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As winter settles in, cold evenings spent in front of a warm, flickering fire are likely top-of-mind for your clients. Propane-powered fireplaces are a perfect solution for both new construction and replacement fireplaces or retrofits, offering ambience, comfort, and high-efficiency heating. In fact, a propane-powered fireplace provides six times the heating capacity of wood burning models and there is no firewood to store nor messy soot or ashes to clean up. Propane fireplaces are versatile, can be installed inside or outdoors, are more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, convenient to use, and easier to install than wood-burning models. Finally, an increasingly important benefit of propane fireplaces is that they can operate during electrical power outages, providing a critical source of heating to the home.
Performance, Efficiency, and Environmental Benefits
Fireplaces are available in vent-free, direct vent, and vented models, each with different efficiency ratings and installation considerations. Vent-free fireplaces are certified 99.9 percent efficient, while high-efficiency direct vent propane fireplaces are suitable for all climates and can achieve Fireplace Efficiency (FE) ratings of over 90 percent. This efficiency is achieved because in the direct vent design the air used for combustion comes directly from the outdoors. By comparison, wood-burning fireplaces are only about 15 percent efficient, largely because they lose thermal energy from combustion up the chimney as well as drawing heated air out of the home.
Since direct vent inserts can be used to convert old, inefficient masonry fireplaces or can be added to new or existing rooms, propane fireplaces are an ideal solution for retrofit or replacement projects. Automatic ignition, which is not required but is included on some fireplaces, allows the propane unit to efficiently and safely start the fireplace without a standing pilot light. During operation of a direct vent fireplace, the ceramic and glass front helps radiate heat into the room, while a quiet and efficient circulating fan continuously moves air around the fireplace in order to absorb the heat and then deliver it into the living space. A secondary heat exchanger captures additional heat from the combustion gasses and then transfers it to the living space.
Propane fireplaces offer five to six times the heating capacity of electric fireplaces and are more environmentally friendly. Propane produces fewer carbon emissions than the national average of the U.S. electrical grid. More than 60 percent of the grid today is powered by coal and natural gas, which contribute to poor air quality. Choosing propane reduces those emissions and provides a cleaner environment.
An Innovative Fireplace Made from Fire, For Fire
One manufacturer, Earthcore Industries, is producing an innovative linear propane-fueled fireplace that is vent-free. All previous models have been direct vent or vented. Earthcore fireplaces are manufactured out of raw Icelandic pumice, which is imported from Iceland and shipped to their factory in Chesapeake, Virginia. Pumice stone forms underneath volcanic molten lava as water and gasses escape while cooling. Earthcore has exclusive rights to mine this high-grade material from a 25-mile-long volcanic fissure of Iceland’s Mount Hekla volcano and the volcano itself. It’s manufactured into proprietary blocks that fit together with fireclay and mortar to create the fireplace box. Jason Hamachek, National Director of Installed Sales, Earthcore & Isokern Industries says, “It’s forged inside a volcano. It’s made from fire, for fire.”
As a contractor, you typically have to consider the clearances required for materials surrounding the fireplace, as they are delivered with a metal insert that can increase heat to adjacent materials. Like all propane fireplaces, Earthcore fireplaces have zero combustibles, therefore no clearances are required, meaning builders and remodelers don’t need to worry about how close their framing or other construction materials are to the fireplace.
Pumice is a cementitious material and a natural insulator, a unique characteristic that separates Earthcore from all other chimney and fireplace manufacturers. The Icelandic pumice and the firebrick that lines the fireplace is extremely refractive, so you’re not losing energy like you would with a metal box. The insulating properties of pumice allow the fireplace to reflect heat into the room while preventing heating from escaping through the material.
Choose Propane-Powered Fireplaces for New Construction and Retrofits
There are many reasons to choose a propane-fueled fireplace beyond comfort and ambience. The wide range of products allows propane fireplaces to be sized based on the area of the room and how they will be used. Propane fireplace installation can be made simple with flexible corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) gas lines, which are easily routed to the fireplace location in new or existing homes. In addition, propane fireplaces have efficiency levels well beyond traditional wood-burning fireplaces and propane carries a smaller environmental footprint, producing fewer particulate emissions and less carbon monoxide than wood-burning units.
