We're all looking for ways to become more efficient with our carbon footprint and our spending. One comparison that's often made in the realm of fireplaces: furnace or gas fireplace, what's more efficient? Well, we're here to talk about the characteristics of both and you can decide which is better for the planet.
Gas fireplaces can range a bit in efficiency, but lucky for us, we mostly focus on carrying Valor Gas Fireplaces, so we can narrow it down a bit and give you a detailed explanation on how they can efficiently heat your home.
Valor fireplaces have become a household name in Canada in the gas fireplace industry. They've become top of the class in performance, innovation, style and efficiency. They're known as the Original Radiant Fireplace and utilize what's called zone heating in their units.
Zone heating is one of the best parts about owning a gas fireplaces, be it a gas insert or new build. One of the downsides in efficiency with a furnace is you're using it to heat your entire home. So if you've got a basement that you only use for laundry, or a spare bedroom that only acts as your pets solitary oasis, you're wasting heat/gas and money. With zone heating, you can essentially turn off or drastically lower your thermostat for your furnace, and keep the area you're in nice and toasty. This is perfect for those of us who spend 90% of our time in a particular area of our home, and like to cuddle up under the sheets at night in a cooler room. You won't lose the heat to other areas of the house through the ducts or suffer from cycling losses.
With Valor utilizing the the processes of convective and radiant energy, their gas fireplaces puts the heat directly out into your room. This heat is then absorbed into surfaces it comes in contact with and keeps the heat inside your home. With a Valor gas fireplace, you can save up to 30% on your monthly gas bill in the winter.
Click here to learn more about the ingenuity of Valor's Heatshift that combines convective and radiant heat manipulation.
Valor also has some pretty outstanding features built in to their units. If you haven't interacted with the remote control or wall switch after eight hours, your fireplace will automatically turn the fire down to pilot mode. This way if you were a little too tired before bed or left in a rush to go to work in the morning, you don't have to worry about your fireplace running for an extended period of time. Additionally, Valor's have a built-in feature that will shut its pilot light off to save energy if you don't use your fireplace for seven days. Don't worry, it's not like the old days where you have to get on your hands and knees to manually light it again - it's simply done through the remote. This is to ensure the safety of your home, as well as your energy bill.
Last but not least, you will be able to know how much heat you use a lot easier with a fireplace. For those of you who don't know, heat output is often measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units) and all heat producing appliances should have their BTU rating listed on the unit itself. One thing to be conscious of is that the BTU rating on a gas fireplace will be much more accurate to reality than a furnace, in terms of how much heat actually makes it to the room you want to heat up. This is because heat coming out of a furnace is lost when traveling through your cold air ducts, whereas a fireplace will heat your desired room directly. So, for those of you who like to run a tight ship when it comes to monitoring your household finances, a gas fireplace will be a much better option for keeping you warm this winter.
Through Radiant heat, Valor gas fireplaces are up to 25% more efficient than your standard Forced Air Systems. Between radiant heat, Heatshift air flow convection, zone heating techniques, and built-in efficiency and safety features, it's easy to see how Valor fireplaces are more efficient than furnaces. Don't heat up your entire home and lose heat throughout the house, get yourself a Valor fireplace and make your home more efficient!
If you have any more questions about fireplace efficiency, you can visit any of our 5 locations across Canada to speak to a fireplace expert. We have two locations in Alberta with our Calgary North and Calgary South locations, as well as 3 across the GTA: Burlington, Oakville & Etobicoke, Ontario.