Natural gas has been run to our house, and I’d like to have a gas insert installed in the “parlor,” aka living room. (My house is old and has a double parlor with pocket doors.) I want it for the aesthetic pleasure of having a functioning fireplace, and as a secondary emergency heat source in the case of power outages. I wouldn’t hope for more than the ability to keep things safely above freezing. The fireplace is in the center of the house, not on an outside wall. The chimney is not lined, and since this house already burned down once in 1913, we never wanted to risk a wood fire and spending the money to line it seemed like kind of an indulgence.
Any advice on makers, models, options, issues to be concerned with?
Our 2 gas fireplaces are by Majestic. They have served us well through several power outages (and most recently kept the house at 65 degrees when our furnace fan croaked, with the outside temps approaching freezing at night). If you want a fireplace to work in case the power goes out, it has to have an internal source of ignition and no electric blower fans that will not function when the power is out. This article talks about gas fireplace types, parts, etc.
Direct vent - we have a 16 year old direct vent from Heatand glo. We love it! You would need to get i installed int eh fireplace - the whole insert will put glass between you and the fire. Cranks out the heat, looks great, rated as a furnace, and no combustion air enters your living space, so it’s good for folks with sensitivities…
@anxiousmom, am I correct in believing that since our FP is in the center of the house with a chimney we could not use direct vent? Wouldn’t it have to be located on an exterior wall?
Ours are pretty basic and vented - both are built into walls. The house is almost 16 years old now.
In our first (“old”) house, the builder put in a wood burning fireplace. We did not want to mess with firewood and ashes, so we asked him to run a gas line into the fireplace and hook a gas log set. It was pretty basic - no pilot light, so it has to be manually lit, like some old gas stoves. But it was a cheap option that used the existing fireplace without too much hassle and with minimal modifications.
One standard way of venting is through the unit itself: they run a liner up the chimney and it contains both the in and out for the air. You have to check for what you like. Before doing that, I’d make a simple inspection with a flashlight of the inside of the chimney, noting the dimensions and the depth of the lintel.
Yes, the venting can go up the chimney with a direct vent fireplace. They have pipe sections that they can put together, I believe. It wouldn’t matter much the condtion of the chimney, since the air would be inside the pipe…
I looked into putting a gas insert in an old fireplace and there were some issues - no insert would fit and the mantel was too low, etc. You need to have an inspection done to see what would fit your specific fireplace.
We have the Artisan FPX model 864TRV, made by Travis Industries. We absolutely LOVE the looks, performance, and convenience. Their customer service department is also phenomenal. Turns on and off with the flip of a switch. There is also a variable speed fan, behind the bottom front faceplate, that you can have come on when the fireplace is turned on, but we never have needed it. We didn’t use our downstairs heater this past winter. The fireplace insert was all we needed to warm the downstairs area of our house. If you want to see ours, send me a message with your info and I will send you a picture.
EDIT: Ours is on an outside wall and there is a vent on the outside (exposed) side of the FP. If you email them asking them about a non-outside wall installation, they WILL respond in a timely manner.
Jshain…it sounds like yours needs electricity to run. I think the OP was also hoping for something to use when the power goes out. Can you disable the fan function, and manually start?
I’m goiing to contact that company. We have just gas logs, and it looks so nice. But we have discussed getting an insert with fan. Yours sounds like what we want.
Majestic and Heatandglo are both reputable companies. You should be able to do the venting required either though your chimney or through the floor joists. My brother has a cute little gas stove that sits in front of his fire place (it was designed for coal, not wood so is too small for most inserts) and it really warms up the room its in. Years ago I installed a larger gas fireplace in a converted garage for a client. That thing cranked out 40,000 BTUs and it was toasty!
Wow, if it were me, I’d do the repairs necessary to have a functioning wood-burning fireplace. Until my recent move, I’ve always had real fireplaces and nothing beats a real wood fire. My new place has gas fireplaces inside and out, and while it is incredibly convenient to be able to turn them on with a wall switch, it is a completely different feel, not at all like having a real wood fire. My house is new; I don’t think a gas insert will be very compatible with an old house from a style perspective.
That being said, I’ve been using my gas fireplaces way more than I ever used the wood-burning ones in my old house.
nottelling, I love the “real” fire, but unfortunately, when the fireplace becomes your only source of heat for a week, and it is below freezing… keeping the fire going and getting the ashes out becomes really old - really quickly.
I also loved heating with wood years ago. But at this point in life, don’t want to deal with the housekeeping and work associated with wood fires. Regardless, in my current house, I had a gas fireplace installed to avoid dealing with old chimney issues. Run the vent through the chimney and good to go. My insert is a Valor.
The house next door sold, and current occupants wanted a pellet stove for environmental reasons. Their several years old Valor fit in my fireplace, so I bought it. The installation company felt I needed a blower due to the size of my room, so that went in with the stove. They kept stating that the Valor was a very high quality unity. There is a pilot light and a battery power remote, no electricity needed for basic function, though the blower required installation of a plug inside the fireplace space.
Over the years, we have replaced two wood-burning fireplaces with gas logs and have never looked back. They are both vented through the chimney. The one in the basement heats like crazy while the other one is more for aesthetics.
We also built a new corner fireplace in the family room–vented to the outside, with television cabinet/shelf on the top. It heats up the room nicely and has an electric fan as well as a remote control. Since we ‘nest’ in the FR now that there are no kids around, we keep the whole-house thermostat quite low in winter. We use it all the time and absolutely love it! I miss the crackling and smell of wood-burning fires but do NOT miss the hassle and work…something wonderful about pushing a button and having a fire…It is a Heatilator brand; not sure about the other two brands. Go for it! You won’t regret it for a second. Find a source and do your research as there are lots of choices out there. Our plumber did the installation…
