A Couple FAQs
Can I Close the Doors on My Wood Burning Fireplace?
We get asked this question a lot. Closing the fireplace doors while the fire is burning creates a heat trap that tempered glass cannot withstand. Never close your fireplace doors while the fire is burning. While this may make you consider ceramic glass and it's higher heat resistance as an alternative, the experts at Brick-Anew agree that tempered glass is a safer option. Even if you get ceramic doors, you can't close them on a prefab fireplace due to national fire safety standards.
The experts at Fast Replacement Glass back our team up. They say, “Tempered glass can only withstand temperatures up to 400 degrees F…While wood burning fireplace doors are approved to accept tempered glass, other heating applications must have ceramic glass for their doors due to the high temperatures they emit.” If you have a wood stove and have to keep the door closed, ceramic glass is a good choice. For traditional fireplace doors, tempered glass is the right decision.
However, you can close the doors as the fire is dying down. You have to leave your flue open for a long time after a fire is done burning, or your room will smell of smoke the next day. Leaving the flue open all night means that ashes and cold air can blow into the room. As soon as the flames are gone, it is perfectly safe to close your fireplace doors. Smoke escapes up the flue, ashes and sparks are trapped in the firebox, and cold drafts are kept at bay by your doors.