It is better to safely cover your fireplace and not use it than to risk trying a solution that could start a fire. Source: work at a gas/wood fireplace distributor & builder contractor. The pilot light is as high as it will go. More traditional B-vented fireplaces work by drawing air from the room before expelling it through the chimney â however, direct vented fireplaces are even better. They provide you more than 70% heat output, whereas your wooden fireplaces give you only 20-30% heat output. However, one thing you could try is to place a heavy cast-iron grate in front of the fire. Question: My home is only 4-5 yrs old, and we have a gas fireplace. Your hearth provides an inviting glow and can become the center of a room. It is important to use a glass or ceramic door that can withstand the heat of the fire. A fireback is a flat piece of metal—traditionally cast in iron—that sets against the back wall of the fireplace, either on the floor of the fireplace or on feet to keep it in place. Convection fireplace heating comes when air around the jacket of the insert is warmed and rises up and out of the fireplace. A larger fireplace will allow for a larger fire, which will generate more heat. Gas fireplaces and fireplace inserts allow less air to be lost outside of the house and are made to operate more simply and cleanly than wood fireplaces. However, Bio Ethanol burners do not produce the same amount of heat and flame as a wood burning or gas fireplace. Once your fire is burning, you can close the flue to allow only a small amount of air through the flue and out of the house. Depending on how well insulated your house is, Ruppa says a 40,000 BTU fireplace would be more than enough to heat a large living or family room. A fireback is a cast-iron reflector that is placed on the back wall of the fireplace, behind the fire grate. Of all the many inventions over years to return more heat from a wood or gas fireplace, the fireback is the most cost effective. An antique style, decorative “fire back” also helps. As a result, we do not recommend the use of fans or blowers with our fireplace sets. If you’re considering Vent-Free gas logs, but your fireplace could use a bit of a cosmetic facelift, then a Ventless insert is a great solution. This is essentially installing a wood stove inside the masonry fireplace. Stuff You’ll Need To Survive A Winter Power Outage, Raising Ducks: Easier Than Chickens And More Fun Than Rabbits …, The Off-Grid ‘Survival Secret’ To Warm Feet, The 3 Best Ways To Protect Your Garden Soil From Storm Erosion, Here’s The Quickest Way To Grow Indoor Food This Winter. Exercise prudence every time. We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. A fireback will not make a lot of difference on its own, as the heated air still needs to be flowing into the room, but it will help if you are able to control the direction of the airflow. packages that are easier to store and transport than big stacks of cord wood. The problem is that most heat … Direct Vent Gas Fireplace FAQ Video | Heat & Glo a34stb1lfd3lwg0u20g2r4da Many of them involve fans and vents and considerable expense. The larger the room the fireplace is in, the less likely it is to remain very warm, as the heat from the fire dissipates over the extended area. These five are denser, weigh more per cord and generate more British Thermal Units (BTUs) of heat. Typically they are made of either solid cast-iron or stainless steel. If it's a gas log fireplace: There are 2 types of gas logs that you can have in your fireplace: vented & vent-free. This is a heavy metal plate placed in the back of the fireplace. But if the heat produced by the fireplace is the whole point, converting with a gas insert is a good way to keep money from going up the chimney and make your fireplace more efficient. 8 Foolproof Ways To Heat Your Home When The Power’s Out, 7 Important Steps To Prepare Your Chickens For Fall And Winter, 8 Herbal Teas That Will Keep You Healthy All Winter Long. How to Get More Heat From Gas Fireplace – … Heating with a gas fireplace creates wonderful ambiance. Turn off the gas and remove the tube from the tap. One of the easiest ways to get more heat out of your builder grade fireplace is to add a blower to it. Additionally, the design of the fireplace will impact how much heat it emits. The following piece will take a closer look at a few of the ways in which you can make your gas fireplace more efficient. Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site. Get in touch with the team at My Fireplace today to find out more about our extensive range of gas and wood fireplaces, which include the Jotul F 370 as well as Jotul GF 370 DV. Refined, Traditional Gas Fireplace Insert: the Heat & Glo Escape. If you have any concerns, consult an expert before lighting a fire. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website. Tighten the screw in the inlet tap again. There are various contraptions designed to return more of a wood or gas fireplace's heat into the room and stanch the flow of that precious heat from escaping up the chimney. Turn on the gas and take a pressure reading. Fireplace inserts are readily available and will increase the heating potential of your fireplace while reducing the heat loss through the fireplace when not in use. The cost of installation is really less compared to that of a wooden fireplace. Glass or ceramic doors that can be closed once the fire is burning will prevent the flow of air from the room into the fireplace, and allow more air around the fireplace to be heated. First, the heated air is siphoned directly from the house through the chimney flue. Watch the video here to learn more about Heat & Glo Direct Vent gas fireplaces, why they are so popular, and how to operate these models. Deluxe features like an illuminated ember bed, accent lighting and full-function remote make this traditional style fireplace … Less Fuel, More Heat. If you want more heat then buy a patio heater, sink your gas pit in the ground and or use real wood. Second, while the heated air rushes from the house, it creates negative pressure in the house and contributes to cold air leaking into the house through any other openings. These items do not make a massive difference; however, you will be able to feel it working once you have it installed. Passive heat exchange systems are simple in principle: The fire rests on a tubular grate that draws cool air from the room and channels it back into the room. Using silica sand in a propane fireplace can limit the amount of propane that rises to the surface and decrease the size of the flames. Gas fireplaces have become increasingly popular across Canada. March 31, 2015. Blowers are temperature controlled, so it will only kick on and circulate the air as needed. Keep space between the firewood as you add more, and maintain a bright, hot fire – don’t let it smolder. how much heat does a gas fireplace put out? Some heat exchange systems have blowers to aid the convection; ensure yours will not blow sparks or embers into the room. Swapping a standing pilot light for an electric on-demand ignition is one of the easiest ways to improve gas fireplace efficiency. There are a few causes to fireplace inefficiency. If you want to generate heat in your wood-burning fireplace, you are going to need to make some changes. Regardless of the solution you choose, keep in mind that your first concern is safety. Most ceiling fans have a switch so they can run clockwise or counterclockwise. Gas logs, on the other hand, transform what is essentially a heater to make it look like a fireplace. Leaving a gas fireplace running too long can increase the risk of fire or dangerous fumes. Sorry for typos etc. Last, there is little heat reflecting from the fireplace masonry into the room. Fortunately, there are fixes for each of these problems, which you can use separately or together. The best fireplace grate uses laws of physics to direct more heat out into the room, less up the chimney compared to conventional fireplace grates. Glass or ceramic doors that can be closed once the fire is burning will prevent the flow of air from the room into the fireplace, and allow more air around the fireplace to be heated. Fireplace doors also can improve the safety of your fireplace and allow you to attend less to the fire. There are two options available here: you can either invest in a damper that fits inside of your chimney, or you can go with the more traditional top mounted chimney cap damper. The length of time a gas fireplace can be left on depends on the type of gas fireplace you have. Compared to woodstoves, fireplaces are extremely inefficient: Fireplaces frequently only have 10 percent efficiency, versus 60 percent or more efficiency from a wood stove. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media. A Direct Vent insert is a sealed system, so it completely eliminates the heat loss of other fireplace types. The well-appointed Escape FireBrick insert offers high-efficiency heating and impressive flames. You may be able to modify existing vents to draw in air from outside to feed the fire, thus preventing the vacuum effect of using air from inside the house. Burn the fire to heat the chimney or flue before adding more wood. Our mantel about our gas fireplace does the same thing. Gas fireplaces are categorized in a few different ways: B-vented which are quite efficient in terms of heat generation and direct vented which are even more efficient. Firebacks are essentially heavy sheets of cast iron that are placed behind your fire. You should close the damper as tightly as possible before smoke comes into the house. Utility bills are lower when they can turn down the thermostat on a central furnace and use the gas fireplace as a supplemental heat source. With heat exchange fans it can be similar as far as pushing soot into the room, but also they require electricity in the firebox and can be noisy. What is the difference between single speed versus variable speed furnace blowers. If your fireplace is well-designed, it will have a damper you can easily adjust to control the flow of air up the chimney. Nothing like real wood for heat. It exhausts gas outside your home and then brings in fresh air. What's more, they come in 20- and 40-lb. Burning pellets used to require a pellet stove, but New Hampshire-based Energex has created an add-on product, called Prometheus, that allows homeowners to convert any fireplace or wood-burning stove to pellets. For maximum efficiency, the fireback must be of comparable size to the back of the firebox. It does nothing to help prevent the mantel from getting overheated. For natural gas, look for an ideal pressure of 8 inches at the inlet tap or the pressure rating indicated in the manual. How to Get More Heat From Gas Fireplace – Details About Foxhunter Electric Fire 2000w Home Flame Effect Gas Fireplace Look 3 Designs. Can I install a flat screen LCD / LED TV above a gas fireplace. With a trusted solution for home heating, however, you will soon be enjoying more than a pretty view from your fireplace. These sheets of iron reflect heat back into your room while simultaneously protecting the masonry behind the fireplace. It is important to use a glass or ceramic door that can withstand the heat of the fire. Discover how easy it is to start and maintain a hotter fire. Dampers are metal plates that are placed in your chimney in order to regulate airflow. Gas fireplaces are highly efficient. Instead, there are a few other solutions for generating more heat from your set. Certainly, it isn’t worth your while to chop 100 logs to get 10 logs worth of fuel. This can be a simple modification, depending on the construction of your fireplace, but will not make a large difference in efficiency. They’re simple to use when compared with the other alternative – wood fireplaces. Tweaking a fireplace to be more efficient involves combating both of those problems. Highly efficient natural gas fireplace inserts, for example, can heat up to 1,000 square feet of living space at low cost. Contact: Editor (at) OffTheGridNews.com Phone: 815-902-6086 2200 Illinois Route 84 Thomson, Illinois 61285. Reliability. A Fireback is a metal plate that stands at the rear of the fireplace. How to Get More Heat From Gas Fireplace – Image Result for Built In Log Burner with Logs Underneath In. If yours is like this, then most of the heat will escape thru the flume. My question is (actually I have two), is their any way to make the flame larger to produce more heat? The better the heat exchanger technology, the better the fireplace heat. Dampers help reduce heat loss that would ordinarily occur through your chimney. The vented logs require your fireplace flume to be open while the fire is on. In the winter, switch your ceiling fan to run clockwise. Written by: Angela Counter How-To, Trending Stories 0.WP-PrintIcon{margin-bottom:-3px} Print This Article, 6 Simple Ways To Generate More Heat From Your Fireplace. The second feature for enjoying efficient fireplace heat comes through convection heat. However, most masonry fireplaces are designed primarily for decoration and provide little heat. Featured in news stories on CBS, in Time, Scientific American, New York Times. Gas fireplaces have become increasingly popular across Canada. Depending on the type of fireplace you have, it may actually waste more energy than it creates throughout the season. The blower helps add heat to the room because it circulates the heated air from the fireplace throughout the room. This of course depends on the heat output of the fireplace to begin with of course. They are designed to … Theyâre simple to use when compared with the other alternative â wood fireplaces. Do not install anything in your chimney or fireplace that will endanger your safety during use. The best efficiency solution for a fireplace is a full insert. ‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Bio-Ethanol Fireplaces are great because you can put them in so many places you couldn’t put a real fireplace, you also don’t need to worry about ventilation with Bio-Ethanol. How to get more Heat from Your Gas Fireplace. Working at over 85% efficiency, you canât go wrong with one of these fantastic home additions. The fire will be pretty, but may not produce too much heat for you. Third, the rush of air over the fire makes the wood burn more quickly. You may be thrilled to have a fireplace in your home. Do not stack large gapped rocks too high because they can trap gas down in them and they will blow out when lighting it. This will redistribute the rising head through the room, allowing you to burn the fire lower and set the furnace to a cooler temperature. As far as blower fans go, I am of the opinion that they do more to move heat through the space then provide more heat or efficiency from the fireplace. Before doing that, though, ensure you use proper equipment and fireproof materials. They are designed to radiate more of the fire’s heat back into the room, making the fireplace much more efficient at heating. The iron will draw heat from the fire, and since it is sitting in the room instead of in the fireplace it will exchange heat with the room air more efficiently. New Year’s Resolution: Let’s Take Out Some Trash! To maintain proper airflow, regularly remove ashes from your fireplace, put them into a metal container with a cover and store it outdoors. Some types can be left on continuously, while others should only be operated for a few hours at a time. Note that these should not be used with glass doors, which may be unable to withstand the heated air venting directly on them. Nobody really wants to head out in the dead of winter to chop, stack and carry wood back to the house. Nobody really wants to head out in the dead of winter to chop, stack and carry wood back to the house. Freestanding screens are also available and will serve a similar purpose; ensure they are safely handled to prevent breakage. The cast iron or iron and steel box should fit securely in the masonry fireplace, and the entire chimney should be lined for maximum efficiency and safety. This will act as your heat sink as well as restrict the airflow somewhat into the fireplace. The iron absorbs heat from the fire and reflects it back into the room; it will also store heat after the fire is out and continue to radiate for some time. – Doresoom Dec 19 '11 at 15:10 We have a similar heat shield to your brass one, but its color matches our fireplace. Many logs are made of ceramic materials and have vented openings from which the flame from the gas burners rise.