The Advantages of Zone Heating over Central Heating

I visited a friend last week and commented on how warm and toasty her house felt.

“We just got a new pellet stove,” she explained. We were able to turn off our gas furnace because the pellet stove and our propane stove heat our entire house for about $2-4 per day.”

It’s true; converting from a central heating system (in which you heat your entire home to the same temperature) to zone heating (in which you heat a portion of your home), saves most people an average of 20-30 percent in energy costs. 

Heating your entire home all day, every day isn’t the best economic choice, especially here in the Puget Sound area, where temperatures are mild and you generally don’t have to worry about the possibility of freezing pipes.

And keeping bedrooms you use only at night warm all day is like throwing money into your furnace and burning it up.

Zone heating makes a lot of sense, because you can heat your main living space – such as your family room, living room, and eating area – with a medium- or large-size wood or pellet stove. The Astoria pellet stove pictured above (from Avalon) heats up to 2,250 square feet and provides 68 hours of continuous heat without refueling.

You can install a small stove in your sleeping area and light it in the early evening to achieve an overnight burn.

Pictured at left is the Newport pellet stove (also from Avalon), a compact stove designed to heat up to 1,600 square feet. Stoves like the Newport are ideal for condos, mobile homes, bedrooms, alcoves, and basement family rooms.

Zone heating systems such as gas stoves, fireplaces, and fireplace inserts are built out of ceramic and lightweight steel components that heat up quickly and maintain specific temperatures in minutes.

Some stoves even include cooktops and warming areas, so if your home does lose power, you can cook and stay warm!

At Rich’s we have a full line of pellet stoves, wood-burning stoves, gas stoves, fireplaces and fireplace inserts... you can get one for every room in your home. Come on in to one of our five Puget Sound showrooms and warm up.

Here are two informational videos on zone heating from our friends at Travis Industries (manufacturer of Avalon, Lopi, and FPX brands):

Zone Heating from Travis Industries on Vimeo.

This video explains the benefits of zone heating:

Chapter 8 from Travis Industries on Vimeo.