| Almost everyone likes the idea of an warming, | | | | A stove can go a long way to heating a whole |
| cheery fireplace in their home. However, open | | | | cottage, or allow you to turn down your central |
| fires are very inefficient at converting fuel to | | | | heating thermostat. The air entering the stove |
| heat, with around 70 percent of the heat they | | | | can be regulated and this allows control of the |
| produce going straight up the chimney of the | | | | speed of the burn and the temperature output. |
| house. | | | | The stoves themselves are often designed so |
| Modern cast iron stoves can provide the look and | | | | that the fire is routed through baffles which heat |
| feel of an open fire, providing a comforting focal | | | | the stove before all the heat is lost up the |
| point in a room, whilst at the same time using fuel | | | | chimney. This results in the stove radiating the |
| much efficiently than open fires. | | | | heat back into the room. |
| Stoves can burn many types of fuel such as | | | | Your fire can remain lit at a low setting overnight, |
| wood, peat briquettes, turf and coal and a | | | | and then be easily stoked up in a short time the |
| kilogram of fuel burnt in a stove will produce at | | | | next morning. With an energy efficiency of up to |
| least three times more heat than when it is burnt | | | | 76 percent, stoves have the potential to halve |
| on an open fire. | | | | the cost of your house heating bills. In today's |
| An open fire will keep drawing warm air from the | | | | environmentally aware world, their carbon |
| rooms of your house as long as the rooms are at | | | | monoxide emissions are as low as 0.25 percent. |
| a higher temperature than the air outside your | | | | These stoves can often be retrofitted in existing |
| house. So all the heat produced by an evening fire | | | | chimneys, with or without flue liners. |
| is lost because the open fire is constantly drawing | | | | If you are using wood to fuel the stove and heat |
| in massive amounts of air from the room. Open | | | | your house, you should always burn dry wood. |
| fires can also remove all the heat generated by | | | | The drier the wood you use, the less you will |
| other heat sources in your house such as night | | | | require to heat your home. Dry wood also |
| storage heaters or hot water radiators and waste | | | | creates much less creosote than damp or green |
| it straight up the chimney of your house. | | | | wood. Stack wood so the air circulates around it. |
| A modern stove can heat the room it is fitted in | | | | Dry wood is easier to split into smaller pieces that |
| and, as the heat rises up through stair wells and | | | | will fit into your stove. The best place to dry |
| landings and travels through floors, it can help to | | | | wood is a wood shed, basement, or garage. |
| take the chill out of bedrooms. This heat will be | | | | This article is only intended as a basic general |
| absorbed into the walls of your house, which act | | | | summary and you should always seek |
| as heat reservoirs. | | | | professional advice where necessary. |