Fireplace Inserts Make Home Heating More Efficient – Providence, RI

2 January 2014      

If your fireplace is older and wide open, your home isn’t getting the optimum amount of warmth from a wood burning fire that it could with a fireplace insert. If your home was built without a fireplace, you can still enjoy the warmth and ambiance of a burning fire, just add a fireplace to your home.

Homeowners in Providence, RI who don’t have a fireplace in their home can have a fireplace retailer create one. Professionals will frame an area on a wall, install the fireplace and vent it outside.

If you currently have a wood-burning fireplace and would like to add a gas insert, the fireplace can be converted to gas and the process is pretty straightforward.

Despite the upfront investment, a fireplace insert can pay you back with the energy savings. Most gas inserts are more efficient than a home heating system. Most people’s heaters are 70 to 80 percent efficient, where fireplace inserts are almost 86 percent.

If you’re feeling cold and you’re in the room with the fireplace, once you have an insert installed, you won’t have to keep turning up the thermostat.

Most people’s heating systems are 100,000 BTUs, because it has to heat the whole house up, but gas fireplaces that are 30,000 BTUs can heat 1,000-1,200 square feet.

Fireplace Maintenance

It’s important to have your fireplace and chimney cleaned because:

• Any obstruction in the chimney could cause smoke to come back into your house
• Cleaning will help prevent a musty smell from the fireplace during hot, humid months
• The chimney cleaner will uncover any moisture problems, broken tiles, bad flashing or cracks that need to be dealt with.
• If you have a wood-burning fireplace, there also could be a buildup of creosote in the chimney.
• If you own a gas-burning fireplace having the chimney cleaned and inspected once every two years is sufficient.

For more information on fireplaces and fireplace inserts, contact The Fireplace Showcase.

Excerpts – North Jersey