Losing Heat From Your Fireplace
Do you want to increase efficiency while lowering your heating and cooling bills? A Gas Fireplace insert is a great solution. Unlike wood burning fireplaces, gas fireplace inserts offer a sealed combustion system. A sealed combustion system means 100% of the air needed for the fireplace comes from a vent pipe from outside your home. This is why gas fireplace inserts save money and are becoming so popular.
Simply put, this system eliminates the loss of heat that is common with a traditional chimney system. Up to 85% of the heat that is generated now stays in your house. As a result, your home stays warmer and you use less utilities.
Why Gas Fireplace Inserts Save Money
How much heat loss are you really experiencing from an open wood burning masonry fireplace ?. Heat from burning wood is about 20% radiant and 80% hot gases. That means most of the effective heat from an open fireplace is radiant heat and 90% of the heat from a wood burning fireplace goes up the chimney. Even a well-designed and constructed fireplace is only about 10% as efficient as a home heating unit or efficient gas insert.
Since hot air rises and pressurized cool air is always looking for a way to escape your home, a traditional masonry fireplace even when not operating has a negative impact on your utility bill. When burning the fireplace the amount of heat loss from your home can be significant. Wood requires large quantities of “makeup” air for proper combustion. This means a properly-operating fireplace will draw from 200 to 600 or more cubic feet of air per minute up the chimney.
Combustion air for a fireplace is drawn from warm air inside the house. Cold outdoor air must infiltrate into the house and replace warm air being used to support the fireplace fire. A normal fire requires 400 cubic feet of air per minute. This draws the equivalent of all the air in a 15- by 20-foot room every six minutes. An operating fireplace is drawing all of the air out of a 15 by 20 foot room every six minutes therefore the furnace is working to heat the same amount of air just to keep the room temperature stable.
Reducing your utility bills
The solution is installing a natural gas or wood burning insert into your existing fireplace. The Alberta building code prohibits this if your existing wood burning fireplace is a zero clearance manufactured unit. If you are unsure of whether your fireplace was built on site or is manufactured inspect your chimney from the outside of your home. A clay flue protruding from the top of the chimney indicates a site built fireplace. A site built fireplace is eligible for installation of an insert. A chimney that has a metal cap is manufactured and is not eligible for retrofit.
Gas fireplace inserts save money and are often the most popular option when retrofitting an older masonry fireplace. The cost of operation and styles ranging from modern with glass and rock media to traditional log set make them an easy choice.
Finally, are you looking for a gas insert, a wood insert or just some good advice?. Drop by our showroom or request a quote by filling out the form below.
