A fireplace adds a lot to your home: Value, comfort, style, and ambiance (to name a few) but a traditional wood-burning fireplace also adds a lot of inconvenience to your life such as the hassle of storing and hauling wood, continuously tending fires, and an ash-filled fireplace to clean out. If you love the thought of a roaring fire, but hate the work that goes with it, consider a gas fireplace insert.
A gas fireplace insert fits into your existing wood-burning fireplace and can be vented through your chimney. It maintains the style and ambiance your fireplace brings to your home but without the headaches of a wood-burning fireplace. A gas fireplace comes with many advantages including convenience, efficiency, and cleanliness.
Gas is more convenient
When it comes to fireplaces, it’s hard to beat the convenience of a gas fireplace insert. With the flip of a switch, you can enjoy the soothing flames and gentle heat of a fire. Many gas fireplace inserts come with remote controls and thermostats which can allow you to customize the heat output of your fireplace. The size of the flames will adjust based on how warm you want your home to be. Of course with gas, there is no regular tending of the fire, no hauling logs, and no ash clean up.
Gas is more efficient
The hidden secret behind open-hearth, wood-burning fireplaces is that they do little to heat your home on cold winter nights. In fact, wood burning fireplaces suck the already heated air out of your home to fuel their fires, and up to 90 percent of the heat produced by the fire goes right up your chimney. A gas fireplace, on the other hand, is fueled by relatively inexpensive natural gas, and 75 to 99 percent of that heat is returned to your home, depending on the model of gas fireplace you choose.
Gas is cleaner
Wood-burning fires are also incredibly dirty and they degrade both indoor and outdoor air quality. Wood-burning fireplaces let off a lot of fine particles which are either sent out your chimney into your neighborhood’s air or back into your home where your family can breathe them in. Wood-burning fireplaces are actually cautioned against by groups such as the American Cancer Society and some cities ban wood-burning on days where air quality is low. Wood-burning fires also cause a buildup of creosote in your chimney which must be cleaned regularly to avoid the risk of a chimney fire.
Gas is easy to install
In most cases, a gas insert can be installed easily into your existing fireplace space but a gas line will need to be added to fuel the fireplace. If you’re interested in seeing how a gas insert would fit into your existing fireplace space, call the experts at FireSide Hearth & Home for a consultation!
