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Found 219 results for the keyword(s) ‘Wood Heating’

  • Article

    Montreal is phasing out wood heating that pollutes

    Note: There is one important exception to all the pollution control described below.  The Montreal by-law states: "Authorizing the use of all solid fuel-burning devices during electricity outages that last more than three hours."  (but you must keep your fireplace and chimney clean and in good ...
  • Article

    Fire Safety & Installing Wood Burning Appliances

    Wood heating appliances get hot -- that's why we use them -- but they also burn down houses.  They are only safe if you install them safely.   -- Let's start with the fascinating process of how wood burns; -- and now let's see how that process can happen inside your walls or floors near woo...
  • Article

    Improving a wood chimney to stop backdrafting

      Rick from New Brunswick is having problems with his wood stove backdrafting and he wants to know if it will help to box in the chimney on the outside of the house. Backdrafting or difficult starting with wood burning appliances is often a problem and there are several entries in this database ...
  • Article

    Quebec all-electric? Not possible and not even a valid objective!

    EN FRANÇAIS There is an elephant in the room – QUEBEC GETS REALLY COLD.  The ecological dream of an all-electric urban society is suicidal in a cold climate like Quebec. Extended power system black-outs are a reality of life in Quebec.  Every few years electrical system black-outs have forced...
  • Article

    HEATING SYSTEMS -- AN INTRODUCTION

    Building codes require that a heating system be able to just barely maintain a comfortable house during the coldest day of the year. Hence the size of the heating system depends not only on the size of the house but on where it is located and how well it is winterized (sealed and insulated). The ...
  • Article

    Radiant Heating Systems for Homes

    Radiant Heating and Convection Heating are the two primary types of ways we heat our houses. FORCED AIR HEATINGConvection heating means moving hot air -- what we usually call a forced air heating system simply heats air and moves it around the house through a system of fans and ducts.  Forced air...
  • Article

    Protecting the wall behind a wood stove.

    Melissa sent in an e-mail worrying about the fact that the paint on the wall behind her wood burning fireplace is so hot that it is bubbling.That is too hot. Check the manufacturer's instructions if you have them -- each appliance has specified distances from combustible surfaces. Yours is ...
  • Article

    CAN WOOD-BURNING SYSTEMS BE MODERNIZED?

    Open fireplaces are not heating systems. They have traditionally been built on an outer wall, creating sealing problems for air barriers and wasting lots of heat through the back of the chimney. Fireplaces should always be built on the inside walls -- if you build one at all. The problem w...
  • Article

    Why is a modern Wood Stove so energy efficient?

    The key to efficient heating with a wood stove is not just having an air tight stove, but controlling completely the burn, even re-burning the gasses after they come off of the logs. It is easier to understand if we look inside an energy efficient stove. Check out this 3-D animation.
  • Article

    The fireplace stinks a sooty smell.

    Brenda from Port Hardy, B.C. says that her wood burning insert smells of soot when it is not in use.The problem is obviously one of air coming down the chimney. Either the exhaust fans in the house are drawing air when there is no fire to maintain an upward draft, or the wind is twisted around on...