NDL Hearth Blog

Every year at the holidays Northeast Distribution LTD collects generous donations from their retailers in New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for Toys for Tots or different charities they have chosen for that year. Northeast Distribution LTD then matches the amount collected. This year the total amount of donations amounted to $3000.

In 2009 NDL bought $1,700 worth of toys for toys-for-tots, and in 2010 donated 220 hams and 800lbs of potatoes for the food pantry – all with the help of our generous retailers throughout the Northeast.

Last weekend, the Northeast Distribution crew took a morning ride to Walmart in New Hampshire and purchased $3000 worth of toys: bikes, Nerf guns, dolls, Legos and much more. The Marines were waiting for us – they were having their annual STUFF THE BUS TOY DRIVE. We arrived with blazing horn and a truck load of toys to a pile of smiles. WHEB & WERZ were broadcasting live and we were excited to have some fun with them and talk about the generosity of the Stove and Hearth retailers in the Northeast. ”They always answer the call for help and this year was no different. $3000 dollars worth of Toys is huge!” Dale said.

Happy Holidays from Northeast Distribution LTD. See more pictures on our Facebook page, like us while you are there.

(click images to enlarge)

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Surely this winter you have been to a home that has felt cozy, welcoming and warm with a fire burning the fireplace. Fireplaces instill a sense of warmth and security in any room. The firelight sends a sense of calm through the atmosphere. You can have this in your home too, with Vermont Castings Wood Burning Fireplace.

The heat generated by a Vermont Castings wood burning fireplace is just the beginning. The room feels welcome, with a cheerful and relaxing ambience, but also, the Sequoia Wood Burning Fireplace by Vermont Castings can heat up to a 2,500 square foot home as efficiently as a wood stove. Efficiency and beauty are combined in this fireplace design.

And, they are less expensive than you think. But, thanks to newer fireplace technology, the efficiency of a Vermont Castings fireplace drives down your heating costs. Wood is a cost effective, efficient and comforting way to heat your home. Not to mention the traditional look of a wood burning fireplace brings people more comfort, and provides a focal point to your room. You’ll notice the fire becoming the gathering place in the evenings. Contact us at 866-602-7227 for more information on any Vermont Castings Products.

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Bitter cold and repeated heavy snowstorms helped make winter in the Northeastern U.S. particularly brutal this year. Adding to the chills were soaring prices for heating oil that are likely to be the highest on record.

By the time the six-month-long winter heating season is over, the average homeowner in the Northeast will have laid out $2,431 for fuel to fire boilers and furnaces, Reuters reported, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which provides forecasts of energy costs. The amount is about $200 more than the Energy Department predicted in October -- and almost $500 more than the average just a year ago.

Temperatures were indeed colder than average in December and January, but that's not the source of the high price for heating oil. "[R]ising oil prices, not colder weather, have been the primary cause of the increase in forecasts of average winter season heating expenditures for households heating with oil," the EIA said in its statement.

The price of heating oil rose to $90 a barrel this month, up from $78 in October, Reuters noted. That rise pushed the average retail price for residential heating oil to $3.59 a gallon this week, up 73 cents from a year earlier, the EIA said.

Demand Is Down, But Not Prices

The increase in the cost of heating oil as crude prices have steadied or fallen in recent days is a conundrum, says Josh Garrett, managing editor of HeatingOil.com, a Manhattan-based information service for both dealers and consumers.

With healthy supplies of heating oil and rising temperatures in the Northeast, prices have little reason to remain at such high levels, Garrett says. Mild weather in recent days has lowered demand 20% from levels typical for this time of year.

Garrett offers no predictions about where heating oil prices will go as the Northeast heads into the final six weeks of the heating season. "I'm at a loss," he says. Prices should slide lower because supplies remain high. But, he adds, that's been true the entire season, and plentiful stores of heating oil haven't had much effect on lowering prices.

Budget Cuts Target Home Heating Assistance Program

Sustained high prices for home heating oil raise the specter of fewer people being able to afford to keep their homes warm come next heating season. That will be especially true if cuts to the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program are implemented.

As part of his draft budget released last week, President Obama targeted $2.5 billion in cuts to the $5.1 billion program that helps low-income households with energy costs. Obama justified the cuts by noting that the price of natural gas, a dominant heating source nationwide, has fallen steadily in the last two years.

But that's not true for heating oil, says Garrett, in a blog post at HeatingOil.com. After hitting their highest levels ever in the summer of 2008, crude oil prices crashed along with the economy in late 2008 and early 2009, making heating oil "quite affordable." Since then, however, prices have risen sharply, doubling during the slightly more than two years since Obama took office and rising 38% in the last year alone.

Garrett doubts that the proposed 50% cut in LIHEAP funding will make it into the final budget, noting that strong negative reactions from constituents and lawmakers "will translate into a much less severe cut." Legislators from Maine to Maryland, regardless of party, will work together during budget negotiations to ensure that the cuts to the program aren't made, he says.

"They realize this is a huge issue for their constituents," says Garrett, "and they're definitely not going to stand idly by and let the program get gutted."

View Original Article By David Schepp, DailyFinance.com - Click Here

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Creosote buildup inside your chimney is the primary reason you will need to have the chimney cleaned, and it is the primary cause of chimney fires. Creosote is one of the chemical products of “incomplete combustion of fuel”. It is one of byproducts of burning fires that is carried up your chimney through the flue to be vented safely outside.

There are several steps you can take to minimize creosote condensation inside your chimney. The first and easiest is to always burn well seasoned wood in your fireplace or woodstove. Green wood, or unseasoned wood, has high water content so it burns cooler with more smoke. Cooler burning and more smoke both contribute to creosote buildup in your chimney.

You also want the most complete combustion of your wood that is possible for your fireplace or woodstove. Meaning, you want to burn the wood in the fire as completely as you can at a hot temperature. A small, hot fire burns the fuel more completely than a large, cooler fire.

Non-toxic and environmentally safe creosote cleaner is also sold. Creosote cleaner, which you can spray inside your fireplace or wood stove, and on the wood within the firebox, helps prevent chimney fires, and turns dangerous creosote and soot into a harmless ash or char that can be easily removed. Once your fire is lit, creosote cleaner helps reduce the amount of buildup in your chimney and helps breakdown the creosote that exists there from previous fires. Although sprays do decrease the creosote, it by no means is a real substitute for a regular chimney sweeping.

However, anti creosote sprays are a great addition to your cleaning repertoire, helping prevent the creosote from becoming too solid. Spraying your fireplace or wood stove regularly is a very good idea for chimney maintenance.

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Pellet stoves are probably the easiest stove to operate. Add this to the fact that pellet stoves are efficient, economical and use renewable energy and they are a win win for any home. Pellet stoves today are very convenient for the homeowner with a busy lifestyle, or those who just do not want to fuss over their stove. Typically, you only need to load a pellet stove with wood pellets 1-2 times per day, depending on the size of stove and the hopper. Because their burn efficiency is so high, pellet stoves do not produce any smoke, little ash and as a result require low maintenance cleaning.

They are also perfect for a home setting because as they burn, the exterior of the stove remains merely warm to the touch. There is virtually no external heat on the outside of the stove. Because of this, you can place the stove very close to a wall, and they remain safe for homes with young children and pets.

The pellet burning process is very efficient making less pollutants and particles that are released into the air. Additionally, wood pellets are actually made from the byproduct of wood; they are not the primary product. They are mainly produced from recycled wood at sawmills, usually sawdust, wood shavings and some forms of nuts. This makes the big advantage of pellet stoves the costs of fuel. Using a pellet stove could create significant cost savings in your heating bill. So, not only will you have a beautiful, easy to use stove in your home, you will be paying less to heat your home, while using renewable energy to do it! Consider a pellet stove to help heat your home this winter.

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Spruce up your hearth with fireplace screens and glass doors. If you have small children or pets you may be looking for a fireplace screen for safety. Or perhaps you want a screen to protect your home from shifting logs and embers. However, fireplace screens can be decorative as well.

Are you looking for a way for your hearth to be a focal point rather than a hole in the wall? Minuteman fireplace screens are a decorative, safe and cost effective solution that will add personality and style to your fireplace.

If you have a working traditional fireplace, take a look at decorative fireplace screens. With decorative flat or three-fold screens you can turn your old fireplace into a conversation piece. Made from wrought iron, brass or brushed aluminum fireplace screens can change the entire look and effect of your fireplace in any season.

If you want to use your fireplace safely, increase the ambience of your room, and heighten the attractiveness of your hearth. Let NDL help you find the fireplace screens and doors of your choice.

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For 23 years, Julie Gore has heated her Ada, Ohio, home with a wood-burning stove. When the old one wore out, she didn't hesitate to buy another for her family room.

"It's warm and toasty," said Gore, an administrative assistant at Ohio Northern University. "I wouldn't trade it. If you get a chill you can stand by it and warm up."

Stoves as secondary heating sources are growing in popularity, and come in two basic varieties: wood stoves and pellet stoves.

Some proponents say the stoves can be more environmentally friendly and help cut energy costs; other experts say that can vary from household to household.

Traditional wood-burning stoves like Gore's enjoy stronger sales, but pellet stoves, which burn compressed sawdust, may be gaining, according to the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, a manufacturers trade group. Wood stoves and wood fireplace inserts saw an 81 percent increase in shipments in 2008, the association said. Pellet stoves and pellet fireplace inserts increased 161 percent that year.

Both kinds of stoves are meant mostly to heat specific rooms or groups of rooms, not entire houses. They cost between $3,000 and $4,500 including installation.

The federal government is offering a 30 percent tax rebate in 2009 and 2010 for purchases of wood or pellet stoves that meet a 75 percent efficiency requirement.

Here are some of the ways wood and pellet stoves compare:

Effort

Wood stoves must be fed with logs, while pellet stoves use 40-pound bags of pellets poured into a hopper.

Most pellet stove hoppers hold an entire bag of pellets, which will last about 24 hours before needing to be reloaded, said Leslie Wheeler, spokeswoman for the trade association.

With pellet stoves, look for a model with a large hopper opening to make it easier to load pellets, and check for an easily removable ash pan to make cleanup quick, suggested Bob Markovich, the home and yard editor at Consumer Reports magazine, which recently profiled heating stoves.

A safety precaution: Homeowners should place carbon monoxide and smoke detectors near the stoves, Markovich advised.

Efficiency

Pellet stoves produce very little smoke, giving them a reputation as more environmentally friendly, Wheeler said.

"There's very, very little moisture in that pellet," she said. "It burns very cleanly, very efficiently and leaves very little ash."

Ken Hellevang, an engineer with the extension service at North Dakota State University, noted of pellet stoves: "Even the most efficient burning units, there's still ash that needs to be discarded. There's some labor involved on a daily basis."

Pellet stoves also require electricity, since fans circulate the heat, so it's a good idea to purchase a backup battery, Wheeler said. Wood-burning stoves don't need electricity.

Markovich of Consumer Reports described all heating stoves as "a large version of an electric, $30 space heater."

"People have this sort of rising desire to be off the grid and control more of their own expenditures," he said. "People are looking for any way they can to save."

But if you're trying to lower home heating bills, Markovich said, you'll need to turn down the heat in the rest of the home when using a wood or pellet stove. "To really save money, you have to keep the rest of your house colder," he said.

Another tip: Make sure the square footage you want to heat matches the square footage the stove can warm, Markovich said.

Cost

About half of all households nationwide depend on natural gas for heating, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The agency recently forecast that costs for heating fuels this winter -- including natural gas, propane, oil and electric -- should all be down.

Based on today's costs, Markovich said, burning pellets costs about 15 percent less than oil and 40 percent less than electric heat, but about 25 percent more than natural gas.

"If you're in fact burning natural gas now, buying a pellet stove is a mistake because it costs more," he said.

Wood stoves can be a bargain for some. "A lot of people are near rural areas where wood is cheap or free," Markovich said. "If that's you, that makes financial sense."

Article by Caryn Rousseau Associated Press, Click Here for Original Article

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Last night, the House voted 177 to 148 in favor of the $858 billion Tax Cut Compromise Package of 2010 that reduces the biomass heater tax credit to 10 percent with a $300 cap. The bill now goes to the White House for the President's signature. Another significant change that further restricts the tax credit for biomass appliances is that Congress removed the lower heating value measurement and only allows the credit toward the purchase price and not for installation.

Energy efficiency provisions were shortchanged even further by a clause that says the $500 tax credit is a lifetime maximum, meaning that if a homeowner has used this credit anytime since 2005, it cannot be used again. During the past two years, the credit up to $1,500 could be used regardless of whether the family has used the credit between 2005 and 2009.

The reduction to 10 percent tax credit affects all energy efficiency measures that had enjoyed 30 percent credit for the past two years. Many members of Congress felt the 25C tax credit program had cost the government too much money and should not be extended in its current form at 30 percent up to $1,500.

This setback for incentives for wood and pellet heating systems is a result of biomass appliances being considered an energy efficiency device instead of a renewable energy system. Solar, wind and geothermal systems still enjoy the full 30 percent tax credit with no maximum and are not set to expire until 2016.

"This creates a terrible double standard for incentives between renewable energy systems favored and affordable by the wealthy and systems favored and affordable by average American families," said John Ackerly, president of the Alliance for Green Heat. "Fortunately, we understand that Congress will be revisiting these tax credits again in 2011 and advocates for cleaner and more efficient biomass appliances need to be prepared," he said. Instead of using tax credits based on a percentage of purchase and installation costs, Congress is likely to consider performance-based credits.

This report prepared by the Alliance for Green Heat.

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More and more Americans are buying vent free gas fireplaces. In fact, there are over eight million who prefer vent free gas fireplaces to any other supplemental gas-heating device. This is because of the ease and convenience provided by a vent free gas fireplace. At the touch of a button, you can be relaxing in front of a roaring fire with friends and family.

When it comes to convenience in hearth products, vent free gas fireplaces are at the top of the list. With remote controls, no venting, and thermostat controlled heating, vent free gas fireplaces are easy to use and install. These gas fireplaces are very efficient, and are mess and stress free, with no wood to cut or haul. There are many models, styles and brands to choose from. But many agree, the most excellent feature of the vent free gas fireplace here in the Northeast is the warmth they continue to provide even during a nor’easter power outage.

Vent free gas fireplaces are easy to install and have low operating costs. Because they do not need a chimney, there is no heat loss so the efficiency of the vent free gas fireplace is almost 100 percent. With winter upon us, why not choose a vent free gas fireplace

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As the days get colder and the heating bills get higher it is time to think about adding a wood burning stove to your home. With wood heat you can cut your energy bills, increase your heating efficiency and add atmosphere to your home. Wood burning stoves increase the efficiency of your existing wood fireplace, and they come in all different sizes, and styles. Do you have a modern home? No problem. There are many sleek, modern designs and colors that can add to the décor of your home. If you have a traditional colonial home, there are wood burning stoves to fit your home style as well. From Vermont Castings, to Pacific Energy, there are many styles to choose from. Let the room you gather in this winter keep you warm and provide an ambience to come home to.

With energy prices rising, why not heat your home with a renewable energy source? Wood is an eco friendly, renewable energy source, and the technology in wood burning stoves today has made them much more energy efficient than in years past. Along with the energy tax credit that is available until December 31, 2010, now is the time to buy.

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