Which fire is best for me?
While selecting a gas fire or gas heater, gas stove or wood burning stove the most essential and basic dynamic in this process is to keep in mind that your decision should be based on its heating capacity. It is most likely that most of the people might be unaware of the fact that to warm a normal single living room it requires just 3 to 4 kilowatts heat output. It is an obvious fact as most of the modern houses by now have a central heating system which means they are already being taken care of in the harsh winters. This leads to the idea that most of the fires are just used as a partially ornamental part of the living room or to provide extra heat.
In the selection of the fires, the buyers have a major general oversight of selecting the gas fire or gas stoves having a too high heating capacity. As a result of this oversight, the users can utilize the fires or stoves like once in a blue moon or burning them up at a low temperature or the room might get excessively hot. While this slip-up happens in the case of wood burning stoves and gas heaters it leads to much-reduced combustion, elevated smoke and heat give out and the glass gets blackened. On the other hand, considering the gas fires specifically the all these scenarios will obscure your fire-view and you will not be able to take pleasure from the beautiful images of the flames if the glass is blackened.
It is quite simple and easy to calculate the heating capacity you require for your specific room space. If you follow the chart given below you can see that it clearly shows the capacities in kilowatts (KWs) and the space in cubic metres (m^3). To figure out the measurement of the room in cubic metres you can multiply the length of the room space by its width and height. After that, you can easily get the information on the heating capacity you require for your room space from the graph at the meeting point of one the three lines. These lines represent to which level your house is being insulated.
A - Well insulated
- Is double-glazed
- Has floor and wall
insulation
| B - Is reasonably insulated
- Has minimal double glazing
- Has minimal floor and
wall insulation
| C - Poorly insulated
- Has no double glazing
- Has no floor and wall
insulation
|

This graph will prove to be helpful in your decision of selecting from a vast collection of gas fires and wood burning stoves along with the information on the matter of heating capacity best matching with your room space requirements.
Open and Closed Combustion
Apart from the heating capacity, another equally important factor in selecting a fire is the option of open and closed combustion aka conventional flue system and balanced flue system. It is a general idea that the term ‘open combustion’ is mostly associated with open fireplace lacking a glass front which is not correct. In actual, fires with open combustion means that the air in these fires is taken out from the room in which they installed and the flue gasses in these fires are eradicated through a single flue. While in closed combustion the process similarly reciprocates but the hot air is re-circulated in the entire room before letting it out through flue giving out more warmth.
Types of Stoves
While selecting a wood burning fireplace or stove, it is a most basic requirement that your home must have good ventilation as these fireplaces and stoves mostly come with open combustion system. On the other hand, on some special occasions as homes having ‘Balanced Ventilation System’, there is a range of fires and stoves which come with exterior air feeds. With the passage of time, there is seen a gradual increase in the number of the fires and stoves with exterior air feeds as an essential feature, whilst they are provided as an extra accessory with some fires and stoves as well. In fires and stoves with the exterior feeds, the combustion air is taken out from the outdoors. Nevertheless, the flue in these fires and stoves all the time has to be in horizontal position and should go upwards, all the way through the roof and outdoors, and it should reach higher than the roof height.
Alternatively, there are the fires and stoves with closed combustion system through which the combustion air is straightly pulled out from the outer side and the same flue is used to extract the flue gasses. The roof or the outside walls can be utilized to supply for this extraction process. This whole extraction process indicates that there is a supplementary flexibility in the accurate installation of the stove or fireplace. Given to the fact that in this combustion system the oxygen is extracted rather from the out-of-doors than the indoors of the room containing the stove or fireplace, this combustion system is perfectly suitable for homes which are well-insulated, contemporary and have an automatic ventilation system. It is always preferred and suggested to go for the closed combustion system where it comes to the gas fires. On the other hand, if you have plans to link your stove or gas fire to an already existing chimney with a diameter of less than 150mm then you should go for the open combustion system as fires or stoves with this system needs a smaller flue.
We are hopeful and optimistic that after going through this article you would be now crystal clear in your choice of selecting the right fire or stove. Besides that you also want to have an in the flesh look on the fire or stove of your choice while they are in action along with a special guidance from the individual experts.
Expert dealers
As we already have suggested that for an expert advice you can turn to us at Banyo by giving us a call or visit our showroom in Leicester which has more then 30 gas fires, electric fires and stoves on display or you can also connect with us through an e-mail for any kind of either tailored or supplementary information or counseling you might be looking for your stove equipment and installation. We will be glad even to send through the sketch for assisting you in visualizing the fireplace or stove as per the requirements of your home design and style.