381-8 Old Riverhead Road

Westhampton Beach, NY

Tel. 631-998-0780

Hours: Tues. - Thur. 9am to 3pm / Fri. 9am to 12pm (or by appt.) / Sat. - Mon. Closed

Our Company Blog

Maximizing the Heat

Enjoy the warmth your fireplace has to offer by maximizing it's heating potential and increasing energy efficiency.

Enjoy the warmth your fireplace has to offer by maximizing it’s heating potential and increasing energy efficiency.

Our fireplaces create a comforting ambiance on a cold winter day, but the warmth, unfortunately, is usually more show than substance. The explanation is firmly entrenched in the realm of science. We’re all aware that hot air rises; as such, the majority of the heat produced by your fire attempts to escape through your chimney. Not only that, this fleeing hot air creates an updraft that sucks even more warm air up and out of the room. The goal here, then, is finding ways to keep the hot air from fleeing and, instead, coaxing it to remain in your living space.

The Benefits of Burning Seasoned Wood

An easy first step to increasing the performance and heating efficiency of your fireplace is to burn seasoned firewood. Freshly cut wood—also referred to as green firewood—burns inefficiently and produces large amounts of smoke with little to no real heat to speak of. The majority of the heat energy produced from burning the wood is used to evaporate the excess moisture in the wood rather than going into actually heating your home; this excess moisture also attempts to put the fire out as it’s burning. Seasoned wood, on the other hand, has had ample time to dry and burns much more efficiently than its green counterparts.

Adjusting your Damper to Maximize Heat Output

Once you’ve got your seasoned firewood arranged in the fireplace, you can open the damper as wide as possible to increase the amount of air to the fire. This will improve the combustion and increase the amount of heat produced by the fire. It’s important to note here, however, that one drawback to this increased combustion is that your wood will ultimately burn faster, which will cause you to have to add seasoned wood more often to get a nice continuous flow of heat.

Annual Chimney Inspection and Sweeping

Having your chimney inspected and cleaned by a CSIA-certified chimney sweep yearly can also make it possible to boost your heating performance, as the process removes creosote buildup inside that can significantly restrict air flow. Once your fireplace and chimney have been cleaned, you can replace the screen in front of the fireplace with tempered glass doors, and keep the doors closed while the fire is burning. Doing this will increase the temperature of the fire in your fireplace and reduce the amount of warm air that the fire draws from the room.

Following the steps mentioned above will enable your fireplace to provide your home with more heat than it might have otherwise produced. Beach Stove & Fireplace takes pride in the services provided to each and every one of our customers. We encourage you to take a minute to call or ask one of our technicians what is available for your particular unit that can help it last longer and/or perform better. You won’t be disappointed that you called!

By Julie Dismore on March 5th, 2014 | Tagged with: Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Maximizing the Heat

Our Location

Beach Stove and Fireplace is located on Old Riverhead Road between Montauk Highway and Sunrise Highway. From Sunrise Highway take exit 63 south, travel 1.2 miles and turn right at the 381 complex (just north of Gabreski Airport)