Propane. Cleaner in several ways and not subject to burn bans as we have here.

Direct Vent all the way.

I'm not familiar with Direct Vent. What are its advantages? I know I don't want to go with a "vent-free" -- I've heard too many bad stories.

Direct vent is where the combustion chamber is completely sealed off from the interior of the home...the air used for combustion is drawn in from the outside and then exhausted back out...heat radiates through glass.

Otherwise, with a traditional fireplace, it's just drafting all the warm air out of your house through the chimney, pulling in colder replacement air, meanwhile blowing soot and combustion byproducts all over the place.

My preference would be a wood stove. These are very clean burning and meet EPA mandates. I am pretty sure they are not subject to the burn ban in fire areas but you may want to check if you are in a fire zone. I have very contemporary tastes so my favorites are wood stove inserts from Wittus and Rais. There are a few other choices but I love wood stoves. My second option will be a propane stove. These are direct vent and actually heat your home. Tons of options like Quadrafire, Mendota, Fireplace Xtrodinare, etc. Are you going to use the system as backup heat?

Good luck

"with a traditional fireplace, it's just drafting all the warm air out of your house through the chimney"

Its not helpful to exaggerate the relative energy inefficiency of a wood burning fireplace. It as if we have become fearful of outside air.

We don't know the climate of the OP's location and the wood burning fireplace might have outside combustion air supplied to it, operable glass doors and a chimney-top damper. It is also possible for a gas fireplace to be open to the room and have operable doors. A masonry fireplace can have a gas log set.

A major difference is cost since a wood burning fireplace must have a masonry or factory built metal chimney to the roof and a direct vent gas appliance can be vented through a wall. Of course that is not always convenient so the direct vent might need to go to the roof adding cost

Other issues are how much the OPs will use the fireplace, if they are willing to buy and store firewood and how they feel about simulated things in general.

Wood burning zero clearance fireplace. Great supplemental heat source. We went with a quadrafire 7100. I hate gas fireplaces.

I have a wood burning fireplace with a natural gas log set and glass doors which I open when it is on. I loved it for 20 years, then the pilot wouldn't stay lit. I had someone replace the pilot thingy, and it stopped working again 2 years later. I haven't diagnosed it yet. It may not be a big problem, IDK. I love the traditional look though. The gas logs look like real wood. I didn't like that the control knob was visible, but they gave me a pine cone to out in front of it. It's OK. It matches the logs.

I'm really glad I didn't choose wood logs - too much work and I can start a fire for 5 minutes in the morning if I want.

I did choose a fireplace with a fan, which I hate. I don't like the noise or the breeze or the switch right next to the surround, and I especially hate the vents.

Thank you for your comment. I was wondering about the noise of a fan.

Depends why you want it. We only use ours 5-6 times a year, mostly for the novely with the kids, we only get freezing temps for a week, tops. So, ours is wood-burning!

homepro01, I don't plan on relying on the fireplace....just using it when I want to enjoy a fire. I currently have a wood stove and, even though I've missed having a fireplace to look at, the wood stove has been great in many ways.

JDS, You pretty much hit all the points I'm wrestling with. I live in Oklahoma where the weather can be erratic. We've had 75 degree Thanksgivings and 20 degree Halloweens. You never know what you're going to get. When we get a bad winter, it's usually ice storms. The house I am leaving has a wood-burning stove and it has worked well. My issues with it are both cosmetic and practical. I don't like the way they look in a room (unless it is a basement or "play" room), it literally roasts me in the living room but doesn't heat the rest of the house, and I no longer want the work of dealing with wood. However, I love a real fire -- the sound, the smell, the look, the feel -- and have had to weigh the labor issue against that. There are gas logs that look pretty good, and the direct vent fireplace seems to be an efficient option. The biggest downside to me is that I can't open the doors if I want. It seems it would be less expensive in the build since I won't have to have a chimney.

I'm really looking for the best of all worlds. :) High efficiency (don't want to burn through the propane); convenience; aesthetically pleasing; comfort.

Redvanroy,

The zero clearance wood fireplace inserts are great. I really wanted one. I did go for the convenience of a gas fireplace insert (stove) that can heat my home instead. What is your budget and what are your needs? Will you get wood to start a fire, do you prefer wood fires? This will help guide your decision. This Morso wood insert would have been what I got if I had gotten wood. The linked video shows how to light it.

Jane

I'm really glad I didn't choose wood logs - too much work and I can start a fire for 5 minutes in the morning if I want.

This appeals to me the most. And being able to open the doors when it is in use is a plus. Do you "have" to open the doors when you use it? Is it very efficient on gas usage? Did you buy the gas log set for an existing wood-burning fireplace or did you build it for that purpose? How does it heat?

redvanroy, I'm one who prefers opening the door to the fireplace too. My sister has converted her wood burning fireplaces in her old house to gas logs and I loved the look.

However, as I looked into it, to build a wood burning fireplace where I could do just that would cost us almost double the price of a vented gas fireplace. I'm in FL and for the few times a year I intend to use it, it wasn't worth the extra cost.

So far the one brand I found that "felt" most like a real fireplace was by Town and Country Fireplaces. However they are not cheap either. We stood there and felt like we were looking at a real fireplace.

cpartist, Thank you for the info. I will look into that brand.

I don't know if I have to open the doors. It's warmer when I open the doors. The fire gets really hot so I'm afraid not to open the doors. But I've never been properly schooled on fireplaces. I make sure the flue is open. I think an advantage of gas is you don't have to chimney sweep. At least I hope so.

I usually sit near the fireplace when I use it if I want it for heat. I had a dog who was afraid of it so I stopped using it. He is no longer with us. :-( Sometimes I sit on the sofa and watch it - it makes a beautiful, natural looking fire. I didn't make a note of how much gas it uses. I try to minimize use of energy in my house - I wear two layers around the house when it's cold: tee and sweats, and have a blanket handy on the sofa. I think I set the thermostat to 64F in winter? Or maybe 60? And the sun coming through the windows provides heat. My total energy bill (gas plus electric) has never been much more than $120 in a month.

The fireplace was installed in the late 1980s. The contractor asked me what I wanted, and he bought everything and installed it. He told me it was a wood burning fireplace with a natural gas log set. I got to pick my logs and I asked for the pine cone to stand in front of the control knob to visually block it.

The fireplace is black metal with vents (for the fan - I would rather have solid metal) and a faux white brick interior (now stained by smoke). There is an iron grate and the logs look real. Under the grate is a pile of sand and embers that glow when it is on - I'm not sure how the gas supply makes it do that. There are metal screens on the side that I can pull closed, but I never use those and they collect dust. So does the log set - whatever doesn't get burned off gets dusty. I have not tried to do a thorough cleaning but I imagine the bottom with the sand and embers would be hard to clean. The guy who replaced the pilot thingy cleaned it out. The logs look better dirty, so they don't get thoroughly cleaned.

I invested in beautiful expensive glass doors - twice. The doors are everything. When I bought I got brass just like the rest of the house, then several years ago I switched to satin nickel. The brass doors are still in the crawl space. With doors, I highly recommend getting something that will open up flat against the sides. My brass doors angled out from the fireplace, but my nickel doors fold flat in the area between the door hinges and the wood surround. Each door panel is about 8.5" wide so that is how much extra flush space I need on each side of the hinges.

The fireplace is designed to have a surround built around it. I am replacing that within the next couple of months. I'll have a 6-12" border of carrera marble tile, a 26" x 66" marble tile hearth flush with wood floor, and a white painted wood surround with a traditional style but simple crown moulding mantle. And my favorite painting above because I don't do TVs above fireplaces. (If you do, that may be a concern to look into with regard to the fireplace you select.)

Jane, thanks for all the information. It sounds like you're going to have a beautiful fireplace! It sounds like we share much the same taste. I don't like TV's above fireplaces, either, so that won't be an issue for me. One question for you, is your interior smoke-stained from use as a wood-burning fireplace or did that happen with your gas logs?

Seeing as this seems to be a mostly aesthetic endeavor, I can't help but question the practicality of such a major decision. How many times of year do you plan on creating a fire inside your living space? If you were to divide those times per year, by the upfront costs, will the emotional decision to include it, pay off?

You do understand they increase the risk of fire, threaten indoor air quality and compromise the integrity of a well built building envelope?

If it's not for function, an outdoor fireplace or firepit can serve our primal desires without complicating some of the most important hidden qualities of a home.

redvanroy, my fireplace has never been used as a woodburning fireplace. It was new when the gas logs were put in. It did not smoke stain my interior. The white faux brick around/behind the fire grate itself (the interior of the fireplace) has smoke stains (or ash residue - seems to come off easily), which make it look natural to me. I keep the doors closed when not in use. The fire is clean, and a good size.

The entire fireplace was placed at an outside wall, so the face is flush with my interior drywall, and 3 new exterior walls were built around it up to the chimney.

Most of the immmediate surround is black, about 3" on the sides and about 6" on top and bottom. I don't know if that stayed perfectly clean - I never noticed. Obviously the vents collected dust, but most of that may be doggie dander.

Oh, my dog sneezes a lot so everything 3' and under gets sprayed frequently - lots of water spots to clean up on the glass doors. :-/

I forgot to say before that if I could do it over again, I would have gotten a fireplace box without vents and tiled over as much of the black metal part as I could. But I have been told it would be a fire hazard to tile over the vents, so I am stuck with them (unless I replaced the fireplace box, which would be expensive).

This is my fireplace with the doors open. It's filthy, because I haven't cleaned it after scraping popcorn off the ceilings and sanding/refinishing the wood floor. The surround is also demo'd, so it is torn drywall and old thinset. But at least you can see how natural the gas logs look, even though the tops are covered with sanding dust from the wood floors (so embarrassed, but these projects take forever to clean up afterward).

The frame inside the doors is solid black. The pattern you see is dust. The scrapes on the black perimeter are where I removed old tile. Just pretend that most of the front face you see is solid black, except the doors. Interior is white faux brick. Pull screens on sides are black. (They need to be vacuumed.)

I agree, fire inside can be pleasant and we install them at owner's request but I like to point out that they are inefficient, even when not in use. How inefficient depends on the details. The more they are sealed off from the living space, act like woodstoves or masonry heaters, the more they can be a net gain to energy use. The main problem is that flue dampers are rarely airtight and will suck out conditioned air, all year long. The air that replaces it can come from attached garages, soil or building cavities containing nasties. Chimney balloons or chimney cap dampers can help.

I think most building scientists would exclude them given what they know, and green builders often struggle with decisions to include them. If your state has adopted 2009 or newer codes, you can't have an open wood burning fireplace in your home.

I think I will probably go with a direct vent gas (propane) fireplace with ceramic glass doors. It will be in a corner on an outside wall and can easily vent outside. The amount of use it gets will vary. I feel I will lose less warmth during operation and non-operation times with this type. Also, at some point I can always build a firepit for roasting marshmallows. :)

The 2009 IECC doesn't actually say you can't have an open wood burning fireplace in your home; it says that it must have sealed operable doors that are intended to be shut when the fireplace is not in use. Why a chimney top damper is also required is strange.

This requirement has been criticized because homeowners might think the doors must be closed when the fireplace is in use which might increase the risk of fire. Check to see if your state has amended this provision.

I'm forever scarred after our home almost burned down from a chimney fire when I was a kid

Had to get gas. Short notice for guests coming over, flip the switch, boom you got a fire.

Wood burning has its place in my outdoor fire pit

here is the kozy heat model I chose

I don't believe a "direct vent" gas fireplace can have operable doors. The design of the unit requires it to be a sealed system. An open system would be designed differently.

The chimney of a wood burning appliance should be inspected and cleaned if necessary. How often depends on how much you use it. Avoid burning softwood or paper.

Well, we plan on having a propane gas fireplace on the main level (direct vent) and a wood burning "zero clearance" fireplace in the downstairs, but we are in central Ontario :) and my DH likes to chop wood!

One thing that I am particular about is that I don't want our gas fireplace to mimic a wood burning fireplace. I plan to go for river rocks and maybe some driftwood in a linear format.

Here is our Quadrafire 7100.

This is ours except we went for clear glass medium instead of the river rock. The artificial logs that looked well, artificial. and the clear glass suited the feeling I want in the house. As do the linear lines of the fireplace

House build · More Info

Flames fueled by natural gas and propane are great visual representations of fracking and contamination of neighbors drinking water.

Here is the one I want with logs, and brick backing. My house is craftsman so this will work. . Fireplace

So Springtime what do you recommend for those of us who want a fireplace?

As for me, I was ready to go with the dimplex electric fireplace Optiv-V as it actually fooled me when I saw it. Only problem? It only comes in a linear contemporary look which doesn't go with my house at all.

cpartist, that's the one I've been looking at.

cpartist, the Town & Country model.

I strongly recommend people avoid all combustion appliances, it's usually cheaper, safer and healthier. For function, it's tough to beat woodstoves and inserts. My favorite wood burning appliance we've installed was this pizza oven.

Barnardsville NC · More Info

Sealed wood burning units are acceptable and some use the propane just to get the wood going. Most homeowners report use in the 3-6 times of year range. The homes that we've install them in, have leakier blower door test results.

We use our fireplace (wood burning) 4 or 5 times a week from November to March - hardly rarely used! We have a fire every weekend late-afternoon into evening and at least 2 times in the evening during the week. If there's a storm, it's in use the entire time we're up!

We do get our chimney cleaned periodically. (Chim, chimney, Chim, chimney, Chim, chim, cher-ee...!)

I have the same one sullen19 has with the glass pebbles. I like it.

Lily'sMom, the only electric fireplace that looked at all like it was real was the dimplex. With all the others, you might as well just record the Yule log on the tv and put a tv where the fireplace is. That is why we are going with gas.

I even went so far as to call dimplex to ask them if they were considering making a larger, more square unit in their Opti-V look. It would certainly save us adding a gas line.

We have two masonry fireplaces back to back. One is in our family room, one is on our covered porch. They each have their own firebox and chimney, but it looks like only one chimney on the exterior (our house is brick.) They were both built to be wood burning but were plumbed for gas starters (which are AWESOME) or in case we wanted to convert to gas logs. I ended up with a huge Carrara marble surround & flush hearth, plus a large white wood mantle and over mantle on the indoor fireplace so wisely chose to use gas logs in the indoor fireplace (we burn wood in the outdoor one.) I LOVE the gas logs! We don't have glass doors at all. We have a mesh screen we can open or close. They look great, and put out a decent amount of heat. The logs we chose were expensive, but worth it. If we had burned wood in here it would have ruined the marble.

We have always had wood burning fireplaces and are including one in our newly built home. In the past two houses we have built, we made sure to get an oversized insert. The choice between gas and wood is really a personal preference. We live in the cold midwest and tend to build cozy fires every late fall-winter weekend. A gas fireplace just can't compete with the sounds and smells of a wood-burning fireplace. Gas is definitely easier and more efficient, but we love the tradition of wood. We also make sure to get our fireplaced cleaned each year. Very important! Good luck with your decision.

I just moved from a rural home with an Xtrodinaire wood burning fireplace to a suburban home with a gas fireplace.

I never want to touch another piece of firewood again in my lifetime! LOL! I used to burn 5 cords every winter for 17+ years, to help heat the house when I was home. I stopped burning wood the last 2 winters I was in that home, and found out it wasn't helping my heat bill at all.

Jane, I just had my gas fireplace serviced ... since I've never had one and didn't know how it worked, he put a pilot in it and said to never close the glass doors when the fireplace is lite. Close the metal curtain, but not the glass.

I'm very happy to now have a fireplace I can light by turning a knob, for ambiance only.

pamghatten, I hear ya. 20 years of dealing with wood burning stove and I'm done. Is your fireplace masonry with gas logs?

For those that have done or are doing the gas fireplaces, are any on interior walls? If so, how much do they stick out into the room (presuming that the space behind the wall is already used for something else)? Thanks!

Mine was 26" with 2" stone veneer. The fireplace is flanked with built'ins.

I'd assume that number varies by mfg

Lily'sMom, how did you like the Xtrordinaie? We were thinking of going with it over the Quadrafire.

An interesting thread but also a frustrating one. Of course it follows that if all people know are traditional wood burning fireplaces and gas fireplaces, that debate will be restricted to these two options, omitting any mention of Finnish, German, Russian style Masonry Heaters.

I don't like the way they look in a room (unless it is a basement
or "play" room), it literally roasts me in the living room but doesn't
heat the rest of the house, and I no longer want the work of dealing
with wood. However, I love a real fire -- the sound, the smell, the
look, the feel -- and have had to weigh the labor issue against that. . . . .. . I'm really looking for the best of all worlds. :) High efficiency
(don't want to burn through the propane); convenience; aesthetically
pleasing; comfort.

Of course a wood stove is going to create those extremes, you're burning wood inside a metal box, heating up the metal to high temperature, that's going to create a drastic temperature swing. Look at this photo.

http://mainewoodheat.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/tigheheaterweb.jpg

There is literally tons of mass there to soak up the heat of the fire and this heat is released into the home over a period of time, so no drastic roasting effect. These fireplaces are placed into the center of a room so that their heat can radiate into many rooms unlike fireplaces placed on outside walls so that the heat can be radiated to warm the outdoors.

High efficiency, Check. These units burn at such a high temperature that there is little smoke and ash. Far higher efficiency than American style fireplaces and wood stoves.

Convenience. Check. Can you bake bread or a pizza with your gas-fired unit? Probably not. Have a nice fire in one of these, more roaring than you see in a traditional unit, and then use the residual heat to make yourself a pizza snack. How more convenient can you get?

Aesthetically pleasing. Check. You have a lot more latitude in design than you do with traditional fireplaces.

The principal drawback is expense. You're putting tons of rocks into your house. Someone has to build that fireplace for you, it needs its own foundation support. Your house design has to be able to accommodate a central location for the fireplace instead of a peripheral add-on location. Off setting the expense is that with one, or two, firings a day, you can heat your house through the winter. Also, that feeling of laying on a warm beach or sun-warmed rock and letting the heat radiate into you body is quite nice to have in your own home, sitting on a built-in bench and letting the heat radiate deep into your muscles is a fantastic feeling after a work-out or coming in from the slopes.

That fireplace seems impractical. I think a zero clearance fireplace like the Quadrafire 7100 is the best way to go if you want a real wood fire, but also want it to be "efficient." Much easier to design your house with one of them, rather than what you posted above.

That fireplace seems impractical.

I don't see how they're impractical when 90% of new homes built in Finland incorporate them. They're quite common throughout much of Northern and Central Europe. There's lots of good engineering talent in Europe, so I'm not seeing why they would favor the impractical.

Life is about trade-offs. If someone wants a real fire but wants to avoid drastic temperature gradients inside the house, then one needs to employ buffering mass. Putting fireplaces on outside walls does wonders for heating the outdoors but I'm not really clear why one would want to leak the heat of a fire to the outdoors.

That's why I put my fireplace on an inside wall.

redvanroy, yes ... it's a masonry fireplace with gas logs. The fireplace person told me I was lucky the gas logs were in such good condition, because they are the major expense.