Fireplaces
Like many people in the US, we have a fireplace but rarely use it. Those of you who are accustomed to fires of one sort or another, whether coal/wood or gas in a fireplace with some sort of chimney, may not realize that you can't combine central heating with a fireplace. The fireplace sucks the heat out of the rest of the house and causes the furnace to run extra hard and wastes fuel frightfully; if you turn off the central heat (by turning the thermostat way down) the rest of the house gets cold and there are hardly any houses in the US (other than mansions) that have more than 1 or 2 fireplaces. As a result, if you like a fire now and then, as we do, you only light the fireplace in spring or fall, when the central heating isn't needed much, to take the chill and damp off the house. If you light it for atmosphere in cold weather, you pay dearly for it. Also, in the U.S., wood is used almost exclusively; coal can be bought, but hardly anyone does; and firewood is quite expensive -- $5.00 to 8.50 for a bundle that will last for one evening, and it's usually low quality.
