Tuesday 25 August 2009

Three Popular Stoves For Heating Your Home

It is incredible how stoves have become the consumer's choice in recent times. With the rise in energy and home heating costs, it is hardly surprising that this has happened, in my opinion; I am surprised that it hasn't happened sooner!

So, what is the best stove to buy?

Well, this is entirely dependent on your heating requirements and style choice - what I mean; is that it is personal preference that plays the major key.

In this article I will be discussing three of the popular stoves presently available, although I will say this with a pinch of salt, as we are in the Christmas period now and the availability of stoves has become somewhat scarce. With this said; many of the less popular stoves are still available, so if you are able to compromise, then getting a stove before Christmas could still be possible.

First Choice

The AGA, Little Wenlock Classic Multi-fuel Stove in Matt Black; possesses the perfect blend of new and old, by combining state-of-the-art design with traditional beauty.

With a nominal heat output of 4.7kW and a dedicated pre-heated, secondary air supply, makes this stove a fantastic choice for any home!

This Little Wenlock can be installed with a top or rear flue, has one of the most effective airwash systems available and this coupled with it's interchangeable wood burning plate and built-in ash pan, offers you one of the most efficient wood burning stoves available on the market.

Second Choice

The Huntingdon 25 available from Stovax, is probably one of the smallest stoves available from the Huntingdon range of Stovax stoves, but provides much of what the larger models offer.

This Huntingdon is ideal for burning wood logs, smokeless fuels or peat briquettes and has been designed to suit both the décors of a country cottage and a contemporary living space.

Third Choice

The Firefox 5, available from the Gallery Collection of fireplaces, is a fantastic choice! Perfect for any living space, this product can be suited to both traditional and contemporary settings.

The Firefox 5 has a controllable heat output up to 5.5kW and has an authentic cast-iron construction. With its secondary airwash system that helps to maintain cleaner glass panels and aids in the combustion ability and its flexibility with fuel source (suitable for burning wood, peat, coke, coal, anthracite and smokeless fuels), makes this choice, a great choice for all!

As a final point; whatever stove you choose, it is important to always work with responsible, professional and reputable fireplace suppliers and installers.

Sunday 9 August 2009

How Many Wood Stoves Will it Take to Heat Your Home?

Would you think I was lying me if I said "One?"

It may seem hard to believe, but it's actually possible to completely heat an average-sized home using wood stoves. In a best-case scenario, it is even possible to heat your residence with just one wood burning stove. However, this can only happen if several important conditions are satisfied.

What are those conditions? Before we get into that, you first need to understand that wood burning stoves are classified as space heaters. As opposed to the average central heating system, which uses a series of pipes and ducts, modern stoves generate radiant heat that warms a home directly.

This is excellent news for modern home owners, because newer houses are designed to be energy efficient. They require less heating to maintain comfortable air temperatures, which makes it realistic to heat a moderately-sized modern home with a single wood burning stove. Here's how this would happen.

Condition One: The stove needs to be installed in the home's main living area. Ideally, this will be in an open, communal area, where family members spend a lot of time. This is frequently on the floor shared by the kitchen, living and dining rooms-the places where people eat, read, watch TV and hang out. If it isn't possible to do this, you may have to use more than one stove to heat your house.

Condition Two: Heat flow needs to be possible. The one-stove approach works especially well in open-plan houses. If your residence has large rooms with few divisions, keeping everyone warm with just one large stove is really feasible. But if your house is broken up into multiple niches and smaller rooms, more than one wood burning stove will probably be necessary.

Condition Three: You need to choose from advanced wood stoves that are certified by the Environmental Protection Agency. This is really no more than a small caveat, since all wood stoves designed after the '90s are EPA-certified, which means they are fuel efficient and have minimal environmental impact. However, if you're not aware of this fact, you could inadvertently sacrifice the carefully engineered benefits of modern wood stoves by buying older, used models. Now you know--so check off that concern.

So, back to our opening question. How many stoves will it take to heat your home? As we've seen, the answer is conditional. But with a little advance planning, heating your residence with just one efficient, powerful wood stove can be a reality.