Consider renewable, reliable wood heat for your home
The news is out: the United States Energy Information Service is predicting a rise in home heating costs this winter. Electricity costs are projected up two percent, propane nine percent, and natural gas a staggering 13 percent. Is your budget ready?Cut to the chase: consider wood heat. "Not only is wood a renewable resource, a wood heat stove will keep your home and family warm even when storms disable electric and gas services. You'll never have to scramble to keep your home warm in a blizzard if you have a wood stove," says Glenda Lehman Ervin, Vice President of Marketing at Lehman's in Kidron.
Today's woodstoves aren't your granddaddy's wood stoves either, she notes. "Sure, we have a potbelly style for heating shops or dairy rooms, but for the most part, our wood heat stoves are designed to fit seamlessly into a home, work efficiently, and look good doing it."
In addition to being cost-effective, today's wood stoves are environmentally friendly. Their fuel is a renewable resource and catalytic converters and advanced non-catalytic technology prevent their smoke from harming the environment. Additionally, the new recycled pressed wood fuels, like Bio Block heating blocks (also available at Lehman's), burn well in wood heat stoves.
"There are no glues or chemicals to keep Bio Blocks together," says Dave Phillips, Lehman's stove expert. "They're made up of hardwood scraps and water. You can get long burn times from the blocks."
Modern heat stoves include great environmental advantages too. A device called a catalyst combustor, built into many of the stoves that Lehman's sells helps the stoves function more efficiently, burning cleaner longer. Essentially, the catalyst helps burn all the available fuel. A catalyst stove's exhaust will be very light gray or white at the chimney, and contain very little creosote and almost no wood ash. Catalyst-equipped stoves use much less fuel, burn each load of fuel efficiently, and hold coals for hours, even overnight, which makes morning start-up much easier.
Standard non-catalytic stoves are still available too. "In our stove room at our Kidron store, it's easy to compare the two stove types side by side, and choose the best for your family's needs," says Ervin. Traditional stoves take advantage of modern technology too. Newer, "clean-burning stoves" make use of re-burning technologies, and are nearly as efficient as a catalyst stove.
No matter which type of stove you may choose, don't forget the charm factor. "There's nothing like the family being warm and cozy on a bitterly cold evening, with that fire glowing behind the door. It's the best feeling. My family and I heat our home with wood, and I can tell you that there's nothing like it."
Unlike standard baseboard heat, or forced air heat, wood heat travels fairly evenly, warming across and traveling up throughout the home, displacing cold air. "Wood heat stoves will radiate heat for hours, long after the primary fire dies back to coals. As long as there's warmth in the firebox, the stove will continue to heat your home evenly."
To find out more about the wood stoves and accessories available at Lehman's, call 888-438-5346 for a free catalog, or log on to www.Lehmans.com. The store is in Kidron, but Lehman's ships to customers in all 50 states.