We all want to be as energy-efficient as possible, and as much as we love our fireplaces, they aren’t always the most environmentally-friendly source of heat. However, replacing certain parts of your fireplace can help it become more “green.” American Chimney & Masonry offer many fireplace part replacement services that can greatly increase the energy-efficiency of your fireplace as well as improve the appearance of your hearth.
According to “Natural Health,” an online magazine dedicated to greener living, replacing and updating certain parts of your fireplace will help to make it more friendly to the environment.
Replace your damper
If the damper on your fireplace does not work, it’s either stuck open, and you’re wasting energy, or it’s stuck closed, and you cannot even use your fireplace or smoke will enter your home. When this happens, you need to replace your damper, and American Chimney & Masonry has top sealing dampers that can decrease your heat loss by 75%. If you have an older chimney, you may have a throat damper which uses a metal plate to close the flue. While metal can last for years, there are issues that occur with throat dampers: the damper can get stuck with rust, the metal plate can break due to corrosion, or the plate can even come off its track, which makes it impossible to open or close. All of these things leave you with an incomplete seal, which means hot air is escaping your home, and cold air is entering. Installed at the top of the flue, a top sealing damper shuts the chimney off with a silicone gasket. Also protecting against water leakage, these dampers are easy to repair and replace.
Install an insert
If you have a wood-burning fireplace, you know that you must be careful because burning wood can emit a lot of pollution; however, a properly installed insert has been cited by the Environmental Protection Agency because it can reduce wood smoke pollution by 70%. American Chimney & Masonry also has gas fireplace inserts which can update the look of your gas fireplace.
Replace factory built and prefab fireplace walls and screens
The walls in a prefab fireplace can crack, and that is not a good thing. Cracks form because the high heats produced in the firebox combined with the acidic byproducts produced by combustion causes refractory panels to abrade. These cracks can impede the draft of your chimney and lead to a fire hazard by giving embers the opportunity to get into your house and possibly cause a fire. If you ever notice cracks in the walls of your prefab fireplace, contact American Chimney & Masonry to set up an appointment, and we will replace your walls.
Regular fireplace maintenance like replacing parts when necessary not only keeps you safe from fire hazards, but it also improves the appearance of your hearth and its energy-efficiency. American Chimney & Masonry are experienced in all aspects of fireplace maintenance and can keep your fireplace safe and “green” by doing all of these replacements for you. Schedule an appointment with us today if you need any part of your fireplace updated.
