Please advise us where you are & your home style? Ranch, 2 story Colonial?,Split level? etc.

My Dad lives in a 4,000 sq ft Colonial 2 story with (unfinished basement when we were kids) His Natural gas furnace was located in the rear of the basement,(when he re finished it) That unit alone heats that 800 sq ft of the basement, In the adjoing 800sq ft we had electric baseboard heat ( that never really worked well) and he has a Masonry fireplace directly above the furnace with the Masonry chimney running directly up the side of the home. (Does this sound like your layout?) He still has his wood burning unit with Glass doors on the unit. Now that Dad is 80 he is not having many fires in the house ! But if he were too I think he would be looking for a Gas unit much like you are, no mess & no fuss. Cut it on with the flick of a switch, cut it off with the flick of a switch. Done.
Other relatives that have these units mostly builder inserts in the newer homes tell me they only use $150 gas per year but they DON't give off much HEAT. So if it is HEAT you are looking for look elsewhere. True heat is only achieved by burning hardwood.

2 story colonial, electric heat pump, no heat in unfinished basement, 2200 sq feet split between 1st and 2nd floor. Heat pump gives off no heat in basement. In our old home we had an oil burner w/ hot water baseboard heat...it did give off heat...out of luck in the new home I guess. My guess is propane costs WAY more than natural gas. My Dad uses much more than $150 year....propane is over $2 a gallon here in NE PA.

PS: I burned wood last night...allergies were a mess...wood is out. Back to deciding on gas log set or insert...suggestions, opinions desired!!!!!

Andrelaplume2, a few comments.

You do not state where you live.

I have a similar situation. I have a 20 year-old, 1700 square-foot, all-electric, split foyer home in Baltimore. I have been in the house for 5 years. The heat pump is original Trane (we should count our blessings that they have lasted 20-plus years). I have a masonry fireplace in the below-grade family room. I have allergies (dust, pollen, grass, weeds, cats, etc - I get an allergy shot every 3 weeks and have been doing so since childhood).

I have been using my fireplace w/one-of-a-kind wood-burning insert to suppliment the heat pump. The insert raises the temperature of the family room from 65 to 72 degrees. The thermostat is in the living room and set at 68. The layout of the house is not open so the heat does not directly go to the second floor living area (where the thermosat is located) and bedrooms, but it does add BTU's to the house and heats the floor of the living room.

The fireplace does not affect my allergies. Neither does mowing the lawn. Are you so sure of the effects of wood-burners on your allergies that you write-off the best sources of heat from your masonry fireplace (wood/pellet insert or stoves)?

Propane and electric resistance heat are the most expensive sources of heat - and by a large margin as compared to other sources of heat.

I run the house fan in the summer only. This does 2 things. First, it helps to move air in the summer (I have ceiling fans also). Second, the wife doesn't know when the A/C compressor cycles off so there is less of a chance that she is playing with the thermostat. You can run your house fan in the winter with your new heat source and see how it works. I find that there is cold-feeling air blowing out of the vents in the winter time when the firepace is going in the family room (there are no return vents in the family room in the ceiling). Is there a return vent in the ceiling near your fireplace?

I agree with Bob Brown from the HVAC Forum that your basement heating should be done with your current HVAC system. When you replace your current heat pump, you can increase it's capacity if needed and add ductwork to your basement.

My opinions.

You must have posted as I was writing a response.

FYI: Heat from propane (at $2/gallon and 86,000 btu/gallon) is TWICE as expensive as heat from natural gas (at $1.26 per 100 cubic feet and 103,000 btu/100 cubic feet). I am not sure if these are the latest prices in Northeast Pennsylvania, but you get the overall picture.

Thanks, let me respond....

Andrelaplume2, a few comments.
You do not state where you live.

We live in Eastern Pa.

I have a similar situation. I have a 20 year-old, 1700 square-foot, all-electric, split foyer home in Baltimore............

My Dad has a split like your and experiences the same thing with his log set. As far as allergies, I to get shots. Tghis time of year is usually not as bad for me. Each time I have built a fire congestion set in within hours. I will look into a pellet stove if it can be a sealed system like the gas unit.

I run the house fan in the summer only. This does 2 things. First, it helps to move air in the summer (I have ceiling fans also). Second, the wife doesn't know when the A/C compressor cycles off so there is less of a chance that she is playing with the thermostat......

Ha! Good trick. We run our fan in the summer when it very hot and it works well. When not so hot it starts to get stuffy in the house. There are a number of returns on our 1st floor including one in the FR.

I realize propane is twice as much as natural gas but sadly we do not have natural gas in our developement.

SO, does anyone know if a gas log set burns 3 times as much gas as an insert?