Don't Get Cold Feet Over Your Winter Heating!

Sitting on the deck enjoying the sunshine and trying to keep cool does not immediately bring to mind cold feet! However, soon the sun tan will fade and we will wish that we had not had cold feet about organizing our winter heating systems.

Local fireplace dealers already have waiting lists of people ordering fireplaces and chimney inspections. It's true - wait lists in August! Was it such a cold summer? Well, not temperature-wise but most of us got a cold shudder watching the price of gas and energy edging upwards. Oil, electricity, propane - who can afford the uncertain bills each month - and have you noticed how the unit price of home heating costs always seem to escalate just before the winter?

For those of you who had a Grandma that said central heating was ' not the same' warm heat - Grandma was right! The type of heat that is given off by air tight stoves and fireplaces is called radiant heat.

Radiant heat that is given off by the fire just radiates out (moves out) into the surrounding atmosphere. It emanates from the top, bottom, front and sides of stoves and it travels in a straight line and gradually moves upwards.

Fireplaces such as wood stoves and air tight stoves are traditionally housed in the basement because hot air always rises; even the upstairs of a large home will become toasty warm with the correct size wood stove.

Stoves come with differing specifications that will heat up to a one thousand, two thousand or a three thousand square foot home, depending on the size of the stove. Part of this heat also comes from the fact that the floor becomes heated and the chimney heats the wall.

Many people are 'put off' the whole process of air tight stoves because they think it is a messy business, and it is true that it does need more organization than just flicking a switch and paying a bill (although some fires do have a switch which will adjust the heat output).

New fires nowadays have the benefit of advanced technology which gives maximum efficiency with minimum environmental damage. This is because the interior design of wood stoves has been re-planned and the Extended Burn Technology (EBT) allows for longer burns and fuel economy.

This 'double burn' all happens inside the fire place housing and is undetected by home owners, however, it does mean that emissions into the air are minimal. For this reason, some areas offer grants on the installation of new wood stoves that are EPA approved.

They will often also offer grants to change out older models of wood stove. EPA certified is a USA rating from the Environmental Protection Agency, (in Canada a fireplace needs to have CSA - Canadian Standards Association - approval).

Many styles of wood stoves also come with a lower ash drawer that you can pull out once a week to clean. As well, new chimney designs allow for ash to be cleaned out from a chute that is located outside in the yard, at the base of the chimney wall. However, the ash removal process has been drastically changed by the new legislation that has been enforced regarding clean air. There is little or no ash left in the fireplace now that we have the design which allows for a secondary combustion system.

Such small amounts of effort for the inimitable luxury of being encompassed in the coziest of heat; warmth that can mesmerize your primordial self into relaxation by the centuries-old comfort that a flickering and crackling fire inevitably offers.

How can you resist?

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