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I grew up with wood burning fireplaces, love the sounds, the smell, etc. however, the mess is another thing-cleaning the fireplace, getting the wood, etc. Also, there is always that feeling of going to bed after having a fire and the fire not being completely out, etc. Then you have issues of heat loss from the flue, messing with dampers, etc. Wood burning fireplaces don't produce THAT much heat unless you have a fan system installed.
We now have a gas fireplace with a blower system and I LOVE being able to flip a switch and you have fire. I can turn our fireplace on in the morning for about 30 minutes and it warms most of the house. I do this in the fall when the mornings are chilly but the rest of the day is fine. It's a perfect amount of heat to take the chill off without turning on the entire furnace. We use our gas fireplace several times/week in the fall/winter/spring.
Aesthetically I prefer a wood fireplace but I know I would never use one because of the hassle of starting the fire, keeping the fire burning and cleaning up after the fire.
Thanks everyone for their input! Does a fireplace that is wood burning AND gas burning produce the same heat as say just having one or the other? Wouldn't it be beneficial to have both? We definitely want a fireplace wear you can actually open the fireplace glass doors or shut them..not one that is behind glass that you cannot open...
A new modern ng fireplace will be 90% efficent, so as good or better tha wood. What do you mean both? You can't have both in the same unit, you would have to have two fireplaces, one of each.
YOu NEVER ooen the glass doors unless your doing servicing on the unit. The gas unit is designed to bring in freah combustion air in one piepe, and expel the exhaust in the other pipe. You don't use air from the house for combustion, it's a sealed unit.
The pipe are one inside the other, one with fresh air, one to exhaust.
You need to go to a local F/P store and educate yourself.
Here is the one I have, but there are other good brands. Look here and it will answer your questions about gas F/P... http://mendotahearth.com/pdfs/manuals/D-40-DT-0806.pdf
As an owner of a wood fireplace I'd tell you to get a gas one. Stacking wood, planning ahead to buy it, carrying it in, keeping it dry, etc. becomes a pain as you get older. It's worse if you're also the one splitting it prior to doing the above.
We built a room addition and purchased a Kozy Heat Gas Vented fireplace. I love it and have not used my downstairs wood-burning unit much (if any, as I cannot remember the last time) since using the gas.
We have a remote control that we can place anywhere in the room.
The fire "dances" due to the design of Kozy Heat. Doors can be purchased to open and close like a wood-burning unit.
I don't think you would ever be disappointed with a good gas unit. Just don't go by the cheapest price. I recommend having it installed by the seller as they will be very experienced and will make sure it is done correctly.
A new modern ng fireplace will be 90% efficent, so as good or better tha wood. What do you mean both? You can't have both in the same unit, you would have to have two fireplaces, one of each.
YOu NEVER ooen the glass doors unless your doing servicing on the unit. The gas unit is designed to bring in freah combustion air in one piepe, and expel the exhaust in the other pipe. You don't use air from the house for combustion, it's a sealed unit.
The pipe are one inside the other, one with fresh air, one to exhaust.
You need to go to a local F/P store and educate yourself.
Here is the one I have, but there are other good brands. Look here and it will answer your questions about gas F/P... http://mendotahearth.com/pdfs/manuals/D-40-DT-0806.pdf
Thanks for the input! From my understanding you can have a wood burning unit and gas log insert in the same unit, but I could be mistaken? The sealed door unit you are talking about is a direct vent which is what you have, which I do understand you cannot open. Anyways, we are going to a fireplace store this weekend to get a better understanding..thank you for your link as well!
We won't even consider a home with a gas FP. We don't really need a FP, but if the home has one, we want it to be wood.
We saw one recently that was slate and built into a corner. It was so nice. We really liked how it didn't take up too much room, yet the FP was still fairly large. Sometimes a FP even in large rooms can feel too pretentious, or feel imposing. Tucked away in a corner leaves more room for windows (light) and helps with furniture placement.
Thanks for the input! From my understanding you can have a wood burning unit and gas log insert in the same unit, but I could be mistaken? The sealed door unit you are talking about is a direct vent which is what you have, which I do understand you cannot open. Anyways, we are going to a fireplace store this weekend to get a better understanding..thank you for your link as well!
There are some gas inserts that you can put into a former woodburning fireplace that look like it is a woodburner still (no doors, etc.). Maybe that is what you are thinking?? You can have a gas fireplace where you open the doors while the fireplace is burning, I know people that have them.
I have a gas fireplace... and it threw heat pretty decent.
Manage to raise the temp up by 2 degrees in less than 20 mins, as good as my radiant heat.
Though the original fireplace that was here before burns wood and have a chimney (which I'd love to redo someday for downstairs).
Which I think is also a good option to have if we were to get another "loooong" electric outages that last as long as the one from "Irene" especially during winter.
I love fireplaces... be it gas or wood burning.
Especially for the "Christmas" & winter seasons.. creates that "warm & fuzzy" atmosphere you know.
A new modern ng fireplace will be 90% efficent, so as good or better tha wood. What do you mean both? You can't have both in the same unit, you would have to have two fireplaces, one of each.
YOu NEVER ooen the glass doors unless your doing servicing on the unit. The gas unit is designed to bring in freah combustion air in one piepe, and expel the exhaust in the other pipe. You don't use air from the house for combustion, it's a sealed unit.
The pipe are one inside the other, one with fresh air, one to exhaust.
You need to go to a local F/P store and educate yourself.
Here is the one I have, but there are other good brands. Look here and it will answer your questions about gas F/P... http://mendotahearth.com/pdfs/manuals/D-40-DT-0806.pdf
I don't think mine is a "sealed" unit though (there might be different types of Gas fireplaces maybe) ... it has a fan that turns on to spread the heat throughout the house through an open vent at the top and it vents outside (from where the old chimney used to be).
And I just had my glass door (singular) opened & cleaned because it was looking "streaky" on the inside.
There are some gas inserts that you can put into a former woodburning fireplace that look like it is a woodburner still (no doors, etc.). Maybe that is what you are thinking?? You can have a gas fireplace where you open the doors while the fireplace is burning, I know people that have them.
Good suggestion!
I actually saw those logs with the gas knob on the bottom on display at Tractor Supply.
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I agree 100%
) ... it has a fan that turns on to spread the heat throughout the house through an open vent at the top and it vents outside (from where the old chimney used to be). 
