Let me paint you a picture: It’s a bitter early winter day here in Vancouver, easily the coldest day of the winter so far.
The temperature is in single digits, it is snowing, and gale-force winds are blowing outside (or just as common, replace the snow with heavy rain).
Fortunately, you are inside. And you will remain inside all day long.
Your spouse and children are sleeping in on this particular day, and you decide to take advantage of the quiet by sipping a cup of tea while reading a novel you’ve been promising yourself you’d start.
Before sitting down to read, you remember you’ve been wanting to try out the new gas fireplace you and your spouse wanted when you built your custom Vancouver home. You crank up the heat, then settle in to read, and sip tea.
If you’re thinking about building a new home, you may wonder, how much will my house warm up if I install a gas fireplace in my custom Vancouver home?
If you install a gas fireplace in your custom Vancouver home, you can expect the temperature to warm up by 10 degrees, and 15 degrees at the ceiling (especially if you have high ceilings).
There are several reasons for this (and things you can do about it).
Gas Fireplaces: The Reason Your Home Will Get Warm
Gas fireplaces burn gas. The natural byproduct of this combustion process is heat, which will vary depending on a number of factors:
- The BTU rating of the gas fireplaces
- The overall energy efficiency of your home
- The temperature in the room it is placed
- How well insulated your home is
- The temperature outside
- The size and height of the room
It is a given that your gas fireplace will warm up your home. Indeed, your goal when you turn on a gas fireplace is to warm up a room.
So it will work the way it is designed to work.
But how much is too much? And what can you do about it?
Are There Ways to Have a Gas Fireplace and Keep My Home from Getting Too Hot?
There are several ways you can have a gas fireplace in your custom Vancouver home without turning your high ceiling home into an oven. Here are a few of them:
Reduce the set point on your gas fireplace – Some homeowners are so in love with gas fireplaces that they’ll crank up the flame as high as it will go. Go for it, but be forewarned, it’ll get hot in your home (especially on days that aren’t as cold)
Reduce the set point on your central heating system – OK, so you want to dial up the heat on your gas fireplace? If you want to go this route, you could reduce the set point on your home’s central heating system. On milder days, this could work pretty well, although you should be aware that some parts of your home could get chilly.
Install a smaller BTU gas fireplace – If you’re like most people building a home, you think bigger is better. If you could install a 20,000 BTU gas fireplace, then a 40,000 or 45,000 BTU fireplace will do what you need it to do, but faster, right? Exactly, which is why your home will get too hot if you haven’t chosen the right size gas fireplace for what you need in your custom Vancouver home.
Open bedroom doors in the upstairs to reduce excessive heat – If your gas fireplace still warms the upper part of your house too much, you can open bedroom doors to give some of that excessive heat a place to go.
An Electric Fireplace is Also an Option for Your Custom Vancouver Home
If you don’t feel you need the benefit of a gas fireplace and you simply like the glow of a fake fire, installing an electric fireplace might be something to consider when you build your custom Vancouver home.
If you haven’t already read it, I wrote an article recently comparing electric and gas fireplaces.
Then you won’t have to worry about your gas fireplace warming your house up so much that your family wakes up hot and makes it hard for you to read your book.
A Final Thought
The thoughts above are just a few of the details that go into planning custom Vancouver homes that are built to last. There are many pieces of the custom home building puzzle – budgeting, design, planning, building, and many others – that can help you make your Vancouver custom home a reality for you and your family.
When you’re ready to begin a conversation about how Larch Custom Home Construction can be a valuable resource in building your custom Vancouver home, you can reach out to us to get started.
