Rising energy and gas prices make the advantages of having a fireplace or wood burner in the home greater than ever. What better than being able to enjoy the flames and heat from a feature in your home that also lowers your heart rate and your heating costs?
Electricity and energy are being consumed at ever increasing rates and power grids are under heavy stress. It can therefore be smart to spread usage throughout the day and use the wood burner when electricity is most expensive. In these times of constantly rising energy and gas prices, a clean-burning fireplace or wood burner can be a better investment than ever, contributing heat on the coldest days and lowering heating costs.
And no need to worry about getting cold in a power outage. You can always rely on your wood burner to produce heat!
Jøtul has been fighting the cold since 1853, and today we are one of the world’s leading manufacturers of wood burners, fireplace inserts and fireplaces - always aiming for the most efficient combustion, wrapped in a design that not only makes it an attractive feature in the room. But also defines you as a person in many ways!
You are guaranteed to find a fireplace or clean-burning wood burner from our extensive range that will suit your heating needs and whose design will blend naturally into the style of your living space.
If you choose one of our fireplaces clad in soapstone, like for example our Jøtul FS 175, you get an exclusive piece of furniture that also stores the heat it produces. Soapstone is a soft form of natural stone. This cool gray stone is both decorative and practical as it has excellent heat absorption and retention properties and will radiate heat long after the last log has died down. We have several wood burners that can be clad in soapstone, on the top or sides, to enhance their heat storage property (optional extra).
Several of our wood burners can also be enhanced with top heat storage, like for example Jøtul F 371 Advance High Top, this is what we call Jøtul Heat Storage System. Thanks to heat-storing stones hidden in the top of the wood burner, you can enjoy up to 12 hours more heat after the last log was put on the fire. Get your wood burner going in the morning before you go to work and when you get home it is still giving off heat. With the Jøtul Heat Storage System, your fireplace uses less firewood and continues to give off heat long after the fire has gone out.
The monetary savings you can realise with a wood burner depend on the type of wood, availability of wood and, not least, the efficiency of the burner. A non-clean burning fireplace only manages to utilise 50% of the firewood for heat, according to the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature’s project «Energy Smart», while a Jøtul wood burner with new Clean burn technology has an efficiency rating of more than 80%. The same source also ranks Jøtul’s wood burners and fireplaces as the most energy smart!
As an example, a 40-litre sack of birchwood will theoretically produce the equivalent of 76 kWh of heat. Burned in an old stove, however, it will only produce 39 kWh of heat for the home, while a clean burn wood burner will generate more than 60 kWh. * This means that if you buy a fathom of wood (equivalent to 54 forty-litre sacks), you will get just over 3,240 kWh in a clean burn wood burner. In an old stove, you will only produce 2,106 kWh and you will need another 29 sacks!
The reason for these huge differences comes down to the burning technology. Today, Jøtul is a world leader in the field of Clean Burn Technology, which minimises particulate matter emissions because the wood burner uses the energy to produce heat instead of smoke.
Read more about Clean burn technology
Enova, which is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, has produced a practical guide explaining the savings to be gained by purchasing a new wood burner. Of course, if you have access to free wood then the calculation will be even more in your favour. The work of cutting down trees, sawing wood and splitting it into firewood often requires a fair amount of effort on your part. But what could be more satisfying than lighting a fire with the wood that you have worked hard to produce? A bit of physical labour with a chainsaw and axe is also good for both body and soul!
Maybe you know someone who owns an area of woodland that needs clearing or thinning a bit. Or you can check online marketplaces to see if anyone locally is giving away wood for free if you collect it. You can also contact tree felling companies to see if they have any wood you can collect. The trees and branches they take down are often given away if the client doesn’t want them. All you have to do is turn up with a trailer, load it up and drive home!
But remember to allow this wood to dry for a few months first before using it. You need to stay one season ahead to ensure you have a good store of dry wood.
In other words: Heat your home with wood, feel the tension melt away - and keep heating costs down!
