Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my stove not drafting?
Improper installation can be the first cause for a woodstove to not draft properly. If the stove is installed properly, there are three other main reasons why the stove may not be drafting. 1) The flue is blocked with creosote and has restricted the draft. 2) The wood is not seasoned properly. Wood should be split, stacked, and only covered on the top for 12-18 months to be properly seasoned, and you should be burning good hardwood. If the wood is not seasoned properly, the stove is spending too much energy trying to burn off the moisture and is not getting hot enough to draft properly. 3) You are trying to start the stove, and the flue is ICE cold. The flue needs to get warm to create a draft. It will help to roll a newspaper like a torch, light it, and hold it where the exhaust drafts out. Let the newspaper burn down as far as you can, and then light the fire.
How much money will a stove or insert save me?
There is no perfect answer for this question. There are many varibles that will cause the answer to this question to be different from person to person. Such as; how well insulated the house is, how many windows are in the house, how often the new stove is used, how large the home is, etc. With that said we would expect that you could cut your heating costs by 30-50% by adding a wood or pellet stove/insert to your home. So people may even save more than this. Gas fireplace, inserts and stoves are very efficient and act as great zone heaters. Will a wood or pellet appliance might be used a a supplemental heat gas is great to put in an area of the house that you spend a lot of time and it can heat that area real efficiently while the heat is off or low in the rest of the house. The additional benefit to this question is that you will not only save money but you will be comfortably warm at the same time. While you might be struggling to stay warm now and still spending a fortune on oil or electric.
Does a gas fireplace need electricity?
Yes and No. In a power outage your gas fireplace will still operate. Most units ignite through a millivolt system and if they are electronic ignition they have a battery backup that will lite the stove in a power failure. But, if your fireplace has blowers and a fancy light system you will need power to operate these features so you will need to hard wire a new contruction model or run an insert to an outlet. VALOR Radiant gas fireplaces are the one exception. They do not come stocked with factory blowers and do not need to have electrical ran to any other there units. In fact a blower on there unit will only add 1% efficiency.
I just got a new fireplace, stove, or insert, and it smells, is this normal?
Yes, this is normal the paint needs to be cured on all new appliances. Wood and Pellet appliances should burn off after the first or second burn. Gas fireplaces take a little longer sometimes. They may need to be run on high for 8 hrs straight to completely burn off the smell and cure the stove. Yes, we have even seen them set off smoke detectors. It is not the gases from the unit it is the paint burning off all the metal on the stove.
I bought a stove at Home Depot/Lowes will you install and service it?
We pride ourselves on our customer service and we will service and install everything we sell except electrical and gas lines. Therefore, we like to give our full service to our customer who bought our quality, reliable products. But we do not install products we do not sell. One, we can't get parts for units that we do not sell and therefore would not be able to service you. Also, when the product doesn't come from us we do not know its condition and can't take responsibility for something that we do not have control over. Lastly, we do not warrantee any products that do not come from us.
What is the difference between Gas Logs and Gas Inserts?
Gas logs consist of a grate, a burner and a set of logs. They are mostly for ascetics but they will provide some heat. Gas logs are just inserted into the fireplace and they do not have any glass or screen in front on them and they do not have blowers. Gas inserts are sealed units that have a glass front with a safety screen and their own vent system with 2 co-linear vent pipes one that takes fresh air from outside the house and the other sends all the exhaust out. A gas insert is a zone heater that can provide looks and heat and they usually have built in blowers.