Frustrated with the lack of heat you get from your natural gas fireplace log set?\u00a0 Carl Herkes explains why gas fireplace logs are inefficient.<\/p>\n
Natural gas is on the rise.\u00a0 It is predicted to double in cost this year.\u00a0 Are you afraid to use your gas fireplace because you know those gas logs don’t throw enough heat?\u00a0 Are you frustrated because the gas logs are downright ugly when they aren’t burning?\u00a0 And now you won’t use them because you can’t stand to waste the natural gas?\u00a0 Let’s face it.\u00a0 Traditional gas fireplace logs are inefficient.\u00a0 Let me explain why.<\/p>\n
First, much of the gas burns behind the logs.\u00a0 You don’t see most of the flame and you don’t feel the radiant heat from it.\u00a0 In order to see a good deal of flame, you must turn the gas much higher than just an idle.\u00a0 In doing so, you are burning more gas than you should.\u00a0 This also presents an additional problem.\u00a0 By-products, mainly in the form of soot are produced.\u00a0 Not enough oxygen can combine with the natural gas to completely burn it up.\u00a0 Remember the days when cars were not equipped with catalytic converters?\u00a0 Remember driving down the road and smelling the exhaust of the cars around you?\u00a0 That is the smell of gasoline not being completely burned.\u00a0 The catalytic converter solved that problem.\u00a0 It gets very hot and helps to burn any leftover gasoline before it exits your exhaust system.\u00a0 Fireplaces are like cars without catalytic converters.\u00a0 Soot and other by-products are produced when natural gas is not completely burned.<\/p>\n
Secondly, gas fireplace logs have some fill underneath them that is supposed to look like ash from a wood burning fireplace.\u00a0 That fill substance is usually crushed lava rock.\u00a0 Lava rock neither retains nor radiates heat.\u00a0 No doubt, you have seen countless styles of heaters on the market.\u00a0 Whether electric, natural gas, kerosene or propane, they all share a common feature (with the exception of a few radiator-style heaters).\u00a0 The heaters all have reflective surfaces around the heating element to better radiate heat into your room.\u00a0 Those heaters do not have a lava rock lining around the heating element.\u00a0 Manufacturers know that a reflective surface is the best surface for throwing radiant heat.<\/p>\n
Thirdly, the gas logs themselves do not help to drive radiant heat into the room.\u00a0 The logs do retain heat, but the surface of them (made to look like bark on a tree) is certainly not reflective.\u00a0 The surface of the logs is usually very rough and starts getting covered with soot the first time they are used.\u00a0 The soot further inhibits the logs from radiating heat.<\/p>\n
In summary, gas fireplace logs are sold because some people would like to see a fire that mimics what a real wood fire looks like.\u00a0 Often, manufacturers don’t take into account that consumers are only getting half the benefit of having a fire if it’s only visual, but lacks the heat advantage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Frustrated with the lack of heat you get from your natural gas fireplace log set?\u00a0 Carl Herkes explains why gas fireplace logs are inefficient. Natural gas is on the rise.\u00a0 It is predicted to double in cost this year.\u00a0 Are … Continue reading