I hope everyone has had a great holiday season but it’s back to the grind again and I think we’ve all forgotten what winter should really be. With the temperatures so warm for this time of the year many have dismissed this winter as a lost season. Well, I assure you, it hasn’t even begun really. Remember as of this date, winter is only 3 weeks old. There’s lots of cold yet to come. Now let’s talk about something that’s affecting all of us and that’s oil prices. The current price is really taking its toll on a lot of us and this is where looking into alternative fuels for home heating is important. Alot of the manufacturers we deal with are going Green with their products to save fuel and also designing fireplaces that have a much higher solid state efficiency with a furnace rating. This means that it is costing less to burn and you’re getting more heat from the units. Remember that an airtight unit will always be more efficient than a traditional “open flame” fireplace. We also are carrying fireplaces that can have up to 2 zones of heat pumped into different rooms so you can conserve heat by not having the furnace kick on to reach some of those cold places in the house. Call us or come in and ask hoe we can help with getting a fireplace like this in your house.
For all of the woodburning fireplace people out there, you too can receive some benefits of your fireplace by utilizing it properly. First and foremost, you need to make sure you’ve had the chimney cleaned before the season began. Okay, with that said, to get the most out of your fireplace you need to start out with seasoned wood. That means you want to get wood that is NOT fresh cut but has been drying for at least a year. There are dealers that kiln dry wood and/or season it for 2 years before selling it to the public.
Secondly, pre-heat the flue. What does this mean? Well, it simply means that you want to create an updraft before you try to light the wood. To do this, after youv’e placed a couple of thin logs on the grate, roll a newspaper to make a small torch. Light the paper and hold it into the chimney for as long as you can hold it and then place it under the grate to ignite the wood. You can also use a hair dryer to create an updraft which happens to be a personal preference of mine. Okay, you’ve got your updraft and the wood has finally started to burn. Now is the time to close the doors to the fireplace. Yes, close them! Most people are under the impression that with the doors open the heat will come into the house when in fact you are pulling the room air into the fireplace and burning sending more than 65% of the household heat up the flue. The reason you are feeling alot of heat is because the fire is burnoing alot of oxygen and burning the wood at a fast rate. Basically allyou are doing is wasting fuel and losing heat. Glass doors are designed to keep household heat in the house where it belongs and because the glass is tempered, it will get hot, hold heat and radiate heat into the room.
Another great way to keeop the fire hot all night is to keep the coals going. This means you will need a poker to break the burned wood apart instead of just piling wood on to see more fire. This is also a big misconception people have and again all your doing is burning more fuel which does not equate to efficient heat. Once you’ve gotten a good pile of coals under the grate, you can keep a fire going all night long with just those coals. Placing another log on the grate and blowing the embers with a bellows will ignite the new log. The hot embers and coals will produce a comfortable amount of radiant heat that will last all night long.
I hope this helps people learn to use their fireplaces a bit more safely and efficiently. If you have any questions about woodburning feel free to call us @ 718-979-9191 or email us @ info@fireglow.com
your ads here (468x60) - after 1st post.
