• Free standing Stove. This is a stove that sits on a pedestal and is independent of any fireplace.
• Fireplace Insert. This is a unit that is installed into a masonry or factory built wood burning fireplace with a chimney.
• Gas Fireplace. This is a unit that can be put into new construction or renovation without an existing chimney.
• BV or B Vent. This type of unit takes its air for combustion from the house and vents through a flue. The advantages are that B Vent units and the venting are generally less expensive. It is not recommended that you put a B Vent unit into new energy efficient construction or tightly sealed houses, due to possible combustion problems.
• DV or Direct Vent. This type of unit takes its combustion air from outside the house and exhausts through a flue. The air intake and the exhaust flue can be either co-linear or co-axial. Usually more expensive for both the unit and the flue, a direct vent stove is a sealed unit. This means that it is independent of the house envelope. This type of unit is ideally suited for today’s airtight new construction.
• LP. (Liquified Petroleum Gas) Propane
• NG. Natural Gas
• Convection Air. Is the cold room air that passes through the stoves heat exchanger, is heated and put back into the room
• Heat Exchanger. This device is responsible for transferring the heat created in the firebox to the convection air and into the room. The points to look for in an efficient heat exchanger are 1) a large surface area to allow the convection air sufficient contact to transfer as much heat as possible from the fire to the room. 2) The heat exchanger should have natural convection allowing the air to circulate freely with or without a blower. 3) It should be of solid construction to allow for durability and good heat transfer qualities.
• Room Heater, Direct Vent Wall Furnace and Wall Furnace. These are industry terms for units that have been designed to a high level of efficiency. You should avoid units that are only decorative rated.
• Steady State Efficiency. This is a calculation as to how efficiently you are burning your fuel and how efficiently you put that heat into the room. When looking at these efficiency numbers the best range to be is between 75% and 83%. Below 75% you are not burning the gas as efficiently as possible. Above 85%, low exhaust temperatures allow water to separate from exhaust gases and this may cause problems with your venting or unit.
• Ceramic Fibre Log set. In the past log sets were made from concrete and looked false. Today the better log sets are made from a Ceramic Fibre that can look like wood. When the flame touches the ember material and side of the log, it glows like a real fire.
• CFM, Cubic Feet per Minute. This is the amount of air that a blower will move. There is no magic figure that is suited to all units. A blower should be tapered to a particular unit. If the amount of air movement is not balanced to the size of the unit it can become noisy.
