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Just installed a gas fireplace insert. Have only used it once as it's not cold enough yet. I prefer the crackle of the wood and the smell, but I don't want to deal with getting the wood, storing the wood, and cleaning up the ashes. Plus, we have bad air days here in the winter when you can't use your wood burning fireplaces. This winter, I'll be able to just flip the switch.
I think wood burning is more fun, but I don't want the mess and clean up. So we have a gas double sided fireplace between the family room and the breakfast area/kitchen. I used it a lot last winter. It really cut down the gas bill rather than running the furnance. It keeps putting out heat long after I turn it off. I'd run it in the morning and then turned it off when it got warm.
People keep talking about the mess and clean up from wood burning fireplaces. What are you referrign to? We use out fireplace a lot and the only clean up we do is to take a shop vac and suck out the ashes once a year. Are we missing simething?
I have two fireplaces in my house. One is wood and the other uses vent-free gas logs. I use the vent-free unit 90% of the time. I will heat my entire 2,200 sqft home. I love the wood unit but typically only lite it during long weekends or the holidays. Hearing the crackling of the fire is great but it is not worth lighting for 2hrs or so.
I prefer wood, I love the smell and ambiance. But because that smell soaks into the furniture and the mess we had a gas fireplace installed in our house. We do have a woodburning fireplace for outside though and we still have a wood burning fireplace at our place in the country. I am thinking of a pellet stove for our basement.
They say that they are going to stop putting wood fireplaces in houses because of the wood being burned. I think some states have already stopped.
what about the smokiness on the walls, furniture etc? Does the ash ever drift/blow out of the fireplace onto the floor directly in front of fireplace?
That has never happened to us, and we have two fireplaces that we regularly use, and have for many years. If that is happening to someone, I am guessing they have a problem with their fireplace, or they are not using the fireplace properly, like using green or wet wood. Properly seasoned firewood does not create smoke/ashes/mess.
Wood. I like a wood fire, and it is not messy, IMO.
But I don't burn continuously, just now and then.
I got tired of the full-time cold draft. Because of the gas logs, by code, the damper had to be blocked open.
I took out the gas logs, and like that I can close the damper when not burning a fire.
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