In the freezing, dry winter air, some viruses may reproduce more easily. To keep yourself warm and healthy, you have to make sure that your home stays warm. If you have a fireplace, you have to make sure that the fireplace heat distribution is at its most effective.
Read the following steps below on heating a home with a fireplace. They should help your fireplace heat your home most effectively.
How to Choose Your Home’s Fireplace
Are you thinking of getting a new fireplace for your home? Use this section to help you decide on what kind of fireplace to get. Choosing the right fireplace can help
Gas Fireplaces
Gas fireplaces use propane or natural gas as their heat energy source. They often use stones, glass, or fake wood to resemble the look of a real fireplace. However, you won’t hear the same snapping and crackling of wood.
Pros
If you’re making the choice of gas vs electric fireplaces, here’s one thing that makes the former better than the latter. Gas fireplaces often have a cheaper price than electric fireplaces.
In addition, gas fireplaces have fewer safety risks. Your home won’t fill up with as much smoke as it would with a wood-burning fireplace. In addition, with a vented gas fireplace, the air that the fireplace draws in will exhaust all the water vapor and combustion gas fumes.
Plus, it’s very easy to use a gas fireplace. All you have to do is flick a switch and the fire turns on.
Cons
Gas fireplaces don’t create that much heat. The glass box that sits in front of a gas fireplace (which is highly important for its function) can block heat from entering a room. Also, the fire that a gas fireplace produces is usually rather small in size.
In addition, gas fireplaces don’t give off the same vibes that wood fireplaces do. People who like the smells and sounds of a real wood fireplace may find this to be a deal breaker.
Electric Fireplaces
An electric fireplace is a form of an electric heater that uses electricity to produce heat. However, it also mimics the aesthetic of a traditional wood-burning fireplace. This can give the home some cozy comfort.
Pros
You won’t need to perform a lot of complicated setup steps with an electric fireplace. You just need to make sure it’s plugged into an electric source. Then you can flick it on and you’re good to go.
These fireplaces can also produce a lot of heat. Even smaller ones can heat a sizable room in a few hours.
Also, if you need heat in a certain area, many electric fireplace models (but not all) can move. So you can have a central fireplace on some days and a corner fireplace on other days.
Plus, an electric fireplace can be the most energy-efficient and eco-friendly fireplace depending on your electricity source. If your home uses solar power, you won’t use fossil fuels as your source of energy. Gas and wood fireplaces have to use fuels that can pollute the air.
Cons
Electric fireplaces can heat rooms fairly quickly. However, they can’t heat whole homes. You may have to mitigate this issue by putting electric fireplaces in almost every room of your home.
However, if some of the rooms in your home don’t have electric outlets, you’re out of luck. You need to plug electric fireplaces into electric outlets for them to work. Also, if the electricity goes out in your home, you’ll lose your source of heat.
Furthermore, many people find electric fireplaces noisy and uglier than gas and wood fireplaces. However, people may or may not be able to tolerate these “issues”. It all depends on a person’s personal preference.
Wood Fireplaces
Wood fireplaces are the oldest type of fireplace. There are a few different types such as wood stoves, wood fireplace inserts, and open masonry fireplaces. What connects them all is the fact that they use wood as the source of their heat.
Pros
Wood fireplaces produce a powerful amount of heat. If you have one in your living room, it’s guaranteed that the heat will make its way to the rest of your house. On top of that, a wood fireplace can still provide heat if you don’t have gas or electricity.
Plus, wood can be cheaper than gas and/or electricity. If you live in a wooded area, you can easily just go out and pick up a few thick pieces once in a while.
Then there’s the beauty and comfort that wood-burning fireplaces can give a home. They give a nice rustic feel to any home’s style. Anyone can get lost looking at the crackling flames.
Cons
To start with, wood fireplaces can be dangerous as they have real flames. One unlucky spark can set your whole home ablaze. You have to be careful and keep your furniture and other things a safe distance away from the fire.
Also, you can’t install a fireplace in a small, poorly-ventilated space. Even with a chimney, a wood fireplace can produce fumes that can pose dangers to a person’s health.
Plus, working with a wood fireplace calls for a lot of dirty work. You need to clean the wood fireplace constantly so that it stays safe. Furthermore, you need to store the wood for your fireplace in a closed area or your home will be constantly dirty.
Tips For Fireplace Heat Distribution
No matter what fireplace style you end up choosing, you can improve the heat distribution for each type. Read on to learn some tips for distributing heat with different types of stoves.
Wood Fireplaces
Wood fireplaces already put out a lot of heat. However, if you need your fireplace to create even more heat, try the following options.
Build With Real Stone or Brick
Are you about to build a fireplace in your home? If so, you should probably build it out of stone or brick. These types of fireplaces will last longer and produce more heat.
Get a Fireback
Putting this cast iron standalone plate on the back of your fireplace deflects heat back into the room. It also protects the back of your fireplace.
Use Andirons
These fireplace features are brackets that support logs in a fireplace. By raising the logs, air can flow more freely around them. This gives the fire a steady supply of all-important oxygen.
Stack Your Wood Log Cabin Style
This style of stacking allows for plenty of oxygen to flow through. This causes the wood to burn hotter.
Place two to three logs down to make a foundation. On top of those, place two to three more logs on top.
Use Good Wood
Some types of wood burn hotter than others. Using logs made of a good hardwood like hickory can greatly increase your heat output.
Also, try using wood that’s fresh and not old and rotten. Rotten wood has less wood overall and tends to be damp. These features cause this type of wood to produce a lot less heat.
Gas and Electric Fireplaces
As mentioned, gas and electric fireplaces don’t produce as much heat as wood fireplaces. However, you can still make the most out of what little you have.
Install a Damper Cap
Consider installing a damper cap on top of the exit flue of your chimney (if you have one). This will stop a lot of warm air from escaping up your chimney. Also, do what you can to insulate the inside of your chimney.
Insulate the Doors and Windows
Beyond that, you can increase the heating efficiency of gas and electric fireplaces (and wood ones too, for that matter), by modifying your home in small ways. Install weather stripping around the edges of your doors and windows and/or insulate them in other ways. This will keep heat from flying out of your home.
Other Ways to Help
Even in the winter, what little sunlight you can get can create some much-needed heat. Open the windows that face the sun during the day and then close them at night. In doing so, some heat will get into your home and stay there.
Also, try running the ceiling fan counterclockwise at a low speed. This will distribute warm air throughout the room and keep cool air up against the ceiling.
Effectively Heat Your Home With Our Fireplaces
Balance your ideal type of fireplace and its fireplace heat distribution. There are a lot of ways to turn up the heat even with fireplaces that produce less heat. So you may not have to sacrifice some of your morals and fears to get the amount of heat that you need.
Furthermore, if you want to get a new fireplace in New Jersey, Delaware, or Pennsylvania, try our services. Our expert staff has over 100 years of combined experience and our service is over 100 years old. Get started on a free estimate by filling out the scenario on this page.
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