Choosing Between Gas and Wood Burning Fireplaces
A fireplace adds ambiance and value to your home. When homebuyers imagine their perfect house, the house typically includes a cozy home that keeps you and your family warm in the winter, either with a smoothly running heating system or gathering around a cozy fire.
It’s hard to resist the allure of of a warm fire, but how do you choose between a gas or wood burning fireplace? There are many points to consider when deciding how to heat your home.
Aesthetics and Efficiency
- Wood: A wood burning fireplace typically wins in the sensory category. You get the crackle. You get the pop. You get the opportunity to roast marshmallows indoors. Something you don’t get is a powerful heating source. Wood fires normally receive up to a 15% efficiency rating, considerably lower than a furnace that has regular service performed. They do get very hot, but most of that heat is released up the chimney. Wood burning fireplaces not only lose the heat coming from the fire, but it also pulls warm air from other parts of the home up the chimney.
- Gas: There have been many style advances in gas fireplaces. The flames have become more realistic and some models offer varied adjustments in height. The ceramic logs used in gas fireplaces now more closely favor the real thing and come complete with glimmering embers, which don’t demand you to wait while they burn out. You can simply switch your gas fireplace on and off, giving you more control over the temperature of you home and frees you from having to keep an eye on your fire. The lack of fire stealing oxygen gives gas fireplaces a 75% to 99% efficiency rating. Just picture the level of comfort you could have when you pair that with a well-maintained furnace.
Air Quality and Maintenance
- Wood: Air quality is crucial to every homeowner. Burning wood creates air pollution in and outside your family’s home and the smoky wood smell that a wood burning fireplace gives off could be a health hazard. Wood also creates a byproduct called creosote that lines the coating of the chimney and must be removed by a professional. Much like furnaces that should have furnace service completed regularly, gas fireplaces also require consistant cleanings of embers and spent logs.
- Gas: Gas fireplaces only require some dusting every now and then and are virtually maintenance free. It is recommended that you get your gas fireplace cleaned and adjusted once a year by a specialist to keep it working both safely and effectively.
If you are interested in converting your wood burning fireplace into a gas fireplace or you simply want to schedule your routine furnace service, please give us a call at 614-334-3192 or schedule an appointment online. Our experts will have you cozied up by the fire in no time.
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