The average home will require approximately 30 btu's per hour of heat (per square foot with 8 foot ceilings) of living area to maintain a normal level of comfort. It has been said that an older two storey home in the central United States will require about 200,000,000 BTU'S per year. Many factors such as location, quality and type, age and maintenance, elevation and surroundings of a structure will have a great influence on heat demands and fuel consumption's.
A very important thing to remember about a heating appliance is that, like most things they need to be maintained.The basic thing to remember is to follow your instruction manual.
Manufacturers know their product and they want this product to perform at its best so they get a positive referral from you the customer.
Most heating appliances, which burn a fuel and transfer the thermal energy to some sort of a surface, will need to be cleaned from time to time. If not cleaned, this build up insulates and reduces your efficiency. Also all air intakes and exhaust as well as ducting and filters need to be free of restrictions and will very on the amount of maintenance they require due to your heating practices.
It is also important that in the case of wood,corn,coal and any other similar fuel types, that the moisture content is not higher than 15%. Remember that a fireman puts water on a fire to cool it down. There are three parts to combustion. FUEL-OXYGEN-HEAT. Take any one away and you have no fire. The best fire for a heating appliance will require a controlled amount of each. An understanding of this and how it pertains to your appliance and fuel choice, will give you a much improved performance and efficiency.
NOTE: All this information is intended as a guide only. Your local officials, suppliers, and government agencies have a large amount of technical information available and should be consulted before you make your product selections.
We hope that this has been of some assistance to you. We will continue to update this page with related material on a regular bases and your comments are welcomed.
