Heating With Wood

Using A Fireplace Wood Stove To Save Firewood And Heat Your Home

A good fireplace wood stove will save you well over a cord of firewood per year and easily heat your home. It will also add a wonderful atmosphere to the area and give your family a great gathering place to connect.

The old fashioned open fireplace may smell nice and heat the front of your body, but, in reality, they actually rob your house of heat. More heat goes up the chimney than is radiated from the fire into the room, thus making it a very poor choice for heating.

By installing a high quality fireplace insert you will not only be comfortable, but you will save money on your heating bills as well. There are several very good companies that offer beautiful and long lasting inserts.

Vermont Castings makes the Sequoia Catalyic EWF 36-A insert, which is 73% efficient! Just try getting a fireplace to reach this level of performance. It is capable of heating a 2,500 square foot area and uses a minimum of fuel in the process.

They also make the Non-Catalytic Stratton which can heat an area up to 1,500 square feet and has an efficiency rating of 68%. This fireplace insert is of cast iron and beautiful to view.

The Hampton HI200 Small Wood Insert is a cast iron stove that holds a fire for up to 8 hours, heats up to 2,000 square feet, and is up to 77% efficient. This little insert offers a lot for the money and will keep your home warm and cozy while saving firewood.

Hampton also has the HI300 Medium Wood Insert cast iron fireplace wood stove. This a beautiful stove that fits right in an existing fireplace and adds a touch of practical elegance to your home, while heating it comfortably.

The Lopi Republic 1750i is a heavy gage steel fireplace insert that fits into standard fireplace openings. It comes with firebrick lining for safety and rollers to make it easy to move into place. You can easily transform your inefficient fireplace into a source of practical wood heat for your home.

When looking at buying a fireplace wood stove you need to determine a few things before purchasing. It is important to get the right size stove, otherwise you will be too hot or too cold. Figure out how many square feet you wish to heat and consider the factors such as windows, insulation and type of wood you will be burning.

Using an oversize insert is also dangerous from the standpoint of chimney fires. This is because you will tend to dampen the fire and cause the wood to smolder and have incomplete combustion. The gases rising up the chimney will solidify in the chimney and later and burn like a torch, once they are ignited, causing the chimney fire.

You need to look into fireplace accessories as well. You must have a stove thermometer, ash pan, small shovel for ashes, and a good poker to move coals and wood around. A pair of fireplace gloves is a good idea as well. Make sure to have a fireproof floor covering in front of the fireplace wood stove as well to catch any stray sparks or coals.

If you have your own gas chainsaw, chains, firewood shed, do your own chain sharpening and cut your own wood, you will greatly appreciate the reduced wear and tear on your equipment. A highly efficient stove saves in every way.