Wood Burning Fireplace Inserts: See What You Are Missing
Pleasant childhood memories are among the best things to enjoy and savor. One of my favorite is relaxing next to the crackle of our blazing fireplace on a cold winter day. But my parents hated it. Why? The fireplace I enjoyed sucked most of the heat of the home out the open hearth and through the flue. Every year was an adventure to me: chimney fires! Oh boy! I loved the roar as the creosote in the chimney caught fire. In contrast, my parents remember the frantic dash outdoors to make sure that the roof—and neighboring homes—did not also go up in smoke. Besides, the warmth I felt was an illusion. I would guess that more than 90% of the heat from the burning logs exited the flue.
Too bad that energy efficient wood burning fireplace inserts were not available then. I would have preserved my memories and my parents would have preserved their hard earned money in the form of reduced heating costs. Today there are numerous different styles and designs of wood burning fireplace inserts that will convert most any open hearth from a waster of energy to a 60-80% energy-efficient heat source. These inserts fit into the fireplace thereby preventing loss of warm air in winter and cool air in summer–and they do this in beautiful fashion.
Better energy efficiency is achieved by a number of factors. First, most inserts have a glass door through which you can see and hear the burning logs. This prevents room air from going out the flue. Second, inserts can be set up to burn with outside air, thereby eliminating interior drafts. In addition, many inserts draw air across the interior glass door, which keeps the glass clean and cool. Third, a quiet electric fan can be installed with the insert to increase circulation of the warm air into the room.
Whereas creosote build up and soot was a major concern in my parents’ fireplace, today’s well designed inserts eliminate nearly all of the emissions from the burning logs. This is accomplished with either catalytic converters or secondary combustion.
Catalytic converters greatly decrease emissions just like those used in your automobile. This is accomplished using platinum, paladeium, or a combination of these metals that is coated over a ceramic or stainless steel honeycomb surface. All emissions from the fireplace go through the honeycomb and many undesirable by-products are eliminated. This results in super clean emissions out of the flue.
But catalytic converters becomes inefficient after 2-5 years (depending on usage) and it costs $150 to $250 to replace them. Their upside is that the emissions are very clean so your flue will not get dirty for years; soot and creosote will not be a problem.
But there are alternatives to catalytic converters. You may want to consider secondary combustion due to its less need for maintenance. Smoke from the fire is burned again at extremely high temperatures as they exit the primary firebox. By doing this, secondary combustion systems do not to use expensive, maintenance intensive catalytic converters, so operating expenses are lower. While, emissions are usually somewhat higher, secondary combustion can meet EPA phase II standards.
The above facts are why wood burning fireplace inserts are a very smart choice for any home. Combined with many different styles, installation of modern fireplace inserts will stop the loss of your hard earned money while creating energy efficient center in your house.
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