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November 11, 2009
- Responsible wood burning in fireplace inserts
Learn the correct way to select and burn firewood in your wood stove, fireplace or fireplace inserts. It is important to know how to burn wood responsibly and correctly in wood stoves, fireplace inserts or fireplaces. Responsible wood burning will provide efficient and economical home heating — as well as reduce your home energy costs and protect your neighborhood air quality.
See the video, Burn Wise, a guide to operating your wood stove and fireplace stove inserts efficiently.
November 10, 2009
 Firewood, Wood Stoves, Fireplace Inserts Safety Tips Wood stoves, wood burning fireplaces or fireplace inserts heating requires work and attention. To protect you, your family, your neighbors, and your property as you enjoy the warmth of New Hampshire’s and New England’s greatest renewable energy source. We suggest you follow the following safe wood heating guidelines and advice:
- Burn only wood that has been cut, split and seasoned for at least six months. It takes about a year for freshly cut-and-split firewood to drop from 80 percent (or higher) moisture content to 20 percent. Green (wet) wood may cause a buildup of potentially dangerous creosote (the hard substance that collects on chimney flues and inside chimneys when combustible gases don’t burn in the firebox and condense).
- Don’t use artificial logs in wood stoves or fireplace stove inserts. Use artificial logs only in fireplaces and always according to the manufacturer’s specifications.
- Kindle fires only with paper and dry wood kindling. Never try to get wood stoves or fireplace inserts ignited or speed it up with an accelerant such as charcoal starter, gasoline, kerosene, or a propane torch.
- Don’t burn household wastes such as plastics, diapers, magazines, packaging materials, coated or laminated papers, or painted or treated wood in wood stoves, fireplaces or fireplace stove inserts. These products produce and release toxic fumes, and may produce hazardous ashes.
- Stack firewood at least 25 feet from the house and on pallets to assure proper air flow and to reduce the risk of insect infestation. Never treat firewood with pesticides, and never burn pressure-treated or painted wood, as the burning chemicals can release toxic fumes into your living space or the atmosphere.
- Always adhere to the wood stove and fireplace stove insert manufacturer’s installation and maintenance instructions and recommendations for flue size, hearth appliance clearances and connections.
- Make sure your wood stove and stovepipe have adequate clearances from combustible surface and materials. Combustible materials may include but are not limited to furniture, curtains, clothing, magazine racks, the building walls, and even the woodbox. Unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise, all heating surfaces of wood stoves should be at least 36 inches from any combustible material.
- Have your wood stove or fireplace insert installed by a certified wood stove installer. When installing a wood stove yourself, check with an expert to ensure proper installation. Some communities may require a permit and/or an inspection. Even if they don’t require it, many local fire departments or town building inspectors will inspect wood and fireplace stove installations for safety.
- Have your chimney and wood stove(s) cleaned and checked every year. Replace worn gaskets during the warmer months. This will improve the efficiency of your wood stove as well as its safety. Also, check the stove, stovepipe, and chimney flue regularly during the heating season. Consult a chimney, fireplace or wood stove expert if you have any uncertainty about how to conduct these checks.
- Make sure stovepipe connections are tight and held together with at least three sheet metal screws each. Keep stovepipes short and straight. The pipe should enter the chimney higher than the stove’s smoke outlet.
- Never drape wet clothing over a wood stove to dry.
- Store firewood indoors at least three feet from the woodstove or fireplace stove insert. Never try to dry wet wood by stacking it close to, on top of, or resting against a burning wood stove.
- Provide a non-combustible physical barrier (fence) so children can’t reach the wood stove, fireplace or hearth appliance.
Many New Hampshire and New England households use wood as a primary heating fuel, while others use wood stoves, fireplace stove inserts and fireplaces as supplementary heating sources. The New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning estimates that up to 25 percent of New Hampshire homes heat with wood stoves. Wood is a renewable, carbon neutral resource, unlike fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, which are non-renewable. In fact, if firewood is harvested in a sustainable way, woodlots can provide an abundant source of fuel for years to come.
Unfortunately, smoke from wood burning stoves, fireplace stove inserts and fireplaces can be a significant source of air pollution, negatively impacting public health and the environment.
People can reduce the amount of smoke from their wood stoves by choosing low-emission certified stoves, operating them properly, and using good quality firewood. This will improve combustion efficiency, reduce emissions, help protect public health and the environment, and save fuel costs. The smoke produced from wood stoves, fireplace inserts and fireplaces contains over 100 different chemical compounds, many of which are harmful and potentially carcinogenic. Wood smoke pollutants include fine particulates. Breathing air containing wood smoke can cause a number of serious respiratory and cardiovascular health problems. Those at greatest health risk from wood smoke include infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those suffering from allergies, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia, or any other heart or lung disease. Fine particulate matter, the very small particles that make up smoke and soot, may be the most dangerous component of wood smoke pollution.
Pollution from wood stoves is a particular concern in the winter when cold, stagnant air and temperature inversions constrict movement. Communities located in valleys are more strongly impacted.
As wood burning increases on cold, clear, calm nights, smoke is unable to rise and disperse. Pollutants are trapped and concentrated near the ground, and the small size of the particles allows them to seep into houses through closed doors and windows. This has become a serious issue in many areas of New Hampshire ( NH air quality )over the past few years. The air quality on cold, calm nights in low-lying valleys of New Hampshire and New England is periodically very poor. Some NH state and federal EPA computer models have connected 80 percent of the particulate matter in the air in some areas of the state and region to wood stoves, fireplace stove inserts and fireplaces. Smoke from wood stoves and fireplace inserts is generated primarily by incomplete combustion, which can be caused by a number of different factors related to the wood stove’s efficiency. Improving a wood stove’s efficiency will improve the combustion process, and thus reduce the amount of smoke and harmful air pollutants released into the air. A wood stove’s efficiency is affected by both the design features of the stove and how it is operated and maintained. Here are some ways to improve wood stove efficiency, resulting in less smoke and money savings on wood fuel costs. Select a clean-burning stove and make sure it is the proper size.
When buying new wood stoves, make sure you are purchasing a certified clean burning, efficient wood stove, stove insert or pellet stove insert with design features that promote complete combustion. Wood stoves design technologies that are desirable include advanced combustion stoves, catalytic stoves, and wood pellet stoves. Advanced combustion stoves are designed to create the conditions necessary to burn the combustion gases as they go up the chimney. Catalytic stoves contain a catalytic combustor that ignites smoke gases and particles at a lower temperature, resulting in a more complete burn of harmful substances. Wood pellet stoves burn small pellets of compressed wood by-products instead of cordwood. The pellets are fed into the stove through a hopper at a controlled rate, producing a clean optimum burn with low emissions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set standards for wood stoves in 1990. Hearth appliances cannot be sold to consumers in the US unless they meet certain emission standards for particulate matter and carry the EPA Emission Certification label ( EPA certified wood stoves, fireplace inserts, pellet stove inserts ). Certified wood stoves reduce smoke emissions by as much as 90 percent, compared with conventional wood stoves, and are much more efficient.
 Clean Burning Wood Stoves Be sure the wood stove you are using is EPA-certified, and if your wood stove or fireplace stove insert is old, consider replacing the wood stove with a cleaner, more efficient certified model. Fireplace Village NH is the largest dealer and installer of certified wood stoves, fireplace stove inserts and pellet stove inserts in NH, VT, MA and ME EPA offers advice to consumers for purchasing woodstoves, ranging from considerations relating to installation, operation and maintenance, to determining the best size stove for your heating needs. A wood stove should be the proper size for the area being heated. A stove that is too large or too small will create more pollution.
 Replace Old Wood Stoves for Cleaner Environment
The Alliance for Green Heat promotes biomass as a carbon neutral, sustainable and affordable heating solution. Wood is the renewable energy of choice in the United States and is the primary heat source for more than 2 million Americans. The Alliance educates the public, the media, the renewable energy community and policymakers about the potential of wood and pellet heat and its applications for low and middle-income populations.
Heating with wood makes sense economically for many households in New Hampshire and New England, New Hampshire is the nation’s second most heavily-forested state (after Maine). A wood stove equipped household paying $300 a cord for dry hardwood and burning it in a modern, energy-efficient wood stove can get more than twice the equivalent heating value of fuel oil at $5.00 per gallon. Modern, energy efficient wood stoves are also environmentally friendly when compared to old wood stoves and wood burning fireplace inserts. We encourage consumers to upgrade to newer wood stoves, pellet stoves and fireplace stove inserts. Many towns and cities in NH, VT, ME and MA suffer from poor to very poor air quality, particularly during periods of increased wood burning, because of the age of the wood burning appliances. In NH, VT, ME, MA as well as towns and cities throughout the country, you can monitor and track local air quality conditions and forecasts.
November 9, 2009
Generally the purpose of installing a fireplace insert is to place some form of heating unit within an existing fireplace enclosure. Fireplace inserts are very efficient and will reduce unwanted drafts from an existing fireplace flue. Inserts are available with different fuel options, including wood, pellet, natural gas and propane. There are advantages and disadvantages to each fuel source. the most convenient fuel source for a fireplace insert is natural gas and propane. Gas fireplace inserts are very convenient, no wood or pellets to load and reload, available immediately with the flick of a switch and have the look and feel of a real wood fire.
If you are in the market for a gas fireplace insert, we have two inserts that we would suggest you consider. The first is the Napoleon gas fireplace insert, GDI30, and the other is the Heat & Glo FB-Grand gas fireplace insert:
Napoleon GDI30 Gas Fireplace Insert
1. Heater rated Up to 24,500 BTU’s.
2. No electricity required to light or operate – millivolt system ensures reliable use even during power failures.
3. Available in clean burning natural gas or propane Turn on and off with the flick of a switch.
4. 50% flame/heat adjustment for maximum comfort and efficiency Max. steady state efficiency 85%.
5. Hinged,high heat ceramic glass door.
6. PHAZER™ gas logs and gas log charcoal embers.
7. Heavy gauge pan burner system creates a unique Yellow Dancing Flame™.
8. Heat circulating blower with variable speed control and thermodisc on/off switch.
9. Napoleon Fireplace President’s Limited Lifetime Warranty.
 Gas Fireplace Inserts Heat & Glo FB-GRAND Gas Fireplace Insert
Heat & Glo’s largest fireplace insert is the FB-GRAND. Its large size combined with its great burn create a dramatic look for your larger size masonry or built-in fireplace. The FB-Grand fireplace insert was developed using Heat & Glo’s new patent pending Firebrick Technology. Its ceramic fiber firebox acts as a great insulator that allows higher BTU’s and a more robust fire with a spectacular glow, and has an AFUE rating as a very efficient heater. The firebox is also brick stamped for added authenticity. Another benefit of this fireplace insert is the expanded viewing area for a full view of the fire – the largest of any fireplace insert. The FB-GRAND is a gas direct vent with a sealed combustion chamber that provides great energy efficiency and won’t alter the quality of your room air. And you can add a fireplace insert fan kit for better circulation of the heat into your room.
 Gas Fireplace Inserts
November 2, 2009
When most people think of a fire in a wood stove , fireplace inserts or fireplace, they think of burning wood. Wood is the original traditional heating fuel. It grows locally, is abundant in most areas and is one of our few renewable sources of clean energy. Burning wood in an energy efficient wood stove or energy efficient fireplace stove insert is also environmentally friendly. Wood is the primary renewable energy choice in NH, Vermont, Maine and MA. As a matter of fact, wood is the top renewable energy source in the US and is the primary heat source for more than 2 millions Americans.
 Energy efficient, clean burning fireplace inserts.
Burning wood in energy efficient, clean burning wood stoves, wood burning fireplaces or wood burning fireplace inserts also makes economic sense. Many people have access to their own firewood. Even when purchased, cordwood can be an inexpensive form of residential space heating. Modern energy efficient wood stoves can heat the entire home.
There has never been a better time to upgrade to a energy efficient, clean burning wood stove, fireplace stove insert or pellet stove. On June 1, 2009, The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued its guidance for the 30% consumer tax credit (up to $1,500) on the purchase and installation of “qualified energy property”. This legislation is effective immediately, and is retroactive to any eligible wood stove, fireplace insert, pellet fireplace insert or pellet stove purchased since January 1, 2009. Additional information is available on the following website: www.irs.gov.
Additionally, if you are a resident of Keene, NH, the City of Keene, NH in partnership with the NH Department of Environmental Services Air Resources Division, is offering rebate vouchers valued at $1,000 to homeowners of Keene for replacement of currently operating non-EPA-certified woodstoves with new certified wood, pellet, fireplace insert stoves. New wood stoves must meet the State of Washington certification standards, which are stricter than EPA’s certification requirements. No other wood stove changeout program has had such a high rebate for all applicants and could well serve as a national model to encourage conversion to clean burning, energy efficient hearth appliances.
Fireplace Village NH is a participating dealer in the wood stove, fireplace stove insert changeout program.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, wood is a smart choice in renewable biomass for energy. Trees are the source of firewood. Trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, replenishing the atmosphere. A significant portion of firewood comes from harvesting dead trees. Unlike fossil fuels, there is no net carbon contribution when burning wood, as those same gases are given off when the tree decomposes in nature. Therefore, burning wood does not create new net carbon emissions. Burning wood has become significantly less polluting and more energy efficient. Sophisticated new designs have doubled the energy efficiency of wood stoves. In addition, the amount of smoke emitted by wood stoves has been reduced by an average of 90 percent. All wood stoves and fireplace inserts sold today are certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as clean-burning. Less smoke means less potentially flammable creosote within their chimney systems; the safety record of wood stoves, wood burning fireplaces and fireplace inserts is the best ever.
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