How to heat your home with a fireplace

Savings are guaranteed, but you need to know how to spread the heat. And not waste it. The various types of fireplaces and the most convenient ones.

di |
how to heat your home with a fireplace
Heating a home with a fireplace isn't a choice for eco-consumers, even those who are fairly orthodox or extremist, but it's an opportunity worth seizing, with huge savings both in terms of bills and the elimination of pollutants, if certain basic conditions are met. The suitable surface area, the territory that allows for such a solution (first of all in terms of temperatures), the chosen fireplace model and its characteristics in terms of results and efficiency. 
The kW power of a fireplace can make a difference when heating large amounts of space in a home. Generally speaking, un wood burning fireplace Starting at around 4 kW, it can heat a room of up to 50 square meters. For a larger home, however, you should consider a system between 7 and 9 kW, which can dissipate heat for around 100 square meters.

Types of fireplace

Each fireplace has its own efficiency, with advantages and disadvantages. Specifically:

Open fireplace

  • Nice atmosphere, but very low efficiency (10–20%).
  • It only heats the room it is in.

Closed fireplace (inserts or fireplace stoves)

  • Much more efficient (70-85%) thanks to the closed glass chamber.
  • It produces constant and controlled heat.

Forced ventilation fireplace

  • It has fans that spread hot air to other rooms via ducts.
  • Ideal if you want to heat multiple rooms.

Accumulation fireplace (accumulation stove or “stube”)

  • It accumulates heat and releases it slowly over hours.

Excellent for reducing consumption.

How to heat your home with a fireplace

With the chosen fireplace, if suitable, a heat exchange network can be created. Typically, passages are created between the different rooms to transport heat even to rooms other than those where the fireplace is installed. This system can also be connected to the water heating system so as to transport heat even to the rooms. radiators or in radiators. Without forgetting that the hot water in this case can also be used for other needs, such as replacing a gas boiler. 

How to connect the fireplace to the radiator

A thermo-fireplace can be connected to the heating system by installing two 22 cm copper pipes. The two pipes, one supply and one return, take the water from the chimney and transport it in the system of warm-up and then bring the water back to heat it again.
 

How to heat a room with a brazier

First of all, an electric or gas brazier should be considered an appliance capable of heating a modest-sized room. In the past, coal-fired ones were also used, with their well-known risks and the trail of dramatic events they left in their wake.

Fortunately, over time, technological improvements have made the brazier less dangerous and even completely safe to use. However, even though it is very cheap—it costs just 12 euros to buy one—it is not entirely efficient.

This is mainly due to the fact that heat dissipation is limited and it has no heat storage capacity. Therefore, once switched off, it will only take a few minutes to reduce all the energy consumed to zero.

Furthermore, although not at the levels of their charcoal-fired ancestors, braziers do get hot and therefore cannot be placed near flammable materials such as wood, plastic or fabric. And finally, be careful to have the room should be well ventilated as the appliance consumes oxygen and could overload the room air.

How to use the fireplace

To use your fireplace properly, you need to pay attention to three things: the wood must be of good quality, the fire must always be lit from above, and the air draft must be controlled and made effective.
  • Use wood aged 12–24 months, dry and hard (beech, oak, ash).
  • Avoid pine and fir, however: they have more resin, and therefore produce more smoke, with a significantly lower heating efficiency.
  • Stack the large wood underneath, the small wood on top, and always light at the top.
  • Cut down on smoking in order to improve combustion.
  • Keep open the primary air to light.
  • Adjust secondary air to stabilize the flame.
  • Avoid flames that are too high (waste) or too low (smoke).

How to maintain your fireplace

The fireplace requires regular and effective maintenance to avoid wasting heat, wood, and smoke. Specifically:

  • Cleaning the chimney it should be done at least once a year.
  • The remotion of the ashes It must be regular and constant, every time the fireplace is used
  • even the cChecking the seals and glass (in closed fireplaces) it must be done at least once a year.

Read also:

Want to see a selection of our news?

Don't Waste