Fireplace Safety

To Screen or Not To Screen: That Is The Question.

Fireplace safety has increased in importance recently.  Unfortunately, there have been too many incidents of children hands touching hot glass – and as such – new regulations are apparently currently in the works.  Some manufacturers have been proactive and have made screens standard on their fireplaces.  Some others, offer screens as an option.  However, even the fireplaces that come standard with screens provide the consumer with the option to remove them.

Unfortunately, although we try and recommend adding a screen to a fireplace installation when appropriate, most of our customers prefer the direct view of the fire.  Some screens are quite nice – whereas others, well, not so nice.  This is definitely a challenge for our industry.

Solution?

This past weekend I was working on my oven in my kitchen.  I noticed that the outside glass panel had slid down slightly so I took the door apart.  I was surprised to see that once I did – there were in fact 3 sheets of glass.  Maybe this is common knowledge, but I had no idea.

Fireplace Safety Proposal

Oven Door Safety Glass

The relevance?  Why can’t fireplaces have 2 or 3 sheets of glass?  This would allow the outside glass to be cool to the tough, while allowing for the blower system to circulate the air.

3 sheets of glass is not as nice as 1 – however – some customers would probably prefer this to a screen.

There must be a reason why it has not been done yet in our industry – but I can’t think of it.

If you have a current fireplace – please consider putting a safety screen in front of it. The risk of not doing it can be significant.

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