Your gas furnace creates heat in your house by burning a fuel source (gas in this case) and then sending the resulting heat to the rest of your house. When the gas burns it creates hot vapors which are sent into a piece of metal tubing. This metal tubing is called a heat exchanger and for good reason. The reason for the heat exchanger is to dissipate heat from the gas furnace into the air that is passed over the heat exchanger and into the rest of your house.

There are four major types of gas furnaces and the one you pick basically depends on the location of your furnace and the duct work that will accompany it.

When needing a furnace that will blow hot air through low pipes you need a counterflow gas furnace because this type takes air from the top of the furnace and shoots it out the bottom.

The highboy and low boy gas furnaces are the most common because the heat is pushed out the top to be vented in several appropriate directions from the top plane.

The less common horizontal gas furnace blows air out sideways so that it can be used in tight spaces like attics and crawl spaces.

A gas furnace can come in different models and types and as such each different model has a different level of efficiency. Open burner gas furnaces that use a standard pilot are the least efficient because of the lost heat through the smoke pipe. A condensing gas furnace is the most efficient and different because there is a condensing coil that extracts even more of the heat from the exhaust gases saving you money. While the major part of efficiency for the gas furnace lies in the burner itself, here are some pretty standard tips to help you save on your gas bill.

1. o Simply lowering your thermostat by 3 to 5 degrees can save you 10 to 20% on your gas bill.
2. o By lowering the amount of heat lost by upgrading the insulation in your attic and walls you can save you up to 25% on your gas bill.
3. o Weather stripping around windows and doors is another big gas saver.
4. o Proper maintenance of your gas furnace will insure efficient heating.
5. o Along with proper maintenance come replacing the gas furnace filter. This alone can save up to 2% on your gas bill.
6. o Make sure that your gas furnace is blowing the air to the right places. Leaks in the duct system can loose hot air before it gets to the desired room. Patch the gap!

If you have had enough of whopping energy consumption bills due to use of electronic heating devices, its time you switch to pellet stoves. Pellets stoves refer to stoves that use pellets as a fuel. Pellets are very cost effective and are quite efficient as compared to the electronic devices used for the heating purposes.

pellet stoves are effective home heaters. A pellet stove is just like a wood stove; the only difference is that it is automated.

A pellet stove is quite simple to use. You are just required to add pellets to the hopper of the stove and thereby set the desired heat output. The stove will automatically determine the optimum amount of air for combustion. Most pellet stoves come with a fan to circulate air via heat exchanger. Some stoves rely on radiant heat delivery process.

What is Pellet Fuel? Pellets are biomass products, made-up of wood paste or sawdust. Pellets acts as a renewable and clean burning fuels. More than 600,000 thousand people in North America use wood pellets for heat. These pellets are used in fireplace inserts, furnaces and freestanding stoves. The pellet fuels turn waste materials into sources of energy.

How do pellet stoves work? pellet stoves are basically electronic devices. These stoves automatically adjust and control combustion, blowers, fans and heating. You are required to insert pellets into the hopper located at the top of the stove. A hopper generally holds up to 80 pounds of pellets.

Most pellet stoves contain an auger. The purpose of the auger is to deliver pellets to the combustion chamber from the hopper. The movements of the auger can be set manually, but it’s generally set automatically. Pellets are delivered at a rate of 1 pound per hour, in case of glowing fire, and 5 pounds per hour, for a blazing fire. The size of the fire depends on the amount of the feed.

The pellets are fed into the fire pot of the combustion chamber. To encourage super heated flame, combustion air is blown into the chamber. A fan, provided inside the stove, draws in the room air. The drawn air is heated at about 250 degrees in the heat exchanger. Then the warmed air is thrown back in the room. pellet stoves rely on convective heat. This is the reason why pellet stoves are not hot when touched.

The combustion gases are vented outside the room via flue which exits on the top of the unit. pellet stoves do not require chimneys.

Types of pellet stoves.

pellet stoves are available in various styles and size varieties. There are different types of pellet stoves available. Here are some examples.

For great flexibility freestanding pellet stoves are available. These stoves are available with installation options. These stoves are supported by a pedestal. Freestanding pellet stoves are designed to be installed in any area of the house. However there is one limitation, they should never be installed in sleeping areas. These stoves are placed on a protector which is non-combustible in nature. Freestanding pellet stoves should always be installed at a safe distance away from combustible surfaces.

Fire place inserts are also a type of pellet stoves. These are installed in working fireplaces. The space between the fire place opening and insert is covered decoratively by a panel. These pellet inserts are typically installed in masonry fireplaces. These pellet stoves offer your home a look of fire place setting. These stoves are economical. You can apply bricks around and atop this type of stove to give it a look of fireplace. You would require a non-combustible floor protector to provide for air space under the unit.

pellet stoves, no doubt, provide you with low cost fuel and reduces your energy consumption bills drastically. Mother Nature provides yet another better fuel alternative to keep you warm and cozy.

Michael Jason writes articles on a number of different topics. For more information on pellet stoves please visit http://www.stove-ideas.com/pellet-stoves.html and for additional Stove articles please visit the following article page http://www.stove-ideas.com/stove-articles/

Changing and cleaning the furnace filter are some of the simplest things you can do to extend the proper functioning of your home heating system. While furnace filters were primarily used for the protection of the furnace itself, there has been an increasing trend in the belief that a high grade filter will also increase the over all air quality of the house.

There are several types and styles of furnace filters our there and here are the most common:

Fiberglass furnace filters are the cheapest to buy but block the largest dirt and dust particles and thus protect the furnace as intended. Because the fiberglass filter is not meshed very tightly, the smaller particles like pollen and mold can get through.

Studies by the CMHC have shown however that even the most expensive furnace filters that were designed to catch even the smallest particles and spores do not greatly increase air quality. The reason is because the main cause of poor air quality in households has nothing to do with the furnace itself. Particle density in the air has to do with how much the dust is being stirred up by activity in the house itself. This would include smoking, doing laundry, pets and dust around the house.

The best filter in tests is the ESP furnace filters. ESP filters work by producing an ionized electrical field that “magnetizes” pollutant particles and collects them on the filter material. And of course it does collect the most particles, but may not increase you homes air quality because the filter is located in the basement away from the air you actually want filtered.

There are also washable electrostatic furnace filters that collect dust and debris through a static charge and pleated mesh type filters. The pleats create more surface area to trap more particles and so are slightly more effective than the electrostatic type filter.

High Efficiency Particulate Air filters or HEPA for short, are what hospitals and other areas where air quality is of utmost importance use. While they may be the highest quality, they also block air flow and so are not efficient when used in a household setting.

So now that you understand where the dirt and dust actually comes from, choosing what type of furnace filter you need isn’t really such a big deal. The real purpose of the filter is to protect the furnace and not your lungs. The lung protection is better dealt with on a household cleaning level. While the furnace filter will contribute to your air quality some what, the only real concern that you should have is that you change it every month or so.