Although using a gas fireplace is a great way to save money instead of paying high energy bills, to get the most from this unit you want to make sure your fireplace is vented. If you have an older, wood-burning fireplace that is not vented, appropriate changes to convert to a gas-burning fireplace could be made. As a result, the home would be warm in the winter thanks to operating a more efficient fireplace.
Instead of living in a chilly space and spending significant money each month toward the utility bill, you might want to consider converting your outdated fireplace to one that runs at a high efficient level. To accomplish this goal, you have three options:
Fireplace Insert – This unit is inserted into a wood-burning fireplace, making it possible for fumes to be vented to the outside through an existing chimney or flue.
Direct Vent – For this, fumes are vented through a hole made in the outside wall, which eliminates the need for a freestanding flue or chimney.
Sealed-Combustion Direct – Of the three possibilities, this type of vented fireplace is by far the best for saving money for energy consumption because it uses air within the home and the seal eliminates any drafts and heat loss.
For the direct vent fireplace, the insert fits snugly into the firebox of your wood-burning unit, thereby creating a tight seal. From there, air used to generate the flame, which is called “combustion air” is drawn in from the outside. In addition, fumes from the burning fire are vented to the outside to ensure unused fuel or combustion byproducts do not circulated within the home, contaminating air quality.
The sealed-combustion type of direct vent fireplace offers the highest level of efficiency. As mentioned, using household air and providing a tight seal, ensures heat needed to create a comfortable living environment is not lost. The sealed-combustion fireplace is designed to operate on a consistent basis at a 90% efficiency rate. This means that a sealed-combustion fireplace rated as an AFUE unit is capable of producing up to 40,000 BTU, which is the same amount of heat a standard home furnace generates.
Obviously, the ultimate goal is to have a comfortable home that costs you less money to maintain. To ensure you purchase the appropriate vented fireplace for your needs, the BTU (British Thermal Unit) rating should be used as a guideline. The BTU rating measures the amount of heat a fireplace generates so it would be imperative to choose BTU for the intended space. If the BTU were too high, the home would be miserably hot but if the BTU were too low for the intended space or square footage, the fireplace would not produce adequate heat. Another rating used for direct vent and sealed-combustion vented fireplaces is called Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency or AFUE. This fireplace rating works much the same way you would determine gas mileage for your vehicle. The higher the rating the more efficient the vented fireplace would be. Unlike BTU, the AFUE rating considers more factors such as energy used for on/off cycles and volume needed to bring the room’s temperature to the desired setting. Using these rating systems for direct vent and sealed-combustion fireplaces ensures a beautiful fire, improved energy efficiency, and more money in the bank.
