Thinking of installing a Pellet Fireplace? Here's everything you need to know
Benefits of a pellet fireplace
A Smart Pellet Fireplace is a fully automated closed combustion wood burner, utilizing compressed wood pellets as a fuel source. Activating a Smart pellet fireplace is as easy as pressing the on button or setting a timer. When activated, wood pellets are released into the combustion chamber from a built-in storage facility and automatically ignited. Once active and running, the user can control and set the desired power output of the fireplace and room temperature (much like an air-conditioning system, but at a fraction of the running cost).
The Smart pellet operating system will then automatically adjust the output to maintain the set room temperature selected. These units can also be programmed to turn on and off at pre-determined times (e.g. before you wake up in morning and/or before you come home from work –your home can be pre-heated to a specific temperature set by the user).
Smart Pellet fireplaces are highly efficient (operating in and around the 90% efficiency mark) providing the user with an extremely effective and economical heating solution that is convenient and easy to use and maintain. Multi-fire enabled units allow for heating of additional rooms with a ducted central heating system for maximum heat distribution (Smart plus and Smart premium units only)
All new Calore Smart pellet fireplaces can also be fitted with an optional Wi-Fi kit and connected to the internet for convenient remote control on your cell phone or tablet via a Mobile App, which can also be integrated into home automation systems.
What is a pellet fireplace?
Pellet fireplaces are highly efficient, fully automated and programmable heating systems. They utilize wood pellets as fuel which is very economical, easy to handle and store and produce high heat outputs without harming the environment. Piazzetta pellet fireplaces guarantee a long burn time with a thermostatically controlled self-regulating capacity as well as practical programming management. The user can set the desired room temperature and the fireplace will then automatically adjust its output in order to maintain the temperature selected. Pellet fireplaces can also be programmed to turn on and off at set times. They are very easy to use and require very little maintenance. View our range of pellet fireplaces
Does my pellet fireplace require maintenance?
Yes it does on a yearly basis. During summer months, when your fireplace is not in use , is a perfect time to get it serviced by our trained service teams.
Proper maintenance ensures that you never get a build-up of ash and soot in the flue or dust on the motor.
This maintenance job takes about an hour and a half and entails stripping the fireplace , cleaning out any ash build up, re-spraying and reassembling it.
Please contact your dealer to arrange your service via our Store Locator
Do I choose a wood-log or a wood pellet heating system?
Do you enjoy lighting a fire, stoking the coals and experiencing the romantic ambiance of a natural wood burning flame?
If so, a wood log system is the way to go.
Or
Do you prefer an automated system that can be pre-set to switch on before you arrive home and/or before you wake up in the morning, can automatically maintain the temperature you have selected and requires very little maintenance?
If so, a wood pellet system is the way to go.
Can you guarantee that the pellets will always be available?
Calore wood pellets are locally manufactured are readily available through all of our nationwide stores. Visit our Store Directory.
They are produced from off-cuts and waste material from the local timber industry sourced from sustainable commercial plantations and sawmills.
Pellet fireplaces have been selling successfully in S.A for over 7 years now and subsequent to Calore introducing these systems to the South African market, other suppliers are now making their pellets also available.
How is biomass fuel a green source of energy?
Calore Sustainable Energy takes the utmost care to source their feedstock from waste wood of the sustainable pine plantation industry of South Africa.
Not a single tree is cut down to produce our wood pellets (and the trees cut down to supply the timber industry are replanted).
When a tree or plant grows it absorbs a certain amount of carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis. When you burn wood (or when a tree dies and decomposes), only that same amount of carbon dioxide it absorbed in its life cycle is released into the atmosphere. That carbon dioxide is then re-absorbed/sequestered by the replanted tree, thus completing the natural carbon cycle.
This is a closed cycle and in this process no additional carbon is emitted into the atmosphere that wasn’t already there, so we can thus say that our products are carbon neutral.
How long do the pellets last (how much is consumed)?
Various factors will influence the amount of pellets consumed. This will vary between homes and the pellet fireplace in question.
How much fuel you burn is relative to how warm you want it to be in your home, how big the space is you are trying to heat, how well your house are insulated, and how much it would take to heat the required space in relation to the outside temperature at any given moment.
The amount of pellets which are consumed will vary from each pellet fireplace and will depend on the kilowatt output range of the fireplace and at which power setting the fireplace has been set to (Just like a motor vehicle with a larger engine will consume more petrol than one with a smaller engine – a pellet fireplace with a larger output will in the same way consume more pellets than one with a smaller output).
What is the cost of Pellets?
Do the pellet units need electricity to run?
Requires no electricity
Fully automated:
Yes. Pellets fireplaces consume on average between 100 to 200 watts per hour – the same amount of electricity a light bulb would consume. A pellet fireplace can be run from an inverter/battery setup or would work perfectly with an existing solar setup.
