by blogediter | Nov 12, 2018 | Chimney Plugs
Bad Insert
Q: Jason – The wife is interested in getting a wood burning insert for the fireplace. We’re regular users of our fireplace and keep a supply of inexpensive hardwoods around. With upcoming increases in electricity costs around here, we thought it was about time that we sunk the $4-5K into a wood burning insert.
A: DW – Since your goal is to save money on heat and you mention your concern about electrical prices…I have to assume your home is now heated by electrical heat. Is that correct?
Well, if your goal is to save heat and therefore save money I would probably point you in an entirely different direction. First of all, stop using the fireplace for heat. Due to the stack effect in your home and the draw of combustion and rising air from the fire you are losing more heat than you are creating. Fireplaces are notoriously inefficient. The Department of Energy estimates using a fireplace raises your heat energy costs by 10% on average. The best thing you can do is plug the flue with a Chimney Balloon and look for other options.
Your other installed option, electric heat, is the second most inefficient type of standard heating. So I would also steer you from using that.
You could go with a fireplace insert and have the hassle of consuming wood, the maintenance of maintaining a clean flue and chimney, the constant feeding of the fire and the increased home insurance rates. With this option, you can get an average 60% efficiency for your labors. See below for a picture of a bad hack job of a fireplace insert install that leaks smoke. This picture is not my house, By the way.
Or, you could go a more traditional route by applying your money to a direct vent gas furnace and ducting that will give you a 90% efficiency. Granted this may cost you more since ductwork has to be laid, but it will be less laborious and costly than any other option in the long run. You won’t need a chimney either since it can be vented easily through the side of the house in a minimally invasive way.
I considered the very question you were pondering about 4 years ago when I had an aged furnace and an open fireplace. I decided to plug the fireplace tightly with a Chimney Balloon to stop the heat loss through the bad damper and flue and upgrade the furnace to a direct vent 90% efficient. I have been so happy with this decision, and I would do the exact same thing again if I had the choice. I hope you find this input/testimony helpful – Jason
by blogediter | Sep 21, 2018 | Gas Logs
Gas Burn
Q: Jason, I have a wood fireplace right now but no supply of wood. I am thinking of converting to a gas log fireplace to supplement my home heat. What do you think? -CM
A: CM, I have my opinions on this but this story from a customer speaks so well on the subject I will share that with you instead:
“…If you live in a cold climate area I wouldn’t really recommend you do anything with a wood burning fireplace, but plug up the chimney and maybe put a few candles in it. Why?… because I learned the hard way that fireplaces and gas logs are excellent ways to suck money right out of your pocket.
A few years ago I thought I would supplement my heat by burning wood in my fireplace. Turns out my heating bill went up because the fireplace was sucking the air out of my house when I burned. So I converted to a gas log fireplace (which it sounds to me like you have a partial gas log setup right now that needs fixing.) Well, part of having a gas log installed to code is to disable the damper or clip it open. This was even worse! I was constantly losing heat and the living room was drafty.
I ended up plugging the chimney with a Chimney Balloon to stop the cold draft from coming down the fireplace flue. This was allowable under code since the Chimney Balloon would melt and fall out if I accidentally light a fire under it. You see, this stupid “disable the damper building code” is only there so people don’t light a gas log and leave the damper closed on accident and therefore asphyxiate everyone in the house or set the place ablaze.
OK, long story short…I ran up my heat bill and spent $500 on a professionally installed gas log only to end up with a fireplace I don’t use because it wasted too much heat. So I put candles in it and plugged it with a Chimney Balloon.” – Terry B
by blogediter | Aug 31, 2018 | Gas Logs
Plug My Vent Free Gas Log Chimney
Q: Jason, I have a set of non-vented gas logs which when not in use lets a horrible downflow of cold air in from outside. I saw an old thread that said the Chimney Balloon will deflate when installing near the damper if it is exposed to heat.
My question is can I close off the top of the chimney chase up on the roof with one of the Chimney Balloons? And would the temperature at that height be cool enough where we could fire the gas logs and still keep the Chimney Balloon intact? Thanks, DV
A: Hi DV, You pose a very good question. We have had many customers install a Chimney Balloon upside down from the top of the chimney when they have installed an electric fireplace insert, or if they have decommissioned their fireplace completely, but I have strong reservations about trying it with a vent free gas log.
My initial reaction is with the vent free gas log burning I am certain that the temperature at the top of the chimney will get to the 200 degrees Fahrenheit and trigger the Chimney Balloon to melt, shrink, and release. The reason for my certainty is that the damper you have is inevitably going to leak heat or convect heat into the chimney and that heat will naturally rise and collect against the Chimney Balloon.
My suggestion is to use the Chimney Balloon conventionally and just install it while the fireplace is not being used. Any amount of time you have the Chimney Balloon installed will be saving you money.
There is one other thing you should be aware of with your vent free gas log. There was a University of IL 3 year study that was done on ventless gas units in homes in Illinois. Here is a link to a blog article about the study and a link to the study results: http://www.chimneyballoonusa.com/blog/2009/08/3-year-univ-of-il-study-results-answer-how-safe-are-ventless-gas-logs.html
Personally, I found this research to be eye-opening and something that ventless gas log users should be aware of. I will let you draw your own conclusion from it, but pay particular attention to the NO2 level results in the study.- Jason
