Possum Lodge Skunk Works
Possum Lodge: The lodge from The Red Green Show. A handyman (or woman's) paradise where if it ain't broke, you're not trying and duct tape fixes everything.
Skunk Works: A pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program. Originally a nickname based on the "Skonk Oil Factory" from Lil' Abner, the Skunk Works is the [unofficial] name of Lockheed's research and development arm. The Skunk Works has been responsible for numerous technical innovations, especially pertaining to aeronautics.
What's the Possum Lodge Skunk Works?
This community is dedicated to the best examples of DIY engineering. To the handyman (or handywoman) in all of us. Maybe you're proud of your creation or maybe you're serving up a cautionary tale. Whether mechanical, electrical, or architectural, if you've built something to make your life easier, or just because you could, no matter if it belongs in the Skunk Works hall of fame or in an episode of the Red Green Show, we want to see it.
Rules
- Posts must be about a DIY project that is intended to serve a meaningful utility function. Posts asking for advice on a project are also allowed.
- DIY projects posted must be your own or credit must be given to the creator.
- Must represent a genuine attempt at success. This is not diWHY.
- Be excellent to each other. If you've never made a glaring mistake and felt like a complete idiot afterwards, this is probably not the place for you.
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I don't get why fireplaces don't have some sort of radiator fins to get more heat from the chimney into the room.
...used to be masonry fireplaces were a thing: once that thermal mass heated up, it would radiate for DAYS...
The average fireplace is probably only about 10 - 15% efficient. That's before you factor in the impact of the draft on the conditioned air space in your home. Ours fireplace draws extremely well. If we ran it with the doors open it would suck the air out of the house faster than it could heat it. Fortunately it has a fresh air intake from outside but which helps minimize the air drawn from the living space.
These days we just stay cold because electricity is too expensive.
Our parents were so fucking smart to decide hearths should be obsolete.
...builders cut construction costs; modernist fashion aside, buyers weren't crying out for cheap sheet-steel fireboxes...
I'd imagine even with those the majority of the heat still just shoots out the top. There needs to be something that captures the heat/cools the air and dumps it back into the house. Sort of similar in concept to a condensing natural gas furnace (apart from the bit about converting it to water, just that it captures more heat).
https://www.hvac.com/expert-advice/what-is-a-condensing-furnace/
Most fireplaces are just for looks, and don't heat much at all. Wood stoves work a lot better. I think a cooler chimney would increase creosote build-up and negatively affect draft.
Does creosote build up in natural gas fireplace chimneys?
No, just wood.