Gas or wood fireplace?

[PoorUB]

When we bought our house it had a pretty decent wood burning stove in the family room. I got all my wood pretty much free, cut and split. I just had to tune up my brother-in-law's chain saws once in a while. I used it the first winter and the next summer it got torn out and sold. We are on natural gas so generally pretty cheap heat. With the wood burner we were always cleaning up wood chips and hauling out ashes. I didn't feel the hassle was worth it.

 

[Pen & Wrench]

We installed a Heat N Glow natural gas fireplace insert into our wood fireplace several years ago. The fireplace had a gas log in it that had never been hooked up, but we could have burned wood if we wanted to Just checking online, it says a Heat N Glow fireplace insert is 70-90% efficient (actually says 92.6%). It has kept our home warm during power outages, as it will , but we opted for the Heat N Glow natural gas insert. It will run without electricity. However, it has a fan that pulls more heat out of it when the electricity is on. We really like the natural gas situation, with on and off, or we can put it on a thermostat which we normally do. We consider it our emergency supplemental heat source, and it has kept us warm in a winter power outage. I'll be the first to say that there is nothing like a real wood fire, but we really like the fact that the natural gas fire looks very nice and we don't have the mess that comes with a wood fire, I don't have to cut firewood, and it lights instantly.

 

[Ilikeike]

A fire place that emits smoke from a chimney !
OMG you’re going to kill baby seals.




I like wood, for the ambiance
Have gas at our cabin, not the same.

 

[930dreamer]

The triplets; insert 1500 sq ft, Grandpa 2000 sq ft, XL 3000 Sq ft. 1979 ad.

 

[Jazz1]

Gas is cheaper and cleaner,,,no doubt. Wood burner is like keeping a high maintenance girlfriend on the side. My garage is heated with a wood stove here in NW Ontario….I source free firewood within a couple miles and locally a cord cut and split is $475

 

[nadogail]

My home, built in 1988, has a wood burning inserted fireplace with Glass Doors and an external vent to bring in combustion air.

After a few years we added a gas log.

The novelty wore off and we have not used it for a few years. It can make a nice amount of heat, so we will keep it as a back up heating source.

 

[LopezBart]

We see a few power failures every winter. Longer lasting ones are due to falling trees on the mainland; these can take anywhere from a few hours (meh) to a few days or longer (eek!) to remedy. If the wind is blowing down from the Frasier Valley, low temps can be in the teens or low twenties, and our heat pump is useless w/o juice. The wood stoves keep the house nice and warm w/o power. I have a 275 gallon tote full of water and an RV pump & battery in the basement on a Battery Tender just in case. We have about 15 acres of woods, so there's enough windfall/root rot to keep us well supplied with wood, even if I only cut and split a fraction of it. Once there's several cords in the woodshed, it doesn't feel very urgent.

I'm not worried about aliens/zombies, EMPs (much) or other fictional popular disasters, but power failures get kind of tiresome when you can't stay warm, flush the toilets - or prepare meals, esp. when family is visiting, as happened last Christmas.

If your climate requires heat, I'd have a source of that that doesn't depend on power.

 

[housewolf]

We struggled with that decision when we built our new house two years ago. Whichever we decided on, it needed to be efficient/effective and actually be able to provide heat as well as being aesthetically pleasing. Ultimately we went with direct vent gas based on ease of use, we aren’t getting younger and this is our “forever home”. No regrets whatsoever but I’m pretty sure I’d feel the same if we’d gone with a wood burning stove type insert. It will heat the whole 1,800 sq ft house with the help of the central air fan and my wife can use it when I’m not around with the push of a button. If/when the power goes off, it’ll still work but without the fan(s) it only heats the living room.

What pushed us toward gas was that we rarely get the days on end cold here. For us, “cold” is usually lows in the mid 30s during the early morning then up to high 50s by 10am. With the gas, you can turn it on for a couple of hours in the morning then turn it off and be done with it until it’s needed again. Of course there have been times we didn’t turn it off for a week. It looks kind of like a real fire (behind glass) too.

Good luck with your decision OP

 

[Glemon]

I love a wood fire, have had gas, not at all the same. If you want heat with the least trouble get central HVAC. If you want ambience and warmth a wood fire wins by a landslide. So e people don't care about would fires and mostly think of them as work, dirty and stinky, some people associate them with a warm relaxing evening, a lot of it is up to how you feel about it.

But I am talking about making a fire several times a week in the evening to sit down and relax by, not rely on it to heat the house or shed, for that use case the extra work would enter into the equation for me.

Will add we don't have a huge lot, but we have as lot of trees. Many were older or had some distressed areas. We spent a lot of money to have the trees trimmed and one taken down...and now I don't have about half my yearly supply of wood falls ng out of the trees for me to pick up. But I also don't have to worry quite as much a bout a falling branch killing or injuring the family or dog, so I guess it was the right thing to do.

 

[HPRifleman]

We have a gas-fired fireplace in our master bedroom and wood-burning one in the living room. The wood-burner is actually a Quadra-Fire insert that was put into a real wood fireplace at some point in the past.

In the four years we have lived in this house I think we ran the bedroom unit once just to see if it would work. The living room unit will get lit once or twice a year. Typically when we host Christmas Eve and maybe another time as a way to supplement the heat in that part of the house and to provide some ambiance. Our property is 4 heavily wooded acres so we have enough wood to last a lifetime and I don't mind splitting logs just for exercise. But the minimal benefit of having a fire doesn't really justify the hassle of getting the fire started and maintained. We have more fires in our fire pit outside than we do inside, but that's really for burning fallen branches and other brush.

My opinion may not be shared by many but I think fireplaces are a waste of wall space in a house. In many instances they are a forced focal point and it seems everything else in the room is positioned to support that. Don't even get me started on the flat screen TV's mounted above them so your neck is at an unnatural angle for viewing. They made sense in the 1880's but a modern furnace is much more efficient. Just the opinion of a curmudgeonly middle-aged man.

 

[P0234]

We have a gas-fired fireplace in our master bedroom and wood-burning one in the living room. The wood-burner is actually a Quadra-Fire insert that was put into a real wood fireplace at some point in the past.

In the four years we have lived in this house I think we ran the bedroom unit once just to see if it would work. The living room unit will get lit once or twice a year. Typically when we host Christmas Eve and maybe another time as a way to supplement the heat in that part of the house and to provide some ambiance. Our property is 4 heavily wooded acres so we have enough wood to last a lifetime and I don't mind splitting logs just for exercise. But the minimal benefit of having a fire doesn't really justify the hassle of getting the fire started and maintained. We have more fires in our fire pit outside than we do inside, but that's really for burning fallen branches and other brush.

Even a small insert is going to put out 25-30k BTU heat running at a nice pace. You've either got a huge house, its poorly insulated or aren't running a good fire.

We've got a nice little insert downstairs that is rated for 30k and a max of 50k, and it keeps the whole house warm until the temps get in the low 20's at night. Then the bigger unit upstairs come on, it can put out 110k max, the two of them running together can make it really hot even on the coldest day.

 

[mrbill55]

Just took it now. The TV above is barely in frame.

I've had wood burners like that in earlier homes, the last three (including the one we are renovating and have a thread in the garage section covering) have all had gas fired.....These days, it's the only way to go as long as you have a battery fired ignition for when the power goes out. The new (old) house, we removed an early 80's unit, and installed a 97% efficient 80K btu unit for when the power potentially could go out. Our current house has a mid 90's unit, not as efficient, but kept the house at 60 degrees when the power went out for 6 days a few years back...This before we replaced 3 exterior man doors (leaking badly), and had new insulation installed in the crawlspace and attic.

Bill S.

 

[smackey05]

If I had more free time I'd get our home fireplace up to code and usable in the house. There are some things that need to be sorted out before it can be used. I had a gas fireplace and it worked well. Easy to use and convenient.

One day if I retire in the woods or WFH permanently I'll get a wood fireplace.

 

[Kent_B]

Pardon the crappy cell phone picture. This is what we use to supplement our electric baseboard heat. We burn around 3 cords per heating season. I cut, split and season the wood myself. Mrs. B says this system saves us around $200 per month during the heating season.

 

[Dakotadadv8]

I would recommend wood burning stove or stoves for heat and cooking. Will be tough during SHTF scenarios.

 

[LopezBart]

I would recommend wood burning stove or stoves for heat and cooking. Will be tough during SHTF scenarios.

At least properly stored wood stove fuel takes a long time to go bad .

 

[Dakotadadv8]

At least properly stored wood stove fuel takes a long time to go bad .

Agree complete freedom when the grid goes down.

 

[Mike65]

We have had wood burning fireplace & a gas freestanding fireplace we liked the gas model better. Cleaner, less maintenance, & easier to use.

 

[jar944]

Hi OP! I personally prefer gas fireplaces over wood because it is easier to use and requires less work in terms of maintenance. I also think that a gas fireplace would add more value to your home over wood fireplaces, gas fireplaces are also more effective at providing heat for certain areas of your home. You can check out this blog post from Hurliman Heating & Air Conditioning about the cost of having a gas fireplace installed so you can make your comparison and decide which is better for you.

Spam bot much?

 

[41plym]

I've been heating with wood for 40 years and plan on it until I can no longer manage packing the wood inside. My first welding job was building Fishers stoves. Mr. Fisher was from this area and just passed in the last couple of years.

 

[930dreamer]

I've been heating with wood for 40 years and plan on it until I can no longer manage packing the wood inside. My first welding job was building Fishers stoves. Mr. Fisher was from this area and just passed in the last couple of years.

March 2013.

 

[41plym]

I stand corrected. 930dreamer
It seemed more recent than that.

 

[billconner]

Surprised no mention of pellets, nor coal. I like the pellet "ambiance" plus much of the conveniences of gas. My brother is a fairly large regional dealer - wood, gas, pellet, coal, and increasingly popular electric - fire places, stoves, and inserts - and uses mostly pellet stoves to heat his house. Very pleasant.

 

[WisJim]

We had wood heat since the late 1970s, using a variety of wood stoves in different houses, and for the last 30 years or so, a wood fired forced air furnace in the basement. I preferred wood heat because it was independent of the energy companies, the fuel stores very well, and I can produce the fuel myself with minimal effort. In the last few years we would buy a truck load of 8 foot logs, sawmill rejects from a logger, and cut and split it ourselves, or with help from friends. We found that we could get a good crew of young folks (friends in their 20s to 40s) who would help us get 6 to 8 full cords cut, split, and stacked in less than a day of work, for payment in lunch at mid-day and then pizza and beer when we were done in late afternoon. If times were hard, we could (and have) collected and processed all our firewood from trees and downfalls on our property with axes splitting mauls, and cross cut saws that we have.
Now we have moved into town, due to age and health, and have to depend on a natural gas furnace and the pricing whims of the energy monopolies. It leaves me feeling uncomfortable, not having more control over my heating choices.

 

[930dreamer]

I stand corrected. 930dreamer
It seemed more recent than that.

My wife and I grew up in Eugene/Springfield. I remember seeing his stoves on display in the 70's and I have three in my shop.

 

[bb29510]

when i was young , we had a wood fire place but you started the wood with gas

 

[ATC]

For heat, gas wins again, and again by a lot. Ours will burn us out of the living room if we just let it run.

I've been driven out of many homes with a woodstove...and garages. My grandparents in upstate NY used to leave the front door open on and off once the temp reached 90+ in the living room!

 

[ATC]

When I was a kid, the house we moved into had a fireplace. Dad bought an insert to put in it with a blower. It was amazing. I remember sitting in front of it many times in the winters when we would lose power, playing games with mom & dad by lantern. It got used less and less, and then the den it was in was turned into bedroom, so dad sold off the insert and we closed up the chimney.

If you have the time, I would absolutely stick with wood. The exercise is well worth it too...something I think we all need more of. With a little bit of effort throughout the year, you can heat your home for free. A great benefit.

My aunt & uncle have had a pellet stove since before I was born. They love it. It doesn't put out quite the heat that a woodstove does, but much better than a heat pump.

Natural gas isn't prevalent in our area...I don't know anyone with NG. Propane isn't much more popular.

 

[Nutria]

It all depends on context, of course. Have lots of free or cheap wood? In our area, the Forest Service does a lot of forest thinning, and if no one uses that wood for firewood, it's just going to be burned in burn piles during the winter.

Have a lot of power outages? Hard to beat a stove, as pointed out above.

We check both of those boxes, so it's a no-brainer for us. We do have a gas FAU, but that's just for the morning before we go to work. Otherwise, the stove does all of the heating. Some work required, and maybe that will become a deal-breaker for me at some point in the future, but all good for now.

 

[paredown]

I've been driven out of many homes with a woodstove...and garages. My grandparents in upstate NY used to leave the front door open on and off once the temp reached 90+ in the living room!

You need to size your stove correctly--and not over-fire.

Our current stove is the largest that Jotul made--and we got it for free (!) off Craigslist. The family we bought if from installed it in their Philadelphia Main Line fairly modern, sealed house and they were dying from the heat. They were in the process of swapping it for a stove half its size, and we got their cast-off.

In our leaky '60s modern with its acres of single pane, not well-sealed glass it is the perfect stove, especially after I rebuilt it last year.

With any of the modern EPA-approved stoves, you will need to have dry wood to have a decent experience with them, which means cutting and stacking some wood maybe a year before you do your install, or (if you are lucky!) purchasing actual dried wood from a seller. Or burning Bio-Bricks for something similar. Pellets get you around this problem as does gas.

Wood stoves are a commitment and not for everyone. My local tree guy has a pile of wood the size of a large warehouse, since the newcomers to the area don't like trees and are clear-cutting their lots, AND have no interest in wood-burning because of the work and mess involved. Worse, the fuel to chip them is more expensive than what he can sell the chips for. Good news for me though--he is usually more than happy to let me grab truckloads, often already bucked into burnable lengths that just require splitting.

 

[P0234]

With any of the modern EPA-approved stoves, you will need to have dry wood to have a decent experience with them, which means cutting and stacking some wood maybe a year before you do your install, or (if you are lucky!) purchasing actual dried wood from a seller. Or burning Bio-Bricks for something similar. Pellets get you around this problem as does gas.

I think a lot of that is folklore. For sure you will get less heat output out of wet wood. And yes, you can't saw a live tree down and burn it the next day...

I've got two EPA rated inserts and both will eat up anything you throw at them. Will they fire off with some wet wood you pulled off the ground two days ago? No. But they'll eat anything you put in them and crank out good heat as long as you have a nice hot coal bed. The first winter here I was trying to be selective and burn only nice clean wood. Now I just throw anything in there.

 

[LopezBart]

We have two Jotul stoves of the reburning type; they're excellent. I split and stack the wood under a Costco carport and let it dry out. One of the stoves throttled down completely will heat the house. The stoves definitely like dry wood, esp. if you want to be able to throttle them down.

 

[Monza Harry]

Last Christmas I was having a furnace installed [Friday the 23rd] during a particularly rough cold snap, having mostly survived that island on installing a secondary heat source that is independent of electric service. I am also pondering which way to go. I figure it will be a high efficiency gas unit [fireplace shaped] as we were in the low 20's high teens, with no heat for four days. I tried my usual HVAC guys and then had to resort to the Google phone book. Then attempted repair of existing (NLA parts) then sourcing, removal, and installation for the new one. So this is where my motivation is derived. Gas offers around the clock unmonitored heat. Wood while as reliable as fire, just isn't automatic! Harry

 

[P0234]

Gas offers around the clock unmonitored heat. Wood while as reliable as fire, just isn't automatic! Harry

Nothing is as easy as gas or electric. But outages happen. We had gas shut off at our old neighborhood twice. Total s-show. They turn the whole neighborhood off then went house to house to shut or meters. Top it off, the Effers literally barge into your house to turn you back on.

Decent wood stoves will go all night without refueling. The Blaze King KE40 claims up to 40 hours on low.

 

[LopezBart]

Decent wood stoves will go all night without refueling. The Blaze King KE40 claims up to 40 hours on low.

This depends on the type of wood as well. When I was first living in SillyCon Valley, the little cook's house we lived in had no heat aside from a wood stove we bought. We got some nice hard fruitwood firewood, and that little Vermont Castings stove would easily go all night. With the good fir we're burning now, we need to really stuff the stove full to last 8 hours.

 

[bb29510]

i got a jotul too, it will burn couple 2x4 size oak all winter. its a slow burning

 

[paredown]

I think a lot of that is folklore. For sure you will get less heat output out of wet wood. And yes, you can't saw a live tree down and burn it the next day...

Well, going by the number of posts on hearth.com, lots of people have a real problem trying to burn wood with high moisture content, and will complain about how their stove is "broken". Sometimes there are draft issues which exacerbate the problem (and perhaps your good experience is because you have a good drafting chimney) but dry wood definitely makes life easier.

Your key proviso "as long as you have a nice hot coal bed" presumes you can get to that point--and some folks cannot do so with wet wood.

Are there ways around it? Of course--when I have had indifferent wood, I used to start the stove with BioBricks, get the stove hot, and then sneak in some damp wood--not ideal, but doable. I've done the same thing with construction scraps, wood flooring scraps or sawn up pallets. And some species (like ash) you can burn pretty quickly after cutting. Smaller splits can help. But get big splits of red oak--you will be homicidal trying to get those started in a cold stove, or even loading them on top of a starter fire--it really needs to dry for a good length of time--the ********* guys would say two years (which I have never managed)--but the best part of a year will make it usable, if not perfect.

And--importantly--the less efficient a fire is, the more creosote you will send up your chimney--so there's that to consider as well.

 

[ericm]

Modern EPA stoves burn clean and get more heat out of the wood, but they are less tolerant of wet wood. I tried wet wood in my EPA stove when it was installed in spring (I split the wood a few months before stove installation). It was a bear to get a fire going and it didn't burn all that clean. I quit trying and waited for the next winter. The next winter I had a bunch of wood that had been split and stacked and dried all summer and it burned MUCH better.

That was some years ago and I now try to stay two years ahead. Some of my wood species need three years to really burn well- they're very dense and heavy and hold on to their water. But most are good with two years.

 

[billconner]

It would be helpful to know if when discussing an EPA stove if it meets the 1988 or 2020 EPA standard, and if its catalytic or non-catalytic.

 

[LopezBart]

Some interesting facts about wood burning

• All species have about the same BTU (kcals)/ lb (kg) - 8600 BTU/lb if completely dry. Some species are much denser than others, so if you buy wood by volume (e.g. cords or cubic meters) you'll get different results.
• It takes order 1200 BTU to vaporize one lb of water, so one lb of firewood w/ 20% moisture only yields .8 * 8600 - 1200 *.2 = 6640 BTU.
• Wet wood burns inefficiently in most modern stoves and creates more creosote.