won't keep the place really warm in cold weather.

Depending on your situation, it might be smart to get a generator. They make some pretty quiet ones these days though the quieter ones can be pricey. Fuel consumption will depend on its size. Many people put them inside an insulated shed a little way from the house to cut down on noise. Of course, you need to keep fuel around for one, and it can't sit around forever so be prepared to put it in your car instead once in a while and buy some fresh. Have an electrician, while you're building, set up the wiring so you can just switch to the generator when you need to. That way, you can make sure the power gets to where you really need it, such as to a heater or whatever it will take so your pipes don't freeze, so you can have basic lighting, maybe a radio, fridge or freezer operating, without running cords all over. It's much safer, too, to have the generator wired in. Also, if you anticipate frequent or long power outages, keep water around where it won't freeze, enough to drink and to flush the toilets if not to have a wash in. I have two bathtubs and try to keep one full of water in winter, since if I have no power my well pump won't work. I buy bottled water for drinking and cooking. I can also collect rainwater from gutter downspouts. Make sure when you build that your water pipes are well insulated or run where they can get exposure to heat inside the house. With a long power outage in cold weather, frozen pipes really add insult to injury.

I used to live in a place with frequent, though usually short, power outages. With the woodstove and candles I could get through several days without discomfort. In fact, when the power came back on it sometimes felt disappointingly like coming back to the real world. Keep a few good flashlights around, and lots of extra batteries. The best I've found for reliability is Mag-lite. They last years. I went through half a dozen cheap ones in less than a year before finding that out. Stanley makes an LED flashlight that can be stood on legs and has a swivel head, very handy for standing lighting. Headlamps are very useful for when you need light and two hands free. Candles(Ikea is a good source of plain cheap candles) can make a huge difference, but of course you have to be very safety-conscious when using them. I got wall sconces for candles, so they couldn't be knocked over, and candlesticks should be as stable as you can find. I have some heavy pewter Mexican ones that I like very much. My woodstove was a cookstove so I was all set for cooking, but I also have a 2 burner campstove that runs on butane canisters. It can be used indoors for as long as it takes to boil a pot of water though I always crack a window open.

Then there's the phone. Modern phones won't work when the power is out, so I got an old one that only needs to be plugged into a phone jack to work, and keep it around just in case. Phone lines rarely go down with the power, I forget why. A cell phone won't work inside my house and I don't want to make all my phone calls out on the porch in the cold, and anyway they need re-charging.

As winter and power outage season approach, make sure you have all the stuff you need. Stock up on candles, batteries, fuel, whatever. Don't run short on any food you consider essential. When there's a windstorm predicted, I always do a last minute check, an

Well built and maintained fireplaces are safe to use but not very efficient for heating.

Wood stoves are a little better.

Pellet stoves are very popular these days burning pellets made from sawdust but most require some electricity to run. They are very efficient.

A generator is a good idea too. There are some pretty quiet models and the can be kept in an sheltered area near the house. You can have a easy hook up jack and balance transfer switch installed to make it easy to hook up when the power goes out..

After spending 6 days with no electricity after a tropical storm (and I live 10 miles from the Capital and White House), we kept two refrigerators, a sump pump, furnace for hot water, the bedroom AC unit for night time sleeping, and a TV with DirecTV running with a medium sized 5.5 kilowatt model. It uses about 5 - 6 gallons of gas a day. 6 days is a long time without electricity.

-Brian

The heat from a fireplace comes from Infrared radiation - that is heat rays that are directly radiated from the flame to your body.

The fireplace is not meant to heat the air in the room. That is why the hot air from the flame can rise through the chimney and not detract from the direct heating effect.

To avoid causing a fire, put a screen in the chimney which prevents large burning embers from escaping.

Rather than depend on wood, why not get a propane burner to be used in case of emergency?

A large skylight will allow the heat from the sun to warm the room naturally. Get some goosedown ski clothes which are the warmest clothing available. Putting cayenne pepper in your socks will keep your feet warm by stimulating capillary circulation.

I'd suggest a woodstove instead of a fireplace. The woodstove is more energy efficient. We have one in our house and it's wonderful. We don't even use our furnace since we can get wood in the summer and use it in the winter.

Our stove pipe has a screen on it to help prevent sparks. We have a tree very close to our house and have not seen a spark even come out of the top of the pipe.

Nothing like a great fire, a cup of cocao, flannel pjs and a good book!

Enjoy!

A fireplace will not keep you warm...a wood stove will work...just make sure your chimney is up to code and everything/everybody will be safe. You are obviously new to this, so learn about wood, how to start a fire, how to burn it properly so as not to create a buildup in the chimney, and what wood is best for each time of year. Generators will last anywhere between 8-12 hours before needed to be re filled (should be cooled before re filling). Generators are noisy...I lived a long time with both wood heat and a generator, giving me lots of experience with this. I do not like kerosene heaters..I do not feel they are safe enough, but that is just my opinion, and I know lots of people use them. Just learn about wood stoves to be safe, and please have a fire extinguisher in your cottage for your safety.

cap your chimney with a screen, im sure there is some sort of name for the device. Honestly, im out in the woods all the time, camp fireing and stuff and I couldn't even start a forest fire if I wanted to. You could always burn coal too.. very little ash

Generators can be quiet. Depends on the muffler. Our dope growing operation has not been discovered yet(3 years+)

they have caps for the chimney that will take care of that problem