If you wish now you had opted for that fireplace when you bought your new home, or if you like the ambience of a fireplace but dislike the work, gas is probably the answer.
Gas fireplaces, which can be installed with or without chimneys or vents, offer decorative versatility, convenience, and energy efficiency that puts wood-burning fireplaces to shame. No logs to carry. No clean-up after a fire.
“You can put them anywhere, at any time,” said Scott Canter, president of Dreifuss & Co. Inc. in the Northeast, one of the nation’s oldest and largest fireplace and stove dealers.
“We’ve put them in basements, apartments and condos,” said Canter, adding that customers have ordered them for kitchens, bathrooms, “even garages.”
The decorative possibilities of a gas fireplace are well illustrated by the fireplace in the family room of the Waterford model home at Trewellyn Estates, a housing development by David Cutler Group in suburban Philadelphia. The gas burner is bordered above and on both sides by windows–a touch that would be impossible if a conventional chimney were needed.
Jean Wass, manager of the Brick & Stove Shoppe in Philadelphia, said gas is “the fastest-growing part” of the fireplace industry.
“I would say 90 percent of the people walking in here are looking for gas,” said Wass. “Husbands and wives both work, and nobody has time to mess with wood.”
Bob Wilson, owner of Bob’s Fireside Shop in Woodbury, N.J., said his sales of gas fireplaces and gas fixtures increased by 68 percent last year.
“They’re very trendy,” Wilson said. “We still sell a lot of wood-burning stuff and the public seems to like it, but gas is just flying out of here. I have three employees who have them in their homes, and they love them.”
Gas fireplace logs come in two basic types, unvented and vented.
Unvented fireplaces have no chimney or vent and burn with a blue flame, much like a gas stove. Since there is no vent, all the heat remains inside the house and gives this type of fireplace extremely high energy efficiency. “They’re 100 percent efficient,” said Canter. “Since there’s no chimney (or vent), all the heat comes into the room. You can turn the thermostat down and save on heating bills.”
Vented fireplaces require a relatively small pipe running through the wall behind them (called direct venting). They also can be used in a regular chimney-type fireplace. Vented gas logs burn with an orange flame that more closely resembles a wood fire than the flame of unvented logs. Because of the vent, some of the heat is lost. Canter estimates the energy efficiency of direct-vent logs at 60 percent to 70 percent. If used in a fireplace with a conventional chimney, even more heat will be lost.
Some home builders offer gas fireplaces as an option to wood burners in main rooms such as family rooms, or install gas burners in secondary locations such as bedrooms.
Bernard Ciliberto, president of C & M Home Builders Inc. of Warrington, Pa., said his company offers direct-vent gas fireplaces at Patriot’s Ridge, its townhouse development in suburban Philadelphia, because firewood is too difficult to store and handle in townhouses.
“About one of five buyers takes a gas fireplace, normally for the family room or living room,” he said. “Since they’re gas, they’re not sending all the heat up the chimney.”
Ciliberto said he has a gas fireplace in the bedroom of his own home. “I don’t have to haul wood upstairs, and can turn it on and off with a remote control. And it really warms you up. It’s nice and neat, and clean and safe.”
Dreifuss has gas fireplaces that are only seven inches deep, so that they take up little space in a room. “Seven inches is about the minimum,” Canter said. He said gas fireplaces could also be tucked into a corner.
Other gas fireplaces sold by Dreifuss have massive stone hearths and facades. There are mantels made of rustic timbers and stone, some featuring delicate wood trim. Prices for gas logs sold by Dreifuss start at about $225. A complete package, including a fireplace with stone facade and hearth, wood mantel, brass screen and andirons, and a brass fireplace-tool set, starts at about $1,300, Canter said. Imported gas fireplaces by Richard Le Droff of France, also sold by Dreifuss, cost as much as $20,000, he said.
Either natural gas or bottled (propane) gas can be used to fire gas logs. The logs are generally made in 18-inch, 24-inch and 30-inch sizes, to fit a variety of fireplaces.
“We also sell wood (burning) fireplaces and wood stoves,” said Canter. “But we like to sell gas equipment. I think it’s a way to keep the environment friendly and keep air pollution to a minimum. Wood gives off creosote, soot and carbon monoxide. Gas is less expensive, and your hands don’t get dirty handling wood. There are no sparks, and logs can’t roll out of the fireplace into the room. There is no grime deposited on fabrics. Most of the thrust is going away from wood and into gas.”
If gas logs are used in an existing fireplace and burned with the damper open, most of the heat will go up the chimney, Canter said. That, he added, is what happens with most wood-burning fireplaces. He recommends using unvented logs with existing fireplaces and sealing the damper to prevent heat loss.
Many gas logs have a pilot light, and some can be turned on and off with a remote control, much like that used with a television set. Others are ignited by manually turning a knob. If the pilot shuts off, it can be relighted with a push-button igniter, the type used to light gas barbecues. Some are lighted with a match.
Canter said there is “absolutely no danger” in using unvented gas logs. “The wood-fireplace and direct-vent people would like you to think so,” he said. “But we have been selling them since the ’50s and have yet to have a problem. They have an oxygen-depletion sensor, and if the oxygen gets too low in the room (from combustion, which uses oxygen), the gas automatically shuts off. They have every . . . safety device.”
Canter recommended that buyers look for an American Gas Association sticker on gas logs. “They are the UL of the gas industry,” he said. “No gas product should be sold without that sticker. We don’t sell anything without it.”
Canter also recommended that the logs be equipped with a safety pilot light, which will shut itself off if there is a malfunction.
Wilson, of Bob’s Fireside Shop, said he considered unvented gas logs “actually safer than a gas range,” since they are equipped with oxygen-depletion sensors. “If there was any remote possibility they were dangerous, I wouldn’t be selling them,” he said.
Carl Ericson, a spokesman for the AGA in Arlington, Va., said AGA has been testing gas devices since 1925. AGA is a trade group of gas utilities and pipeline operators.
If a device meets standards, which are set by the American National Standards Institute, it is given AGA’s blue-star seal of approval. Ericson said ANSI standards are set by a “group of scientists, government people and some industry people.”
“Our laboratory in Cleveland does testing of fireplaces to make sure they meet certain basic specifications, including operating safety,” Ericson said. Ericson said he knew of no safety problems even with unvented gas fireplaces, but conceded, “If a person has a serious respiratory problem, it might not be a good idea to have (unvented logs) in a little room.”
Ericson said there are “almost no” emissions or fumes from gas fireplaces.
“They are a lot more healthy than a wood fire with a chimney flue,” he said. “When you compare what you are putting into a room with a wood fire, gas is wildly superior.”
AGA recommends checking with local building code officials before buying gas-fireplace equipment. Many codes require that the equipment be approved by AGA or another tester recognized by the code.
AGA also recommends that fireplaces or gas logs be installed by a qualified plumber or gas contractor. Many dealers also provide installation and service. Top-quality gas logs, generally made of ceramic or ceramic-fiber material, are difficult to distinguish from wood.
Logs resembling specific types of wood, such as oak, birch and pine, are available. The gas fire, which can include glowing embers and even fake ashes scattered around the logs, has the same flickering and flame-play of a wood fire.
A wood fire can also be simulated with logs that burn alcohol. The fuel comes in a small can that will burn up to three hours.
Still another alternative, Canter said, is electric logs, in which a flickering-fire effect is achieved with a lightbulb. These are strictly for ambience, not heating.
