Celebrate the Holidays With a New Fireplace

There is never a bad time of year to enjoy a crackling fire and a beautiful hearth, but during the holidays is the best time to enjoy one! Homeowners enjoy a fireplace so much during the holidays that network television dedicates a channel just for them. You can enjoy the real thing this winter. Celebrate the holidays with a new fireplace.

Getting Started

Maybe you want to upgrade to a new and improved fireplace, or perhaps you don’t have a fireplace at all. That’s all right. At Beach Stove and Fireplace we sell and install inserts to fit inside an existing firebox and use an existing chimney, or we have fireplace options that can go anywhere and don’t need a vent or chimney. To choose the best option for your home and family you should consider the following:

• Location
• Space
• Budget
• Environment
• Safety
• Convenience

Yes, safety should be at the top of your list, but the location and space will determine what size fireplace you will purchase. Determine where you want your fireplace and what you can afford, and let Beach Stove and Fireplace set you up with a safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly option that suits you.

Popular Fireplace Options

We install a lot of fireplaces each year, and the fall is no different. Homeowners want a new fireplace before the holidays, and we can help.

1. Gas
   Choosing a gas fireplace, insert, stove, or log set means you also get a great deal of safety and convenience. Gas burns the cleanest of our fireplaces, leaving less pollution for the environment and burning less fuel. They’re great for zone heating and the fire itself looks real with realistic ceramic wood burning in the hearth. Gas appliances have a switch to turn on and off, and temperature controls, making them the most convenient and “low maintenance” option on the market.
2. Wood
   Many homeowners still want wood for their fireplace. This is still a classic and beautiful option. Wood-burning fireplaces, stoves, and inserts are more efficient than ever. These products are still great options for people who have access to a wood supply, and those who don’t mind lighting their fireplace when they want a fire.
3. Pellets
   A similar option to wood-burning is pellet stoves and inserts. Pellets are manufactured from wood byproducts, so they are eco-friendly and organic. The stoves and inserts are highly efficient, convenient, and easy to use. They also put out a lot of heat, so they are appropriate for whole-home heating, especially during a power outage.

Once you have an idea of the best fuel type for you, get a professional involved in the planning process. Attempting to measure, purchase, and install your own fireplace is dangerous. If you get the measurements incorrect for an insert, it won’t even fit into the firebox. Installing new appliances will also require an assessment of the flue lining system. Your friends at Beach Stove and Fireplace can do it all.

Are you ready to upgrade a tired fireplace or install a new fireplace addition to your home? Get started now and have it installed before the holidays.

Call Beach Stove and Fireplace today at 631-998-0780.

Pros and Cons: Gas Logs vs. Gas Inserts

If wood is not an option for your household, or you’re looking for an appliance that has higher efficiency and less mess, you might choose gas. Beach Stove and Fireplace offers great options for gas fuel including gas inserts and gas log sets. All of our staff are well-experienced with installation, inspection, maintenance, and repairs of all of our products, and we can help you decide what is right for you.

Gas Log Sets: Benefits

• Minimal Adjustments
  Oftentimes you can convert to gas log sets without adjustments or repairs to the chimney or fireplace. You don’t even have to use the chimney for a gas log set! As long as your gas logs are professionally installed, your chimney sweep can assure you they’re properly installed and up-to-code.
• Realistic Flame
  Gas log sets offer a realistic flame that provide the aesthetics homeowners look for in a fireplace. The flames have a blue tint, but it doesn’t detract from the experience.
• Low Maintenance
  Once your gas log set has been professionally installed, you can use it regularly with very little worry or work on your part. Be sure you schedule regular maintenance for all of your heat appliances.
• High Efficiency/Reasonable Cost
  Once properly installed your gas log set should offer heat even during an electrical outage. Gas is separate from your other utilities, and no matter how oil costs may fluctuate, your gas logs will heat efficiently for it’s life.
• Environmentally Friendly
  While wood fires produce byproducts such as particulate matter. Gas log sets only produce water vapor and carbon monoxide. They are not subject to burn bans that may be implemented by states and municipalities because they don’t pollute the air in the home or around the home.

Gas Inserts: Benefits

Gas fireplace inserts offer the same benefits that a gas log set, and more.

• Higher Efficiency
  While gas log sets are more efficient than a wood fireplace, a gas insert is even more efficient. They use less gas to produce even more, steady heat.
• Higher Heat Output
  If you’re looking to heat an entire room an insert is a good choice, with a cost of about 40 to 45 cents per hour.
• Versatility
  While gas log sets require a fireplace to house the log set, an insert can be installed in an existing fireplace, a prefab fireplace, or free standing.

Downsides to Both:

Gas-burning appliances are highly cost-effective compared to other kinds of home heat. However, because natural gas and propane are both expensive resources it is not cost-effective to use these products to heat an entire home.

The only other downside is that you don’t get to experience the pop and spark of a wood fire. For an occasional fire, though, this is not an issue for many homeowners. You also have to decide what product is best for your home, what venting system, or what color flame you’d like. If the benefits are right for your family and home, consider converting to gas today!

Call Beach Stove and Fireplace at 631-998-0780 or contact us online.

Choosing a Fuel Source: Finding the Right Fuel for Your Needs

When it comes to maintaining and enjoying your fireplace, it’s important to select the fuel source that best meets your needs. There are several options available, all of which offer different levels of effort and maintenance, and ultimately, different benefits.

Being informed is the most important step you can take before selecting the fuel source for your fireplace; here’s the lowdown on the different types of fuel sources available, as well as a few benefits and drawbacks they present homeowners.

Traditional Firewood

There’s nothing quite like a wood crackling fire. The atmosphere created by burning wood logs in your fireplace is associated with comfort, coziness and relaxation.

The glow and crackle of a fire is something we can all appreciate. No other option offers the signature fireplace experience that is offered by wood logs.

Unfortunately, there are downsides to choosing this fuel source.
Burning wood can create pollution in your home and lead to the formation of creosote in your chimney. Without a professional chimney cleaning on a regular basis, creosote can cause chimney fires.

For many people, the biggest drawback to wood logs is the work of splitting, seasoning and hauling the logs. You’ll also need to create a space to store the firewood that is out of the elements, since moist wood will not burn.

Choosing wood logs can lead to challenges for people who don’t have the time, energy or physical stamina to maintain a supply of seasoned firewood for their unit.

Pellets

An increasing number of homeowners and consumers are choosing pellet stoves to reduce utility costs and supplement the use of their furnaces. These stoves can be freestanding or can function as a fireplace insert, making them versatile as well as efficient. In fact, pellet stoves can heat your home with an efficiency rate as high as 90%.

The fuel for these stoves, pellets, are small pieces of matter composed of things like sawdust, wood shavings, and similar biomass wastes; they are often made using materials that would otherwise have been dumped into a landfill.

Because of the pellets’ consistency, they burn hotter and more cleanly than wood logs. The compression of the pellets during manufacture reduces the amount of moisture inside, allowing the pellets to give off more heat and release fewer particulates than cord wood. Additionally, pellet-burning stoves or inserts allow you to enjoy the ambiance of a traditional fireplace, without the hassle of gathering, seasoning and hauling firewood.

Fireplace pellets are also great for homeowners who do not have a gas hookup or do not want to invest in having one installed.

One of the drawbacks of choosing pellets as your fuel source can be the work of hauling and dumping the pellets (which often come in 40 pounds bags) into the auger; pellets also need to be stored inside to maintain optimum dryness.

Gas Logs

Of all of the fuel-source options, gas logs are the most user-friendly. After all, you can simply flip a switch and enjoy an instant fire.

Additionally, gas logs provide more efficient heating than pellets or wood logs; they also reduce the likelihood of a fire-related hazard in your home, since there’s no chance of a crackling ember escaping the fireplace.

There is also no chopping, storing, seasoning or hauling of firewood as with traditional wood logs. There is no hauling, storing and dumping of pellets for a pellet stove. You also won’t have to clean out ashes after using your unit.

Of course, there are a few downsides to gas logs. Gas units don’t offer the crackling and aroma associated with a traditional wood fire, and many homeowners don’t want to spend money on propane or natural gas.

If these drawbacks don’t bother you, gas logs are still the most practical fireplace fuel source for those who want a low-maintenance, user-friendly experience. For elderly people or those with physical disabilities, transitioning to a gas log fireplace can dramatically reduce the frustration and effort of enjoying a fire.

Beach Stove and Fireplace of Westhampton has professionals on hand to answer all of your fireplace fuel source questions; contact us today!