Energy Efficient Fireplace Dampers
Both of the homesaver dampers carry a lifetime warranty and are made of solid cast aluminum and stainless steel parts assembled to precise standards.
Energy efficient fireplace dampers. Without a damper the chimney is a gaping hole sucking warm air and heating dollars out into the cold. This principle works year round whether you re heating or cooling your house. A traditional wood burning fireplace adds warmth and romantic ambiance to a home s interior. Although wood burning fireplaces have aesthetic appeal they may actually remove more heat from a house than they produce.
A typical vertical back fireplace with an open front is at best ten percent. This air draft exhausts heat and smoke while you are using your fireplace. The top sealing damper has a seal that acts like a storm door keeping the expensive conditioned air inside the house and the outside air outside. Lyemance and lock top seal the chimney with asilicone rubber gasket.
Check the seals around your. Chimneys naturally exhaust air in an upward movement from the fireplace to the outdoors. The damper should be. The damper also helps keep the outside air from entering the house and vice versa.
Fortunately new energy efficient fireplace designs are helping wood burning fireplaces achieve efficiency ratings of 75 or more. Fireplace dampers should be tightly closed when the fireplace is not in use. Keep the fireplace damper closed unless you have a fire burning. Although they are attractive and can provide heat to their immediate vicinity fireplaces can actually create a net energy loss.
Chimney cap dampers close the entire top of the chimney so they reduce heat loss when the fireplace is not being used but don t improve efficiency otherwise. Top sealing dampers replace the fireplace throat damper and are installed at the top of the chimney. It can be easy to forget to close it when the fire has burned out but keeping the damper open can cause drafts and heat loss in the rest of the house. Energy efficient fireplaces dampers flue sealers glass door and fireplace covers heat exchangers inserts gas burning fireplaces and inserts.
But most are energy hogs converting only 15 of wood s energy into useful heat. Not only are these more energy efficient but they are also easy to install. This article explains how to install a top sealing damper on a wood burning fireplace chimney to increase energy efficiency as well as lower utility bills. If the throat damper in your fireplace is old and in need of repair consider replacing it altogether with a top sealing variety.
There s nothing quite like the warmth and ambiance of a fireplace in the winter. The closed damper also protects from water and debris. The two most frequently installed energy saving dampers in the country are lyemance and lock top both manufactured by homesaver. 160 to 400 for a.