Get a Wood-Burning Stove in Your Living Room
Most of properties offered on our website, include old or traditional fireplaces which have not been used for ages. Refurbishing your fireplace may cost a lot of money and the final result is not always as expected. A good alternative is to install a wood burning stove. This serves to hide a bit of your fireplace and will give your living room a little more character. Wood-burning stoves were traditionally used in country cottages and were the cutting-edge household items of their time. It is interesting to note that, today, they are making a come back as the latest in green heat. Indeed, a wood-burning stove has become a way to save energy, as well as saving money.
Wood-burning stoves are increasingly popular with potential buyers. Because they’re more aware of costs and know more about the environment, people often plan to change the design of their living rooms, which adds value to their property. Adding a wood-burning stove will make your home more desirable and, when the time comes, easier to sell. The design of wood burning stoves is nearly the same as it’s been for many years. The style is primarily traditional, but more and more contemporary designs are becoming available.
Besides great style, these stoves are more and more popular for other reasons as well. These include:
– Energy Efficient
Everybody loves to see an open fireplace in a living room. However, this is estimated to be only 20% efficient for heating purposes. At worst, it can be much lower! On the other hand, a brand new wood-burning stove can run at over 80% efficiency. It is three times more energy efficient if you put logs in a stove rather than in a fireplace.
In addition, you can use the top of the wood-burning stove to heat a pan, boil a kettle of water, and even make toast! In shops, you might even see some models equipped with built-in ovens, so that you can bake a cake while heating your home!
– What to burn?
This depends on the type of stove you purchase. You can purchase a wood only stove, a multi-fuel stove, or a pellet stove, which burns small pieces automatically fed into the fire. Today, more and more people are using logs. If you choose this type of stove, keep in mind that logs stored outside, must be kept dry under cover for a year to reduce the moisture content. Otherwise, it might be dangerous to use logs. A great advantage with a wood burner is that whatever you burn, the particulate emissions are three to four times less than with an open fire.
– Free of Gas
The primary carbon-neutral fuel is, and has always been, wood. It releases carbon dioxide when it burns, but the amount given off is the same as was stored by the tree when it was growing. Besides, with the flow of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), your wood burner can be “greener.” It is exactly the same process as today’s cars: last models are even greener than those of 20 years ago.
With the system known as “clean heat” or “clean burn,” when the wood is burned, the created gases are kept inside the stove and are then burned off. That increases the heat and reduces emissions. Your stove only requires a clean-out once a month, even when using it on a daily basis. In fact, a bed of ashes actually helps the wood to burn.
Unless a special adviser objects, you do not necessarily need a chimney or a fireplace to install a stove in your living room. Please be cautious if you have children, however. Teach them to not touch the stove when burning wood inside.