Manufacturers of electric fireplaces arenow placing more importance on the energy efficiency of their products morethan ever before.
Fireplaces have always traditionally beenvery inefficient forms of heating a home, but the rise in popularity ofelectric fireplaces means that the efficiency of fireplaces is moving in theright direction.
Solutions like wood burning stoves help toimprove on the poor energy efficiency of traditional open fireplaces, but areelectric fireplaces energy efficient?
Electricfireplaces can convert 100% of the energy into heat, with minimal to nowastage. LED lighting and thermostatic control helps electric fireplaces to useonly what energy is necessary in order to keep a room at a desired temperature.
However some models of electric fireplacewill be more energy efficient than others.
We’ve explained below what makes anelectric fireplace typically more energy efficient compared to other types offireplaces, and what desirable features you should look for on an electricfireplace in terms of maximizing energy efficiency.
Why ElectricFireplaces Are Energy Efficient
Electric fireplaces can be considered to be100% efficient because almost all of the energy consumed is converted to heat.
Unlike other types of fireplace such as wood burning and gas, electric fireplaces don’t produce a real flame and therefore don’t release any other byproducts such as smoke or waste gases.
This, and a number of other features, helpsto make electric fireplaces a solid investment for your home when it comes tomaximizing the heating potential of a room, while also helping to reduce the amountof energy used in order to generate the heat.
The main reasons why electric fireplaces canbe considered to be energy efficient are that:
- All of the energy (electricity) used is converted to heat.
- No other harmful byproducts are producedsuch as waste gases or smoke, which could reduce the efficiency.
- Can typically use flames without the heater being on.
- No solid fuels burnt.
- Use of LED lighting rather than halogenbulbs.
- Thermostatic control toregulate temperatures and save energy.
100%Efficient
Unlike other fireplaces, electricfireplaces are the only type that run solely off an electrical supply. Thismeans that electricity is the source of energy for both the flame effects andthe heater.
We’ve explained how an electric fireplace works in more detail here, but they typically produce the flame effects by reflecting a light source off a set of rotating mirrors onto a screen, while a form of space heater, such as fan forced or infrared, produces supplementary heat.
There may be some minor energy loss in theform of light and noise but an electric fireplace is able to produce a lot ofheat for the amount of energy used.
Furthermore, unlike some other types of fireplace such as wood burning, an electric fireplace can be turned on and off in an instant.
This means that no energy is wasted insetting up the fireplace or letting it burn through (as you would do with awood burning fire). With an electric fireplace you’re able to receive all ofthe heat immediately as well as being able to stop the fireplace from producingheat and consuming energy at the switch of a button.
In comparison, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) explains that for the energyefficiency of open wood burning fireplaces:
Most traditional open fireplaces lose over 90 percent of the fire’s heat out of the chimney, and much of the heated air in the room goes with it.
EPA
Wood burning stoves mostly help to solvethe issue of the poor energy efficiency of open wood burning fireplaces byburning the wood and distributing the heat more efficiently, but can’t be onthe same level as an electric fireplace can provide in terms of energyefficiency.
NoHarmful Byproducts
As an electric fireplace is a form ofelectrical appliance and runs on electricity, there are no major wastebyproducts released from the creation of the flame effects or the generation ofthe heat.
Much of the energy used in a wood burningor gas fireplace is converted to steam, smoke or gas, which need to be ventedout of your home; meaning less heat being produced as a result.
FlamesWithout Heat
The heater on an electric fireplace will typicallyconsume much more energy than what is consumed by the components that createthe flame effects.
An electric fireplace needs to draw a lotof power in order to generate the heat. Thankfully many models of electricfireplace allow you to enjoy the look ofthe flames without the heater being on.
Our electric fireplace stove has thisfunctionality. When turning the electric stove on at the unit, the flamesautomatically turn on without the heat. We need to turn on more switches if wewant the fireplace to start releasing heat.
LEDLights
Electric fireplaces have traditionally usedhalogen bulbs to produce the light needed for the flames, which can use muchmore energy compared to LEDs and typically need to be replaced every couple ofyears.
Newer models of electric fireplacegenerally now incorporate LED lightsinto their flame effect components rather than bulbs.
This allows electric fireplaces to use much less energy to generate the flames,and the LEDs can last many tens of thousands of hours.
Our electric fireplace stove uses LEDs,whereas the previous version of this particular model of fireplace used a bulb.
The instruction manual for our electricstove explains that there are no user serviceable parts within the fireplace,meaning that the LED in the unit is rated to last as long as the lifespan asthe fireplace.
ThermostaticControl
Many electric fireplaces incorporate a thermostat into the functionality ofthe unit that helps with the overall energy efficiency of the fireplace.
A thermostatic on an electric fireplace helps to regulate the desired temperatureof a room.
Once the required temperature is set on thethermostat a fireplace will bring the room up to that temperature and thencontinuously turn its heater on and off to keep it at that set temperature.
As an electric fireplace isn’t consumingany energy when it’s off, this helps to improve the energy efficiency and stopsit from wasting too much energy by only being on when it’s required.
Our electric stove has a thermostat, and weuse it to help regulate the temperature of any room that we use it in.
Electric Fireplace Energy Consumption
Electric fireplaces can be considered to bea form of space heater.
We’ve explained why this is in more detail here, but an electric fireplace uses similar components found in a conventional home space heater, such as a blower and heating element.
Our electric fireplaces stove uses a fanforced heating system where air is sucked in from the back of the fireplace anda blower forces the air over a heating element to release warmer air into theroom.
So how much energy do electric fireplacesuse?
Theenergy usage of an electric fireplace will scale linearly with the wattage ofthe unit. A 1500W electric fireplace that uses a conventional fan space heaterwill use 1.5kW of electricity every hour, which equates to 1.5kWh.
Therefore a higher wattage electric fireplace will use more electricity than a lower wattage one, but will be able to generate more heat.
When buying an electric fireplace its powershould be sized accordingly to the size of the room or the amount of spaceyou’re trying to heat.
For more information we’ve explained how big of a room electric fireplaces are able to heat, as well as explaining in another article what BTUs are on an electric fireplace.
However, many electric fireplaces offer thefunctionality of being able to choose between high and low heat settings.
This has the energy efficiency benefit ofallowing you to use only what is required for every specific situation. The lowheat setting of an electric fireplace can be used where you want to take thechill out of a room and will save on electricity costs in the process comparedto using a high heat setting.
Our electric fireplace stove has thisfeature. On high heat setting it hasa maximum power of 1850W, while onthe low heat setting it uses 925W.
There are two switches on our electricstove that control on the low (I) and high (II) heat settings.
Are Infrared Electric Fireplaces Energy Efficient?
Infrared electric fireplaces use infraredheaters to generate heat rather than using the more conventional fan forcedheating system found in the majority of electric fireplaces.
Interms of energy efficiency an infrared electric fireplace has the sameefficiency as a conventional fan electric fireplace. An infrared electricfireplace will convert all of the electrical energy consumed into heat.
However there are some main differencesbetween infrared and conventional electric fireplace heaters that make the waythey transfer the heat to the room work in a different way.
You can find more information about infraredelectric fireplaces and how they compare to fan electric fireplaces in anotherone of our articles here.
Are Electric Fireplace Inserts Energy Efficient?
Electric fireplace inserts will have thesame energy efficiency as all the other types of electric fireplace.
Depending on the model, an electric fireplaceinsert will use similar components for both the heater and flame effects asfound in other electric fireplaces.
Conclusion
Electric fireplaces are considered to be100%efficient meaning that all of the energy consumed is used without wastage.
This is much higher compared to open woodburning fireplaces where they can be as little as 10% efficient, and still moreefficient than wood burning stoves that are still typically only around 70-80%efficient in terms of converting energy into heat.
The power consumption of an electricfireplace will scale linearly with the wattage rating of the unit. A 1500Welectric fireplace heater will use 1.5kW of electricity per hour and thereforehave a power consumption of 1.5kWh.
Many features can be found on modernelectric fireplaces that help to improve their energy efficiency such as theuse of LED lights instead of bulbs, thermostatic control and the ability to usethe flames without the heater.
Further Reading
Buying Guides For Each Type of Electric Fireplace
Are Electric Fireplaces Worth It?
Are Electric Fireplaces Tacky?
