A fireplace can serve as a beautiful, useful appliance in any home, or it can be an untapped resource. If you find your fireplace sitting unused for most of the cold-weather months, consider upgrading to a gas fireplace or insert. In fact, there are numerous benefits to upgrading to a gas fireplace, including:
Convenience
Convenience is the No. 1 reason to convert your wood-burning fireplace to a gas fireplace. Wood-burning fireplace are notoriously labor intensive: Wood has to be chopped, stacked, stored and hauled from the woodpile to the house. Fires have to be built, hand-lit and tended to. Gas fireplaces, on the other hand, light instantly with the use of a switch, button or remote control.
Efficiency
In addition to being a lot of work, wood-burning fireplaces are incredibly inefficient. In fact, open-hearth fireplaces return only about 10 percent of your fire’s heat to your home, sending the vast majority of the heat up and out of the chimney. Gas fireplaces, by contrast, return anywhere between 75 and 99 percent of the fuel’s energy to your home as heat.
Controllable heat
The efficient heat you get from a gas fireplace also is controllable. Unlike a wood-burning fireplace or stove, which puts out heat depending on how much wood you add to the fire, the variety of the wood and the moisture content of the wood, the heat from a gas fireplace can be controlled via a thermostat. That means you’ll always be able to get enough heat from your gas fireplace, and you’ll never get too much.
Cleaner air
Wood fires have a negative impact on indoor air quality. The smoke put off by your fireplace includes fine particles that can be harmful when inhaled. This especially true for children or people with chronic lung conditions. Even the most efficient wood-burning fireplaces emit these fine particles into your home and into your neighborhood via the chimney. Gas fireplaces are sealed systems that don’t allow smoke to enter your home, and the smoke that does exit your chimney is infinitely cleaner than smoke from a wood fire.
An updated look
If your hearth is showing its age, a gas fireplace insert is just what you need to upgrade your home. Gas fireplace inserts can be installed quickly to improve the look, and potentially even the value, of your home. And with rustic, traditional, and contemporary styles, you will find a gas fireplace that fits your home.
If you are ready to realize all of the benefits of upgrading to a gas fireplace, visit one of FireSide Hearth & Home’s three convenient showrooms to see some beautiful gas fireplace options and to talk to a fireplace expert about upgrading to a gas fireplace. Or, visit our website to preview some gas fireplace offerings.
