Freestanding stoves are independent of a fireplace, instead mounted on a pedestal or legs atop a hearth pad. Enviro Freestanding Stoves are available for wood, gas and pellet fuels.

Inserts are units that can be installed into an existing masonry or factory built fireplace with a chimney. Enviro Fireplace Inserts are available for wood, gas and pellet fuels.

This is a unit that can be put into new construction or renovation without an existing chimney.

This type of unit takes its air for combustion from the house and vents through a flue. The advantages are that both the unit and the required venting are generally less expensive. It is not recommended that you put a B Vent unit into new energy efficient construction or tightly sealed houses, due to possible combustion problems.

This type of unit takes its combustion air from outside the house and exhausts through a flue. The air intake and the exhaust flue can be either co-linear or co-axial. Usually more expensive for both the unit and the flue, a direct vent stove is a sealed unit. This means that it is independent of the house envelope. This type of unit is ideally suited for today’s airtight new construction.

(Liquified Petroleum Gas) Propane.

Natural Gas.

Refers to the cyclical process in which cooler air passes through or near the heat exchanger, warming before circulating back into the room. This cycle is an ongoing process while the unit is in operation, continually warming and redistributing cooler air.

This device is responsible for transferring the heat created in the firebox to the convection air and into the room. The points to look for in an efficient heat exchanger are:

• 1.   A large surface area to allow the convection air sufficient contact to transfer as much heat as possible from the fire to the room.
• 2.   The heat exchanger should have natural convection allowing the air to circulate freely with or without a blower.
• 3.   It should be of solid construction to allow for durability and good heat transfer qualities.

These are industry terms for units that have been designed to a high level of efficiency. You should avoid units that are only decorative rated.

This is a calculation as to how efficiently you are burning your fuel and how efficiently you put that heat into the room. When looking at these efficiency numbers the best range to be is between 75% and 83%. Below 75% you are not burning the gas as efficiently as possible. Above 85%, low exhaust temperatures allow water to separate from exhaust gases and this may cause problems with your venting or unit.

In the past log sets were made from concrete and looked unrealistic. Today, improved log sets are made from a Ceramic Fibre that looks more like real wood. When the flame touches the ember material and side of the log, it glows like a real fire.

(Cubic Feet per Minute) This is the amount of air that a blower will move. There is no magic figure that is suited to all units; rather, a blower should be tailored to a particular unit. If the amount of air movement is not balanced to the size of the unit it can become noisy.