Situation dependent. If there’s a clear chimney/flue and you’ve got plenty of firewood, real fireplace. If you’re in a basement, bedroom, trailer, boat, etc., electric fireplace. Some of those are quite nice!
ummm… not really. My fireplace is real (has a working chimney, hearth etc.) and could be used for wood if I wanted, but the LOGS are “faux”.
But, that being said, I am NOT a fan of ventless gas logs…
@Ldfzm I partially disagree. While it isn’t as great as the heat from burning wood, the flame is real unlike with electric. I would take my gas insert over electric any time… and when factoring in the work of cutting/splitting wood and cleaning up the mess, I would still choose the gas insert.
Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to the mortals, however to defy Zeus even further I use electric fireplaces to make fake fire to give Zeus an even bigger middle finger.
@olperfesser ours was great when storms brought down the power grid a few weeks ago. We won’t go into the fact that you’d have to be raised one the equator to consider this a “winter storm”
neither i guess? i run too hot to enjoy anything that gives off a lot of heat in a room, and do not find real flames relaxing at all. i have seen some electric inserts in rich people house tours on youtube that look kind of cool, but in an alternate reality where i can afford to buy such a home, it would hardly be a requirement for me.
I would like a real one, but we don’t have a chimney so we got one of the fake ones that burns little sterno cans. Not entirely convincing, but the flames are real.
@bocoroth That’s cool. I’ve never heard of these types of sterno fireplaces but a quick search seems to show they allow for many different style options. Do they give off any real amount of heat? Either way, I find it relaxing to look at real flames.
@bocoroth Thanks for that info. I may start with something small (aka cheap) and see how it goes. Maybe some sort of daily deal site will consider offering one in the future…
The wood-burning fireplace insert is in the room where we spend 90% of our waking hours at home. For about 4 months a year, it is our primary heat source.
Real has its romance, for sure, but it’s not a very clean fuel source in the immediate (releases a fair amount of smoke into the room and up the chimney, into the atmosphere). Natural gas and electric may have issues further up the chain that aren’t clean, acquisition-wise, but at least they don’t increase the AQI in my home as much. Gas is superior to electric, though. It looks closer to wood than electric to me.
Electric/gas fireplaces can look pretty and provide heat, but real fireplaces are so much more than that: The sound and the smell and the fire dancing over the ever-changing burning logs… It’s almost not even worth having a fireplace if it’s not a real wood-burning one.
Real fireplace in the main floor living room and wood burning stove in the basement family room. The fireplace only gets used once a year at Christmas, but the wood stove gets used regularly in the winter. (To be fair, the TV is also in the family room where the wood stove is, so that may have some influence.)
Fake logs! Well, not fake but the ones made up of primarily sawdust and wax are the way to go. Our old house had a wood burning fireplace and that was all we ever used. They are much better for the environment, you and your health, and you don’t have to worry about creosote buildup the same way as you do with wood. They also give off enough heat to bump up the temp a few degrees. If you do go this route, try a bunch of different brands, as they all tend to burn a little differently.
Growing up we had the neatest fake fireplace. It had a big faux stone mantle (fiberglass I think) a fake log that had something like a color wheel behind it to produce the flicker effect. That’s where we hung our stockings as kids and where my parents displayed our school portraits.
I seem to remember mom got it by saving the coupons that you got with your pictures when they came back from being devolved. It shipped REA Express so they had to pick up at the train station. The first one showed up broken.
That whole last paragraph made no sense to anyone any younger than I am. I might as well be talking about buggy whips and asbestos pajamas.
More specifically, a woodstove is far superior to a standard fireplace. When I run my woodstove, I gotta open windows, it gets so hot in here.
Electric if I am using it for heat. Real if I am using it for fun.
Situation dependent. If there’s a clear chimney/flue and you’ve got plenty of firewood, real fireplace. If you’re in a basement, bedroom, trailer, boat, etc., electric fireplace. Some of those are quite nice!
Electric wins as you don’t have the low level carcinogenic smoke. But I love the smell of burning wood.
Anyone have an opinion on gas fireplaces?
@Salanth I love my gas fireplace insert. I came to the comments to ask why that option was omitted.
That counts as a faux fireplace
@Salanth @tjwbiowa @Ldfzm
ummm… not really. My fireplace is real (has a working chimney, hearth etc.) and could be used for wood if I wanted, but the LOGS are “faux”.
But, that being said, I am NOT a fan of ventless gas logs…
@Ldfzm I partially disagree. While it isn’t as great as the heat from burning wood, the flame is real unlike with electric. I would take my gas insert over electric any time… and when factoring in the work of cutting/splitting wood and cleaning up the mess, I would still choose the gas insert.
Heres the real deal:
Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to the mortals, however to defy Zeus even further I use electric fireplaces to make fake fire to give Zeus an even bigger middle finger.
There’s no warmth like a wood burning stove but the I take real over fake in the fireplace department.
If it is unusually cold out, and the power goes out for a week, I think the scales should tip in favor of the functional fireplace.
In the house. Electric for safety. Outside the house real is nicer.
campfire!!
Real comes in handy when power goes out due to ice storms bringing down power lines. (a few years ago) Keeps the house semi warm.
@olperfesser ours was great when storms brought down the power grid a few weeks ago. We won’t go into the fact that you’d have to be raised one the equator to consider this a “winter storm”
Meh !
neither i guess? i run too hot to enjoy anything that gives off a lot of heat in a room, and do not find real flames relaxing at all. i have seen some electric inserts in rich people house tours on youtube that look kind of cool, but in an alternate reality where i can afford to buy such a home, it would hardly be a requirement for me.
I would like a real one, but we don’t have a chimney so we got one of the fake ones that burns little sterno cans. Not entirely convincing, but the flames are real.
@bocoroth That’s cool. I’ve never heard of these types of sterno fireplaces but a quick search seems to show they allow for many different style options. Do they give off any real amount of heat? Either way, I find it relaxing to look at real flames.
@elfunkman It throws some heat, not as much as a real fireplace but you can feel the room get a little warmer after a while.
@bocoroth Thanks for that info. I may start with something small (aka cheap) and see how it goes. Maybe some sort of daily deal site will consider offering one in the future…
The wood-burning fireplace insert is in the room where we spend 90% of our waking hours at home. For about 4 months a year, it is our primary heat source.
Real has its romance, for sure, but it’s not a very clean fuel source in the immediate (releases a fair amount of smoke into the room and up the chimney, into the atmosphere). Natural gas and electric may have issues further up the chain that aren’t clean, acquisition-wise, but at least they don’t increase the AQI in my home as much. Gas is superior to electric, though. It looks closer to wood than electric to me.
@jitc
X2
Electric/gas fireplaces can look pretty and provide heat, but real fireplaces are so much more than that: The sound and the smell and the fire dancing over the ever-changing burning logs… It’s almost not even worth having a fireplace if it’s not a real wood-burning one.
Real fireplace in the main floor living room and wood burning stove in the basement family room. The fireplace only gets used once a year at Christmas, but the wood stove gets used regularly in the winter. (To be fair, the TV is also in the family room where the wood stove is, so that may have some influence.)
Fake logs! Well, not fake but the ones made up of primarily sawdust and wax are the way to go. Our old house had a wood burning fireplace and that was all we ever used. They are much better for the environment, you and your health, and you don’t have to worry about creosote buildup the same way as you do with wood. They also give off enough heat to bump up the temp a few degrees. If you do go this route, try a bunch of different brands, as they all tend to burn a little differently.
@elfunkman
same can be said of real logs BTW. Different types of wood (oak, hickory, etc) all have different heat capacity and temp profiles.
Growing up we had the neatest fake fireplace. It had a big faux stone mantle (fiberglass I think) a fake log that had something like a color wheel behind it to produce the flicker effect. That’s where we hung our stockings as kids and where my parents displayed our school portraits.
I seem to remember mom got it by saving the coupons that you got with your pictures when they came back from being devolved. It shipped REA Express so they had to pick up at the train station. The first one showed up broken.
That whole last paragraph made no sense to anyone any younger than I am. I might as well be talking about buggy whips and asbestos pajamas.
@Garfield43 Trade you some half-filled S&H green stamps booklets.
Real fireplace with real trees burning in it. You can fix marshmallows, baked potatoes and steaks in it.