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I actually put mine on today for a little while. It will run your bill up, but not much if you do one thing - turn off the pilot light when not using. With just the pilot light lit and not using the fireplace you will see your bill go up. We tend to use it to take the chill out of the air and then turn it off. It does look nice during the holidays but warms the room up to much if left running for to long.
These "fake" fireplaces (ones w/a switch) are really a money pit. They are better than nothing, but there's nothing that compares to the smell of a burning wood fireplace....
my "fake" fireplace really heats up my house! we usually use it when it's super cold or around the holidays. car421 is right, if you turn the pilot light off when not in use, your bill won't be much more than usual.
ours has a little flap on the front that opens up. there is a switch inside. Every fireplace may be different though. Look for a small switch or button on yours.
The first thing the Piedmont NG guy told us when we moved into our rental from FL over 2 years ago was "ohhh...you have a gas fireplace...hope you like high gas bills!" Sure enough, our winter bills were outrageous ($200+). When we bought our house, it came with a fireplace...a "real" one that had been converted to a gas one. I went through one winter with the gas setup and sure enough, high bills. I ripped out the gas components last March (yes, near the end of the cold season) and have been burning real logs since. Not enough data yet to say yes or no to a lower gas bill...but I'll certainly update this post when I know for sure.
I can fill the bed of my truck up with firewood for $60-80 and it should last the whole winter. Well worth it if it actually reduces my gas bill. Being a two story, we've got to run it downstairs or we pretty much can't use the downstairs when it gets bitterly cold outside...not without bundling up in the house!
And, by the way, to add to the discussion of the pilot light...
That little flame runs only an extra $10-20 per month on your gas bill. Sure, that's $20 more, but it's by no means the way to make your gas fireplace cheaper. It's when you open the throttle on that thing and let the gas dump in for a visible flame to heat the room...that's when it gets expensive. It's like an afterburner on a fighter jet. It takes A LOT of gas to make a flame that big...even the smallest setting on the fireplace.
If it's possible, I'd seriously consider converting your gas fireplace to a wood burning one. Forgo the ill-perceived thought of a gas fireplace being more convenient. In this case, the convenience does not equal the cost!
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