Choosing Between Gas and Wood Burning Fireplaces 

A fireplace adds ambiance and value to your home. When homebuyers imagine their perfect home, the dream typically includes a cozy home that keeps you and your family warm in the winter, either with a smoothly running furnace or snuggling around a cozy fire. 

It’s hard to resist the temptation of of a crackling fire, but how do you pick between a gas or wood burning fireplace? There are many points to consider when deciding how to keep your home nice and toasty. 

Aesthetics and Efficiency  

• Wood: A wood burning fireplace typically wins in the experience category. You get the crackle. You get the pop. You get the ability to roast marshmallows indoors. Something you don’t get is an efficient heating source. Wood fires usually receive up to a 15% efficiency rating, considerably lower than a furnace that has routine service performed. They do get very hot, but most of that heat disappears 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 house up the chimney. 
• Gas: There have been many aesthetic advances in gas fireplaces. The flames have become more realistic and some designs offer various height adjustments. The ceramic logs used in gas fireplaces now more closely favor the real thing and come complete with flickering embers, which don’t require you to wait while they go out. You can easily switch your gas fireplace on and off which gives you more control over the temperature of you home and frees you from having to tend to your fire. The lack of fire stealing oxygen gives gas fireplaces a 75% to 99% efficiency rating. Just imagine the level of comfort you could have when you combine that with a fully maintained furnace.  

Air Quality and Maintenance 

• Wood: Air quality is vital to every homeowner. Burning wood generates air pollution in and outside the home and the smoky wood odor 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 annually, gas fireplaces also require consistant cleanings of soot 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 an expert to keep it running both safely and smoothly. 

If you are interested in finding out more information about converting your wood burning fireplace into a gas fireplace or you simply need to schedule annual furnace service, please give us a call at 301-747-3140 or schedule an appointment online. Our experts will have you cuddled up by the fire in no time.