Grate heater
Encyclopedia
A tubular grate heater is any grate or heat exchanger
for a fireplace
designed from metal tubing. Through the tubing is circulated home air, that becomes heated by the fire. The air is then vented back into the room and home. It is a heat recovery device that improves the efficiency and ability of a fireplace to get the heat from the fire out and into the home. From simple to ornate they can contribute significantly to the overall comfort of a room and potentially to a whole house. This in turn will reduce the amount of firewood needed to achieve the same comfort level, potentially reducing heating costs and expenses.
Tubular grate heaters increase the efficiency of a fireplace and hence the amount of heat that makes it from the fireplace out into the home. They work by having naturally convected and forced air funneled into the metal heat exchanger tubing that is then heated by the coals and/or fire. They draw in cold air from the floor and blow heated air back out into your home. This adds an element of conductive and convective heating to the radiant heat typical of a basic fireplace. Grate Heaters have been called many things; heatilator, hearth heater, fireplace blower, fireplace grate heater, Fireplace Furnace, tubular grate heater, etc...
The ideal tubular grate heater, would be built like an ideal heat exchanger
with as large a surface area
as possible with material suitable to minimize the heaters thermal deterioration yet provide good thermal conductivity
with a high air flow rate; similar to your home heating Furnace
. However the unique environment of a fireplace, and the burning of gas, wood, coal, pellets, etc. requires specific heater designs and material construction making few, if any, Grate Heater compatible to all purpose fuel burning.
The most critical elements of any tubular Grate Heater are: 1) Safety - construction material and method, design and features. 2) Material - quality steel that enhances: thermal conductivity
is safe (e.g. Galvanized steel sweats lead) and resist thermal deterioration (e.g. tin, Sheet metal
offer little resistance against thermal deterioration). 3) BTU Rating - the combination of the units fire burning efficiency and the systems ability to deliver high volume, high temperature forced air heating into your home.
Heat exchanger
A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment built for efficient heat transfer from one medium to another. The media may be separated by a solid wall, so that they never mix, or they may be in direct contact...
for a fireplace
Fireplace
A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...
designed from metal tubing. Through the tubing is circulated home air, that becomes heated by the fire. The air is then vented back into the room and home. It is a heat recovery device that improves the efficiency and ability of a fireplace to get the heat from the fire out and into the home. From simple to ornate they can contribute significantly to the overall comfort of a room and potentially to a whole house. This in turn will reduce the amount of firewood needed to achieve the same comfort level, potentially reducing heating costs and expenses.
Tubular grate heaters increase the efficiency of a fireplace and hence the amount of heat that makes it from the fireplace out into the home. They work by having naturally convected and forced air funneled into the metal heat exchanger tubing that is then heated by the coals and/or fire. They draw in cold air from the floor and blow heated air back out into your home. This adds an element of conductive and convective heating to the radiant heat typical of a basic fireplace. Grate Heaters have been called many things; heatilator, hearth heater, fireplace blower, fireplace grate heater, Fireplace Furnace, tubular grate heater, etc...
The ideal tubular grate heater, would be built like an ideal heat exchanger
Heat exchanger
A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment built for efficient heat transfer from one medium to another. The media may be separated by a solid wall, so that they never mix, or they may be in direct contact...
with as large a surface area
Surface area
Surface area is the measure of how much exposed area a solid object has, expressed in square units. Mathematical description of the surface area is considerably more involved than the definition of arc length of a curve. For polyhedra the surface area is the sum of the areas of its faces...
as possible with material suitable to minimize the heaters thermal deterioration yet provide good thermal conductivity
Thermal conductivity
In physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
with a high air flow rate; similar to your home heating Furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
. However the unique environment of a fireplace, and the burning of gas, wood, coal, pellets, etc. requires specific heater designs and material construction making few, if any, Grate Heater compatible to all purpose fuel burning.
The most critical elements of any tubular Grate Heater are: 1) Safety - construction material and method, design and features. 2) Material - quality steel that enhances: thermal conductivity
Thermal conductivity
In physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
is safe (e.g. Galvanized steel sweats lead) and resist thermal deterioration (e.g. tin, Sheet metal
Sheet metal
Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed of the material...
offer little resistance against thermal deterioration). 3) BTU Rating - the combination of the units fire burning efficiency and the systems ability to deliver high volume, high temperature forced air heating into your home.