Gas fireplaces offer many significant advantages over old-fashioned wood fireplaces. They are much more energy efficient; a typical gas fireplace will transmit 80% or more of its energy as heat into your family room. A typical wood fireplace has 75% of the heat go up the chimney.
Also, a gas fireplace is very easy to use. Most of the time you just flip a switch or press a button. You never have to worry about wood, ashes or any kind of mess. Also, gas fireplaces are a very cost-efficient way to heat the most frequently-occupied parts of your home.
If you are considering a gas fireplace to heat your home, keep our beginner’s tips in mind.
1. Free Standing, Factory Built or Insert?
A free-standing fireplace is designed typically to be in the middle of a room or away from the wall. It radiates heat from all of its sides and typically has glass on three or four sides (see above). These often are ventless fireplaces, as venting a fireplace in the center of a room is a challenge, unless you go straight up through the ceiling.
A factory-built fireplace is built right into your wall. It usually is the type that comes with the house when it is built. These can either be vented or ventless, depending on your preference.
Another option in an older home is an insert, which is a gas fireplace box that is fitted inside your fireplace. These tend to be vented models that use the existing chimney to vent outside.
2. Vented or Ventless?
A vented gas fireplace has a vent that goes out either the top or the back. It goes through the wall or ceiling of your house and sends outside the carbon monoxide and other waste products from the gas burning fireplace.
A vented fireplace will give you a very attractive and decorative flame. The vented fireplaces are not as efficient as a ventless fireplace; some of the heat will be vented to the outside.
A ventless fireplace can be placed anywhere in your home. It vents into the room itself. These fireplaces will provide you with more heat output.
Ventless Fireplace
However, you have to know that the byproduct of the burning gas is water. This means you will be venting moisture into your home. This can cause mold or mildew problems in some cases. You also need to open a window in your home if you use your ventless fireplace for more than an hour.
Also, know that a ventless fireplace will produce an odor in your home that is something like the smell of burning kerosene. If that smell bothers you, a ventless fireplace may not be for you. Some also express concern about ventless fireplaces venting excessive carbon dioxide into small rooms.
The flame of a ventless gas fireplace will not be as attractive as the vented flame, either. This is because the gas must burn as cleanly as possible with a ventless. The flame will have a mostly blue color, as opposed to a yellow and orange flame with the vented.
3. Automatic Starter or Pilot Light?
A gas fireplace with an automatic starter does not use as much gas as one with a pilot light. However, a fireplace with an automatic starter will not operate if the power goes out; electricity is required to light the pilot.
A fireplace with a pilot light will use a bit more gas, but it can be used in the event of power outage. This is a major advantage, because typically, furnaces are inoperable without power. Your gas fireplace may be your sole source of heat.
4. Do You Want a Circulating Fan?
A fan installed on the top of your gas fireplace is a nice addition. It allows the heat to be better distributed throughout your family room.
5. Tempered Glass or Ceramic Glass?
The choice between tempered or ceramic glass for the front of your fireplace comes down to one primary question: What is your gas fireplace for? That is, is it for decoration, or to heat your home?
If it is for decoration, then you will be happier with tempered glass. Tempered glass will keep more of the heat inside the firebox itself.
Ceramic glass will let more heat through it and will give more heat into your space.
6. Which Manufacturer?
There are many good gas fireplace companies to choose from these day. Some of these include Napoleon, Valor, and HeatnGlo.
Keep in mind that as important as the manufacturer is the size of the fireplace you buy. Gas fireplaces are typically rated in the number of BTUs of heat they produce. Typically, it is recommended that in a newer home, you plan for about 4 BTUs per cubic foot of area you want to heat. So if you want to heat a space that is 300 cubic feet, you would want at least a 12,000 BTU fireplace. In an older home, you would want about an 18,000 BTU fireplace.
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