When my husband and I bought our home, we were absolutely thrilled by the enormous wood-burning fireplace in the living room.
We had visions of building a fire in the winter, supplementing our central heating system and enjoying the ambience.
We discovered that the reality of a wood-burning fire is much different. It’s a great deal of effort and mess. Cutting logs is an awful job. Hauling the dirty logs through the house requires lots of cleanup. Getting a fire started is rather difficult and then it creates ashes, fumes, smoke and sparks. The heat was entirely concentrated by the hearth, while the rest of the room was chilly. Afterward, we needed to invest in cleaning the flu. For nearly six years, we built one fire. I finally got in touch with a local HVAC contractor that specializes in natural gas fireplace inserts. The process of converting our fireplace from wood-burning to natural gas was not overly expensive or invasive. We now can start up the heater with the touch of a button on a cordless remote. We’re able to customize temperature and fan speed. The fan works to distribute the heat throughout the living room. The faux logs look very realistic, and we enjoy all the same ambience of an actual fire with none of the work. I am delighted that our beautiful fireplace now has a purpose. It actually does help out the furnace. The system is impressively energy efficient and works to lower our monthly heating costs while improving comfort. It only requires yearly professional maintenance.