Everywhere homeowners turn they see the same depressing thing: Be prepared for significantly high energy prices this winter. And every energy expert seems to be giving the same advice: Turn down your thermostat. While that may be good advice, families in colder regions of the country are left contemplating how much comfort they are willing to give up for a lower energy bill. The reality is, saving doesn’t have to mean layering sweaters. It means choosing smart heating sources, sources that can lower your customers’ heating bills without sacrificing comfort. While this may sound like a lot to ask for, vent-free gas heating appliances from trusted brands such as Comfort Glow and GloWarm is the answer for millions of homeowners’ heating dilemma.

Despite being around for several decades, few homeowners truly know about or understand vent-free heating. Why? Because they never needed to consider supplemental heating like they do today. We are entering a new era and energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important. Simply stated, vent-free gas heating is a 99-percent efficient and safe supplemental heating source that allows you to turn down your thermostat without the need for extra blankets and without adding to your energy bill. In fact, even though it’s a gas-reliant heating source, it actually reduces heating bills by 10 percent for every 5 degrees the thermostat goes down. How? These appliances operate without the addition of a chimney or vent, so every bit of heat that comes out goes directly into the rooms in which they’re installed.

Vent-free Heating Options

Gas heat typically is available in two forms: convection or radiant. Convection heat warms the air, making a comfortable environment but taking time to warm the objects or people within the room. Radiant heat, on the other hand, heats like the sun, warming the objects in the room first. Which is better for the consumer family?

“They both have benefits,” explains Pete Moyer, director of marketing for DESA Indoor/Outdoor Products. “It really depends on preference. Some even want both that’s why we recently developed a vent-free appliance that offers both kinds of heat providing comfortable heat to the people immediately, while also heating the room.”

Compared to alternative heating sources, vent-free gas appliances are also immediate and cost effective means to supplemental heating. Take for instance the addition of a fireplace or radiant floor heating -- both require major construction and time to install. Even an apples to apples comparison of wood stoves, one being vented and the other vent-free, means the vent-free choice costs considerably less to install and operate, not to mention a whole lot easier to maintain without the flue to clean, wood to chop or the
ashes to deal with.

In addition, vent-free gas heating appliances are completely safe for the home. Vent-free gas heating standards are approved by the American National Standard Institute and are developed by an independent committee of state and federal regulatory authorities, utilities, manufacturers, consumers and general interest groups. Vent-free gas products are additionally certified for compliance with the standard to assure their safety.

Vent-free gas appliance manufacturers today, such as DESA with its Comfort Glow and GloWarm brands, are also designed for aesthetics as much as they are for comfort. DESA offers a number of vent-free products for homeowners, including fireplaces, space heaters, stoves, fireplace inserts and gas logs. Plus, their non-obtrusive construction makes them easy to blend them in with the surroundings. For convenience, these vent-free choices can be mounted on the wall, on the floor or inside an existing
fireplace.

Vent-free As a Safe Supplement to Existing Gas Heating

Vent-free heating appliances are safe for use in any room in the home. The rule of thumb is to consider installing a vent-free gas appliance in the rooms you use most, because again, they should be used as a supplemental source of heat. Keep in mind that the appliance should be sized to fit the area in which it’s installed. Bathrooms are limited to an input rating no larger than 5,000 BTU and bedrooms are limited to an input rating no larger than 10,000 BTU. If you already know the size, or the approximate size of the rooms you are considering for supplemental heating, check the box on each vent free gas heating product to see what size room each unit heats.

Vent-free heating is also completely safe in terms of air quality and do not require cracking a window in the room. In fact, since 1980 vent-free gas heating appliances have been equipped with a safety-pilot system called an oxygen detection safety pilot, or ODS. The ODS automatically shuts off the gas supply in the event that the oxygen level in the room falls to 18 percent. Most building codes throughout the U.S. now allow for the safe, installation and use of vent-free gas products, however, since this is not the case in some area, homeowners should always check their local building code authorities before installing a vent-free appliance.

Installing a vent-free gas appliance is very fast and easy. A qualified contractor simply makes a connection from the vent-free appliance to the existing gas line and you either mount it, retrofit it into an existing fireplace or connect it to the floor.

Comfort Glow and GloWarm are part of the DESA Heating LLC family of home comfort products for the consumer and professional markets in the U.S., Canada, and abroad.