Lets see if I now have the propper perspective on this. My wife wanted to install a gas log set in our fireplace for an occasional (5 - 15 hours a week?) fire to look at and enjoy, not necesarily for heat. Note we have a heat pump for that as well as an electric bill to go with it and I was not looking for an additional substantial propane bill each month.

We went to look at log sets and also saw inserts which are suppose to be much more efficient. The $$$$ in my head went of thinking that if the inserts are way more effiecient, then the cost of gas savings with the insert compared to log set might actually pay for the insert over time. Plus we'd get some extra heat out of the deal. If I could figure out how long the payback would be I could decide if the insert or log set was the way to go. If I could figure put what my monthly cost would be I could also determine if we could afford either!

I quickly assertained that a log set, running on HIGH, would likely consume about a gallon an hour or about $3 and hour here in eastern PA. 15 hours a week would cost us about $180 a month. Whooooooaaaaa! Thats way to much for a pretty fire. So I tried to figure out how much gas the insert would use for the same period of time, 15 hours a week, a few hours a night. I was told it would consume about the same amount of gas if used in that manner. I was puzzled. I thought they were so much more efficient....?

It was explained that the efficiency comes with the heat the unit gives off. If I wanted my room at 70 degress, it is likley the gas log set might run 3 hours to get it there consuming 3 gallons. The insert might have the job done in an hour thus saving 2 gallons of propane. Thats not exactly the way I was hoping the efficiency would work. I was hoping the insert would actually allow us to have the same fire but instead use that gallon of gass over 3 hours. If the first assumption is indeed correct then I am getting the feeling that the only way to make this anywhere near cost effective is if I start to use the insert as my primary heat source, running it all the time (12+ hours a day). Doing so should eventually allow the heat to permiate thru the house, my heat pump should go off and I should now start to see a reduction in my electric bill offsetting my new propane bill...if lucky it would be a dollar for dollar match against the cost of propane. Does this sound right? However, if I simply run the insert just 2 hours a day, it will never warm the whole house so the heat pump will continue to run and I end up with essentially an electric bill for heat and a propane bill for a pretty fire?

Do I have all this right?

At this point it appears it is not in our budget to pay $150+ a month for a pretty fire, be it by a log set or insert. We are also not so willing to gamble that the insert, if used as a primary source of heat, will completely offset the elctric bill. There are simply too many variables. Will the room get to hot before the whole house is warm? Will the heat permiate upstairs and to the far bedrooms? Will it be a dollar per dollar offset. Etc Etc.

Am I looking at this correctly?