Answers
- What makes a stove mobile home
approved? Typically three requirements need to be met in
order for a stove or stove installation to meet codes for mobile and
manufactured homes. First, the combustion air needs to be
fresh air from outside of the house. For woodstoves and pellet
stoves this is usually accomplished with a flexible aluminum ducting
through the floor or outside wall. With respect to gas
stoves, those classified as "direct vent" have a
special duct or vent pipe that breaths-in the combustion air from
the outside of your home. Secondly, the stove typically has to
be grounded. Lastly, the stove must be secured/bolted down to
the hearth. BACK TO TOP
- Is my stove certified?
This issue is not 100% cut and dry. Any wood stove
manufactured after July 1st, 1990 is a certified stove.
However, it still may not be up to code w/ respect to how it is
installed. In addition to the manufacturing date...a stove
must have an identification plate on or attatched to it's body
[recording Name, Brand, Serial #, etc.]. If it does not have
this I.D. plate, then it is not certified...even if it is brand
new. Gas stoves and pellet stoves are EPA exempt, and
therefore they are certified w/ respect to clean-air
laws. Again, however, they still must be installed correctly
depending on the codes of you jurisdiction. BACK TO
TOP
- Can I get my stove certified?
Yes and No. If all you need is an I.D. tag, contact the dealer
you bought the stove from and make the proper arrangements. If
the stove was in the house when you bought it, and you have no idea
what brand it is or where it was originally purchased...then,
unfortunately, you might be out of luck. If you're wondering
if you can get your old wood stove certified...then the answer is a
qualified no. There are no retro-fit kits that make your stove
more efficient and up to code. If you are willing to spend in
excess of $50K to $100K then you can modify your stove and have it
officially tested...but this is, of course, not practical. BACK
TO TOP
- Are there different types of burn
bans? Yes, there are Phase 1 burn bans and Phase 2 burn
bans. During Phase 2 burn bans [the lion's share of burn bans]
only certified woodstoves may be burned, or non-certified woodstoves
if it is your only source of heat. During Phase 1 burn bans
[very rare] non-certified as well as certified woodstoves are banned
from use...except if it is your only source of heat. Gas
stoves and pellet stoves are EPA exempt...therefore they're not
subject to burn bans. BACK TO TOP
- What are the benefits of burning
pellet stoves? Most champions of pellet stoves are those
folks who are sick and tired of cutting, stacking, and hauling cord
wood - but cant or don't want natural gas or propane. They
find that the greatest advantages of pellet stoves are that they use
a clean and dry fuel, they produce and even - steady heat, and most
(depending on hopper capacity) can burn up to 50 hours without
re-fueling. As a point of importance, it should be known that
pellet stoves do require electricity to operate. Thus, in case
of a power-outage one most hook their pellet stove up to a generator
or a 12V marine battery and an AC/DC converter. BACK
TO TOP
- How often should I clean my pellet
stove? This depends entirely on the quality of fuel that
you burn - remember, if a deal on a ton of pellets sounds too good
to be true...it just may be! Low quality pellet fuel produces
more fly ash upon combustion and leaves greater than average residue
in the burn pot, flue gas passageways, combustion blower, and vent
pipe. As a rule of thumb clean, if needed, the burn pot every
10 bags, the ash drawer ever 50 bags, flue gas passageways every 50
bags, convection blower every 100 bags, and the combustion blower
every 100 bags. Again, this depends on the quality of pellets,
your particular venting environment, and stove usage. Refer to your
owners manual for your particular stove. BACK TO TOP
- What are the benefits of
woodstoves? Champions of woodstoves will site many reasons
why they love their stoves. Nothing can replace the romance of
the real smell, sound, and glow of a wood fire. Owing a
woodstove means greater independence with respect to the fuel
source. You have to buy manufactured pellets for a pellet
stove, you have to be plumbed to get gas or propane...but scraps of
wood can be found just about anywhere. In addition, higher
BTU's can be achieved w/ woodstoves, they can be used in power
outages, they can be cooked on, and the fuel source is often less
expensive than propane, pellets, coal, and electricity. And
for the environmentally conscience, wood fuel is our only renewable
resource in comparison to gas, coal, oil, or propane. BACK
TO TOP
- Can woodstoves burn "Presto
Logs"? Yes and No. The name Presto Logs is both
a brand name and a generic name for a type of fuel [just like
"Band Aid" is a brand name used by Johnson & Johnson
and the term is used to coin all types of adhesive bandages].
The brand name Presto Logs high density pressed logs are safe to use
in woodstoves, as are all other high density pressed logs that do
not contain any binders or fillers. For woodstoves, stay away
from pressed logs packaged in paper bags - which contain high
amounts of wax and other binders and fillers - for they can coat
your chimney with wax and possibly plug up your catalytic filter or
secondary air combustor (if applicable). Wax type pressed logs
are typically perfectly safe in open air fireplaces, but not for air
tight or certified woodstoves or inserts. BACK TO TOP
- Can I install a stove/fireplace
myself? Yes, you may install a pellet, gas, oil, coal,
wood, electric, etc., etc. stove or fireplace yourself - and your
manufacture's warranty is usually still valid. However, it is mandatory
in most all jurisdictions to have the installation inspected.
We also highly recommend that you inform the carrier of your
home-owners insurance policy of your plans. BACK TO
TOP
- Why shouldn't I buy a stove on the
internet? There are many reasons why one should be
extremely cautious about buying a stove on the internet. There is
one reason above all others as to why you should be cautious about
buying a stove on the internet...many manufacturers will not pay for
warranty parts or service if the stove is bought over the
internet. In addition, when one buys from a local retail
hearth shop they have someone to talk to face to face [IN YOUR OWN
HOME] if any questions or concerns arise about your stove.
Most, not all, quality high-efficiency stove manufactures will not
allow their stoves to be sold on the internet. Therefore, the
majority of high-efficiency well built stoves can not be found on
the internet. Besides, how can you inspect quality of
construction over the internet? And finally, when one
considers the extra amount of money they spend due to shipping and
warranty work - they would have been money ahead to buy locally. BACK
TO TOP
- What are the benefits of gas
stoves? Gas and propane stoves offer three advantages over
other types of stoves that have allowed them to capture the highest
percentage of the stove/fireplace market share. #1. They
are the cleanest fuel source with respect to oil, wood, pellet, and
coal - very little to no cleaning is required. #2. Well
built, high quality gas stoves do not require and fans or
electricity to produce heat - unlike pellet stoves. #3.
Finally, they can be thermostatically controlled just like a furnace
- but where a furnace is useless in a power failure, a gas or
propane stove keeps on truckin'. BACK TO TOP
- What does "direct vent"
mean? The term "direct vent" is an often
confused and misused term. What it doesn't mean is that the
stove vents out the rear - that is called "rear
vent". However, many "direct vent" gas and
propane stoves can be rear vented. "Direct vent"
simply means that the stove in question in a sealed combustion
system that draws combustion air from outside the house [this is
desirable in air-tight homes and code for mobile/manufactured homes
and for bedrooms].
Typically this is accomplished with a co-axial or co-linear vent
system in which one vent is for exhaust and the other is for fresh
air intake. Do not confuse this with outside air systems for
wood and pellet stoves - for these type of stoves/fireplaces are not
sealed combustion systems. BACK TO TOP
- What makes a wood stove efficient?
To simplify a very technical answer - the two things that make a
wood stove efficient are thermal mass and the ability to re-burn
"smoke". These two qualities are inter-related for
the most part. And are often measured by an EPA rating that
measures the amount (in grams) of smoke a stove emits per
hour. However, many manufactures design their stoves to post
impressive emission ratings during a testing scenario and
environment...in lieu of designing a stove to work efficiently in
real world environments. But before we get side-tracked into
that, lets re-focus again on thermal mass and re-burn technology.
Trying not to oversimplify the term thermal mass, I
like to equate it with a sponge: the larger and denser a
sponge, the more water it will absorb. This is partly
analogous to a stoves thermal mass - the more there is the
more heat the stove will absorb and not loose up the chimney.
This easily understood when one considers the efficiency of an open
masonry fireplace versus the same fireplace with a woodstove inserts
installed into it. Sufficed to say, the higher quality [and
typically more expensive] stoves have greater and better engineered thermal
mass. Now let us consider the technology to re-burn
smoke. Typically smoke is diverted into and around jets of
fresh air coming from secondary combustion tubes or filtered
through catalytic combustors to create higher EPA
efficiencies by igniting the left over gaseous fuel (a.k.a.
"smoke"). NOTE: I have not mentioned the most
obvious thing that dictates the efficiency of a burn - the amount of
air introduced to the primary fire. This differs from stove to
stove - and some manufacturers do not have very low "low
air" settings. That is, the primary air damper that feeds
the stove does not close as low as other stoves. This is a
quick way to ensure impressive EPA emission standards because their
low burn is everyone else's medium burn. Hence, the consumer
should investigate this otherwise they may end up purchasing a stove
that have a true "low burn". BACK TO TOP
- What are the different ways of
"re-burning" smoke in newer woodstoves? Generally speaking, newer wood stoves either employ catalytic
filters/combustors or secondary combustion technology to
"re-burn" smoke in a woodstove. Catalytic
filters/combustors "re-burn"
smoke by chemically altering the smoke chemicals in order that they
(smoke molecules) can be burned at lower temperatures [temperatures
present in the stove's firebox]. Catalytic filters can clog up
with contaminants...and thus may need to be replaced from time to
time. Catalytic filters, as the name implies, filter smoke
through a box similar looking to a honeycomb. This process
creates the proverbial "double edged sword".
Filtering slows down a stove's burn process - which is good because
long "clean" burns can be achieved. However, this
slowing down process drastically reduces the amount of visible flame
viewable for the enjoyment of the owner. The finicky nature of
the catalytic filter - along with consumer's cry for more viewable
flame - was all the "mother of invention" needed to create
secondary combustion technology. Secondary combustion
technology takes it's name from the fact that the primary combustion
is on the floor of the firebox were the solid wood fuel is burning,
and thus the burning of gaseous fuel ("smoke") is
secondary in linear time-line. Secondary combustion
technology typically employs front-to-back or side-to-side
tubes residing in the firebox's baffle that introduce
"jets" of air into the firebox environment. The air
flowing out of these tubes provides the necessary oxygen to mix with
the smoke in order for secondary combustion to take place.
However, one more ingredient is necessary for this secondary
combustion to take place. We already have the fuel (the smoke), the
oxygen (from the tubes)...but heat is also needed for smoke
combustion to take place. This heat is provided for in two
related ways. One practice is to install a ceramic board in
the baffle in lieu of firebrick. These ceramic boards act like
mirrors that reflect upward moving heat back into the smoke and air
mixture to aid in secondary combustion. Another practice in
lieu of baffles constructed of ceramic boards is the combination of
heat absorbing high-density firebricks and heat deflective
non-combustible ceramic blankets. Stoves with ceramic boards
can posts minutely lower EPA emission standards (1.4 grams vs. 1.6
grams of smoke per hour) because the vast majority of the heat
raising towards the baffle is reflected and mixed with the smoke to
initiate secondary smoke combustion. However, the reflective
nature of the ceramic board is also it's Achilles heal. That
is, since the ceramic board is engineered to reflect heat it does
not absorb heat to aid in secondary combustion long after the
primary fire has begun to cool off. Stoves that employ a
firebrick / ceramic blanket combination baffle are able to reflect
and absorb heat. In this engineered system, the heat reflective
ceramic blanket lays on top of the heat absorbing firebrick.
The ceramic blanket reflects the heat being absorbed by the
firebrick back down into the smoke/fresh-air mixture to aid in
secondary combustion. The advantage of this system is that
long after the primary fire has begun to cool off and provide enough
heat for the ceramic blanket to reflect into the smoke/fresh-air
mixture, the high-density firebrick "bleeds" heat that it
has stored into the smoke/fresh-air mixture. High density
firebrick / ceramic blanket combination technology more properly
address "real world" burning scenarios than heat
deflective ceramic boards because they provide a necessary heat
storage system near the smoke/fresh-air mixture when the primary
fire begins to cool off. BACK TO TOP
- What makes a pellet stove efficient?
As in gas stoves, when we address efficiency we are talking about
two different measurements. One measurement is combustion
efficiency - which measures how much of the fuel is completely
combusted. This measurement of efficiency does not measure how
much actual HEAT enters the home. The measurement of actual heat
entering the home versus heat loss up the chimney is considered
radiant efficiency. Radiant efficiency is dictated by the
thermal mass of a stove's heat exchanger - which in its most efficient
cases takes the form of a series of steal tubes. The exhaust
gasses produced by the burning of the fuel passes over and around
the heat exchanger, but not through it. Like a sponge
absorbing water, a heat exchanger absorbs heat. And like a
denser sponge absorbing more water, the larger/heavier/denser the
heat exchanger the more heat it will absorb before it escapes up the
chimney. Every stove has some form of a heat exchanger - but
some have very little absorbing capability. Thus, while
shopping for a pellet stove or a gas stove the consumer should ask
to see a cut-away of a stove or a sample of the stove's heat
exchanger to see how heavy duty it is. Or, simply compare (if
posted) the weights of stoves - with the heavier ones typically
being constructed more efficiently [NOTE: one must not compare
cast iron stoves to plated steal stoves - for they are constructed
completely different. Only compare stoves of similar
construction materials and within the same BTU class].
BACK TO TOP
- What makes a gas stove efficient?
As in pellet stoves, when we address efficiency we are talking about
two different measurements. One measurement is combustion
efficiency - which measures how much of the fuel is completely
combusted. This measurement of efficiency does not measure how
much actual HEAT enters the home. The measurement of actual heat
entering the home versus heat loss up the chimney is considered
radiant efficiency. Radiant efficiency is dictated by the
thermal mass of a stove's heat exchanger - which in its most efficient
cases takes the form of a series of steal tubes. The exhaust
gasses produced by the burning of the fuel passes over and around
the heat exchanger, but not through it. Like a sponge
absorbing water, a heat exchanger absorbs heat. And like a
denser sponge absorbing more water, the larger/heavier/denser the
heat exchanger the more heat it will absorb before it escapes up the
chimney. Every stove has some form of a heat exchanger - but
some have very little absorbing capability. Thus, while
shopping for a gas stove or a pellet stove the consumer should ask
to see a cut-away of a stove or a sample of the stove's heat
exchanger to see how heavy duty it is. Or, simply compare (if
posted) the weights of stoves - with the heavier ones typically
being constructed more efficiently [NOTE: one must not compare
cast iron stoves to plated steal stoves - for they are constructed
completely different. Only compare stoves of similar
construction materials and within the same BTU class].
BACK TO TOP
- Are "vent free" gas stoves
safe? Yes and No. Vent free gas
stoves are perfectly safe or utterly undesirable depending on what
type of home or room the stove is installed into. The crux of
a vent free stove's duplicitous nature is that w/out a chimney the exhaust
must be dumped into the home...albeit 99% or so of the remaining carbon
dioxide and carbon monoxide are filtered out through a
catalytic filter. What is worrisome about vent free gas stoves
is what passes through the catalytic filter...the water vapor.
Every 10,000 Btu's of gas an hour produces approximately 1 quart of
water vapor...that is exhausted into your home. Thus, is you
plan on burning a vent free gas stove for extended periods of
time...you must address a potential water vapor problem.
Homes with a lot of cubic feet [high ceilings, lofts, etc.] will
dilute this exhaust water vapor over a given area much more
effectively [mathematically speaking] than a home with the same
square footage but with less cubic footage [i.e. lower ceilings,
etc.]. To make an analogy of this potential
problem...create and compare a mental picture of the water
condensation that occurs after a shower in a small air-tight
bathroom versus a huge drafty bathroom. A given volume of air,
at a fixed temperature, can only hold a certain amount of water in
the vapor phase. At some point, as the amount of vapor
increases, condensation is going to occur. Condensation is
less likely to occur in larger spaces in which the same amount of
water vapor is spread out amongst a larger volume of air.
Condensation is also less likely to occur in drafty rooms and homes
versus air-tight homes. These issues should be thought over
and considered before buying a vent free gas stove. As a rule
of thumb Wallace's typically only recommends vent free gas stoves or
fireplaces to those homeowners who have older, draftier homes or
those with a lot of cubic feet...or simply those folks who only plan
to occasionally burn their stove during holidays, special functions,
etc. BACK TO TOP
- What is the difference between a
"stove", a "fireplace", and an
"insert"? Generally speaking,
in the hearth industry, a "stove" is any wood, pellet,
oil, gas, or propane appliance that is installed out into the
room on legs or a pedestal...with a traditional chimney stack coming
out the back or on top of the appliance. A
"fireplace" or "zero clearance fireplace" is a
wood, pellet, gas, or propane appliance that is typically installed
flush into or protruding from a wall during new construction or
remodels when a conventional masonry fireplace is cost prohibitive
or undesired. A "fireplace" or "zero clearance
fireplace" is usually a firebox with two or three protective
layers of metal built around it that allow framing material to be
built right up next to and around it. Most new homes come
standard with a builders grade zero clearance gas or wood
fireplace. An "insert" is very similar to a
fireplace in looks, but is entirely different with respect to
application. As the name implies, an "insert" can
only be safely installed into a pre-existing cavity of a masonry
fireplace or zero-clearance wood fireplace. Think of it this
way...an "insert" inserts into a preexisting
cavity...where as a fireplace or zero clearance fireplace is a self
contained unit that is built or set in place and framed around. BACK
TO TOP
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