Clicking, Ticking and Popping: Which Sounds Are Normal
Most gas fireplace sounds are the metal cabinet expanding and contracting as it heats up and cools down, and that ticking is nothing to worry about.
The Blower: What It Adds and Why It Rattles
A gas fireplace blower is a small fan that pushes heated room air out into the space, so the fireplace warms a room faster and more evenly instead of…
Boilers: How Hydronic Heat Works and What Goes Wrong
A home boiler isn’t the whole heating system, it’s the box that makes the hot water.
Pellet Stove Noises, and Which Ones Matter
Most of what a pellet stove does is loud on purpose. The auger clicks, the fans hum, the hopper rattles as it feeds itself: none of that means trouble.
Putting a Pellet Stove in a Basement
A pellet stove can heat a basement effectively, but the basement itself changes the equation.
Why the Glass Goes Black, and What It Tells You
Black glass on a pellet stove almost always points to incomplete combustion rather than a lazy cleaning habit.
Starting a Pellet Stove for the Season
A pellet stove’s first fire of the season goes smoothly when three things line up: the stove is physically clean and clear, the hopper and vent are…
Where a Pellet Stove Can Actually Go
A pellet stove can go almost anywhere a wall outlet and a vent path can reach, as long as two separate clearance rules are both satisfied: the…
The Two Fans in a Pellet Stove
A pellet stove runs on two separate blowers, not one. The combustion blower feeds oxygen to the fire and pushes exhaust out through the vent pipe.
How Many Pellets a Winter Actually Takes
There’s no fixed number of pellets a winter takes, because “a winter” isn’t a fixed thing.