Is there a wood stove that looks like a fireplace? How do these two systems differ?
When it comes to heating systems in homes, a lot of homeowners look out for efficiency.
Also important is the type of fuels such systems are designed for. Some of the most popular types include wood-burning stoves and fireplaces.
Woodstove vs wood fireplace. What are the differences and similarities?
Fireplace Vs Wood Stove
If you wish to have one of these heating systems installed, you might want to know about the benefits and disadvantages of each type. Are they the same? If not, what are the similarities between them?
All of these questions and more will help you make the right pick.
Ease of use and maintenance are of great importance to homeowners. All of these and more will be treated here. You only need to stick around and read to the end for answers.
Fireplace And Stove: Lots of Things to Look At
The defining characteristics of wood-burning stoves and wood-burning fireplaces are quite varied.
Here, you’ll need to consider factors such as environmental friendliness, appearance, safety, and efficiency.
More importantly, you’ll need to weigh the benefits of each type against the other.
The same thing is done with the disadvantages. Now, you might whether an efficient system will have a disadvantage. The truth is, every heating system (whether woodstove or fireplace) has a flaw.
However, you should be most concerned about having a greater number of benefits or advantages over disadvantages.
At the end of your comparison, you alone get to decide which best serves your needs. You may want to also seek professional advice on which heating system to pick.
Our goal here is to unveil all the facts and let you decide, and that we shall do.
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Environmental Friendliness
Eco-friendliness matters a lot when it comes to choosing between woodstoves and a fireplace.
Now, both of these burn wood fuels. Here, a critical look at the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere helps assess environmental friendliness.
You may be surprised to learn that wood-burning is carbon neutral.
Does this make sense? Let’s simplify this a little.
Here, we’re trying to say that the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere when burning wood fuels isn’t any different compared to when a tree decays naturally in the forest.
Going back to the key comparison between wood stoves and fireplaces, woodstove designs are optimized for more efficient combustion. With enhanced combustion comes more heat.
This is where a wood-burning fireplace won’t measure up.
We’ll need to point out that a fireplace will serve just fine. However, it’s not as efficient in terms of heat production as a wood stove.
Here, incomplete combustion is more common with soot and creosote more common with fireplaces than with woodstoves.
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Appearance
Aesthetics plays a key role for most homeowners when shopping for a heating system. Woodstoves and fireplaces are constructed differently. Now, both of these have beautiful appearances.
However, the more traditional fireplace tends to have greater aesthetic appeal than a woodstove.
Normally you’ll find a fireplace with varying designs ranging from rustic to modern and also elegant designs. There are also veneer, mosaic tiles, stacked stone, marble, brickwork, and several other fireplace designs.
Basically, you have more options with a fire in terms of appearance than you have with a woodstove.
So, what do you really want? Do you prefer a more efficient heating system (which the woodstove provides) with a limited design option to one with more design options but having lesser heating efficiency?
It all boils down to what your unique needs are.
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Safety
When it comes to safety, you’ll have to look at combustion efficiency.
We’ve earlier stated that woodstoves tend to burn wood fuels more completely than would a fireplace. This feature boils down to the design.
A woodstove is engineered to achieve higher combustion efficiency.
So, how does this contribute to safety? You’ll need to consider the byproducts of combustion that are released when burning wood fuels. These byproducts are in the form of creosotes and ash.
Most fireplaces tend to produce a significant amount of these byproducts which accumulate on chimney walls.
If not removed or cleaned frequently, these highly flammable byproducts can be ignited. Once a chimney fire starts, it doesn’t only have the potential of damaging your chimney but could also engulf your home in a fire.
Plus, the structure is weakened considerably.
You don’t want a chimney fire started as it won’t only damage your chimney and the entire property, but has the potential of causing fatal fire accidents.
With a woodstove, the release of combustion byproducts is significantly reduced. There’s more complete combustion or burnout of wood and its byproducts as opposed to what happens with a fireplace.
Because safety is paramount, woodstoves may be picked over fireplaces.
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Efficiency
In our discussion so far, different aspects of efficiency have been touched on. Basically, efficiency has a lot to do with the amount of heat produced during combustion and the byproducts released.
Based on our discussion, there’s a clear winner here.
Woodstoves are more efficient combustion systems compared to fireplaces. As such, this will form a strong point of comparison when choosing between wood-burning stoves and fireplaces.
In terms of the amount of heat produced, a woodstove will produce three times the heat given off by a fireplace.
However, the efficiency of both systems (woodstoves and fireplaces) is nothing compared to other fuel types like gas. We only need to state this in passing to give you a perspective on combustion efficiencies.
There Are Clear Benefits on Both Sides
When it comes to choosing between wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, the differences and similarities mentioned above will play a big role.
You’ll notice that woodstoves have a clear advantage over fireplaces when it comes to heating efficiency.
On the other hand, fireplaces tend to have an upper hand in terms of aesthetics. These and other aspects of comparison will largely influence your decision on which to settle for.
You Can Have Your Fireplace Modified
Homeowners with old fireplaces don’t need to have such replaced. It’s possible to have your fireplace modified to burn more efficiently. Inserts are designed for such types of scenarios.
With an insert installed on your old fireplace, there’s more efficient combustion and heat production.
These are clear comparisons between wood-burning stoves and wood-burning fireplaces.
We’ve looked at the different angles of comparisons, thus making it easier for you to decide on what best serves your needs.