Most likely, you have a popularized opinion about the fireplace, which is imposed by books, paintings and films. Tongues of red-orange flame embrace firewood in an open portal of a fireplace, a romantic crack of combustible wood. Such a fireplace looks very beautiful, but its functionality leaves much to be desired, because it can only heat one room. The arrangement and maintenance of such a fireplace is also quite difficult. But its performance can be significantly affected by the correct selection of fuel.
Fireplace fuel options
It is important for anyone who wants to purchase a fireplace that the type of fuel depends on the design of the furnace. Open fire chambers are designed only for burning wood. Fireplaces with a closed firebox construction can be heated both with wood and other types of solid fuel - coal, peat or briquettes. There are also fireplaces using liquid or gaseous fuels, pellets. Such furnaces for work are equipped with special burners. You can install electric fireplaces that warm the room well and bio fireplaces that mimic a fireplace with a real flame, which perform a decorative function and do not heat.
Consider the types of fireplaces and the fuel suitable for each of them. This information will make it possible to purchase a fireplace with the necessary characteristics.
Solid fuel boilers
Fireplaces that are heated with coal and wood are a considerable construction. Their main parts are the open portal of the fireplace, the furnace part and the chimney.
When heating with a wood fireplace, you need to use dried wood and better than deciduous trees. Coniferous wood during combustion forms a large amount of soot. Their calorific value is lower than other rocks, as well as coals crack and scatter, and this can lead to fire or damage to the floor covering. Birch logs are 20% more calorific than other tree species, but produce more soot when burned. To burn soot deposited in the chimney, you can burn alder or aspen wood in the fireplace. The calorific value of wood fuel is approximately 3300 kcal / kg, but the thickness of the wood should not exceed 10 cm. Thicker logs of heat produce less and burn out worse.
In order to burn stone or brown coal in the fireplace, it is necessary to improve the firebox - install a cover that will close the firebox and add a grate. Coal has a calorific value of 600-7300 kcal / kg (this depends on the type of fuel), brown - about 4600 kcal / kg. Sorts of coal with a combustion temperature above 1500 ° C are not suitable for a fireplace. Before using coal as a fuel - make sure the capabilities of this model.
Peat is similar to wood in its characteristics. Sod peat, whose humidity is not higher than 30%, has a calorific value of 3100 kcal / kg, and briquetted peat - about 4100 kcal / kg. When choosing this type of fuel, it should be borne in mind that peat during combustion in a fireplace emits a considerable amount of ash.
The fuel briquettes of various shapes manufactured at the plants, which are made by pressing sawdust, have a high density (about 1100 kg / m3), as well as low humidity (less than 9%). Their use makes it possible to obtain a thermal conductivity of 5100 kcal / kg. There are fuel briquettes impregnated with special compounds that help to get the flame of the desired color. In open hearth fireplaces, fuel briquettes quickly burn out, so it is better to use them with a closed firebox.
Fireplaces for which solid fuel is used require a chimney of a certain length or equipped with a forced draft.For this reason, it is not allowed to place fireplaces in the apartment. Fireplaces in theory can be placed in an apartment, but only on the top floor, since it will be possible to remove the chimney through the roof of the building. An improperly constructed chimney can lead to smoke entering the heated room, so it is necessary to control the fireplace insert.
Pellet fuel
Fireplaces equipped with a pellet heating stove are equipped with a burner, which in shape resembles a bowl with holes in the bottom and walls. Fuel is supplied in portions to this bowl, and air is forced from below. Such fuel has a calorific value of 4400 kcal / kg. It is possible to control these fireplaces remotely, because the combustion process is automatically regulated.
The design of fireplaces operating on this type of fuel is simplified by the fact that the chimney is not necessary, and an exhaust hood is installed instead. They can be placed on any floor.
The disadvantages of such fireplaces include the cost. A fireplace designed for 10 kW of power will cost about 50,000 rubles.
Gas heating
A fireplace with an atmospheric burner designed to burn natural or liquefied gas, allows owners not to bother with fuel preparation and does not require cleaning the chimney and firebox. The combustion process is automatically controlled by the system, and the thermostat controls the temperature. You can install a gas fireplace on any floor of the house, having received permission from the regulatory authorities. To work, he needs a chimney or hood.
The calorific value of gas is 8500 kcal / m3, but the efficiency does not exceed 50%. You can increase the efficiency of the fireplace by installing an infrared burner.
Electric fireplaces
Such fireplaces are mostly used as a decorative element. Outwardly, it looks like a wood burning fireplace. Modern electric fireplaces have a screen and speakers in order to display the flame with sound.
Bio fireplace
Biofireplace refers to modern types of heating systems. The peculiarity of this type is that it does not need either a chimney or any hood, even with a real flame in the furnace.
The main part of the biofireplace is the block into which ethanol is poured. Such fuel does not emit soot or soot during combustion. During combustion, unpleasant odors are absent due to the fact that carbon dioxide and water vapor are combustion products.
Such fireplaces are used only for decorative purposes, so their productivity is zero.
