I've been thinking of getting some gas logs for our home. We currently have a wood burning fireplace, one in the living room and one in our master bedroom. We have all electric heat right now and I would like a backup heat source for power outages. Well, I also like the "ambience" of seeing a flame dance around but I hate dealing with wood. It's a pain and doesn't produce much heat. So, how many of you guys have gas logs? Are they vented or ventless? Sounds like the ventless logs aren't legal everywhere (not the case here) and people complain about headaches, eye irritation, and excessive moisture in their homes but they are very efficient. If I go the vented route then I'd just have to leave my damper open and lose heat. Which route would you guys go? Also, I have a 9 month old in the house which is something else that concerns me about ventless.
We've got a sealed vented gas fireplace. I built it in when we built the house, so I don't have the issue of loosing heat through the fireplace chase. Even though I don't have the fireplace chase, on a windy day, I can feel cold air coming in from around the fireplace. They are nice to have as a secondary heat source. Mine has a blower so I can help get the heat out into the room which is nice. One thing to keep in mind, is if you lose power, the blower obviously doesn't work. Mines also an electric start, but I have a battery backup igniter in case power goes out.
I have 3 fireplaces in my home and one has a gas log... only because I have yet to get around to getting rid of the POS. Not for me personally. I like burning wood and IMO my fireplace in the den that I burn in daily produces WAAAAAAAAAYYYY more heat than the gas log and I mean by far.
I personally enjoy the gas over wood for a couple reason. #1, cutting wood. #2, carrying wood into the house. #3, cleaning up after the wood. It's not my primary heat source, and mostly used for aesthetics. It's nice to walk over, push a button on the wall, and Poof you have fire. I would almost never go to the trouble of starting a fire just for ambiance.
Not to mention the smell a real fireplace leaves on everything. Get a sealed unit to feel the heat, units like the sand logs which require the vent open are essentially useless for heat.
Great question, Finch. I tell my wife I THINK I want a wood burning insert (High Efficiency of course) in our house when/if we build. This, of course, would be for aesthetics and for backup to most likely Geothermal. For our current house, I'm not sure if you remember my first major remodel 4 years ago, but we took what was a woodstove/slate mantle with brick backing, and build an enclosure for a gas insert (direct vent), then did mountain stone veneer. We went with a Regency Excalibur P90 Insert - Excalibur P90 Gas Fireplace - Gas Fireplaces - Regency Fireplace Products . At 35K Btu/max, it heats our ~600 sq.ft pretty well, and it is our primary heat in this room (and this is with poor windows). We usually run it at the lowest setting (17,500Btu) for a few hours while we're watching TV and we're fine. Here's a few shots of the progress: Original: Finished: It's clean burning (would NEVER have wood insert in a room like this), heats well, and I use about 40 gallons a year burning this as a primary source.
Oh, we vented out the existing thimble. Attached the vent to the exterior chimney. Go direct vent. We ran a portable propane heater down there when were remodeling, and in only an hour or so, condensation was building on the windows. Unless you have a good ventilation system, vented are the way to go with LP.
MGH I like the idea of the insert for the added heat (instead of it all going out the chimney) but it would be hard to find an insert that fits into my current opening. Guess I could always redo our fireplace. Yours turned out great.
We have ventless gas logs with a remote control. It's just like turning on the tv. The best system I ever had was a flat top wood cook stove. It heated the entire house and since I could control the damper, it would stay warm all day. I literally started one fire per year. I would put a big log on in the morning and let it smolder all day. When I came how, I would open the damper and it would start burning again. I would close the damper at bed time and repeat the next day. On colder days, I would leave the damper open and feed the fire more. Furnace never came on.
I have been install gas fireplaces for 13 years and can answer a lot of your questions. You can get a direct vent insert to go in your wood burning fireplace that is a sealed unit and has a shroud around it to cover the gap between fireplace and gas insert. It would have a glass front on it and will vent up your old chimney. There will be 2 small 4 inch flex pipes that go all the way up the chimney. One is for the exhaust and the other is for fresh air. That way there is nothing taken from the house. Most units will have a blower built in to force the heat out in the room. Some brands to look at are Napoleon, Mendota, Regency. When its finished it will look like the one that MGH_PA had posted but installed in your old fireplace.
Love the smell of a fire... Hate the smell a fire leaves on all the fabrics/furniture/clothing afterwards though.
