I have 5 gas at my new house. I like them all.

I live in an area where I could get wood easily and there are no restrictions on wood burning.

But I have a wood burner in my current, soon to be a memory house, and I just don't use it more than a couple times a year. It looks nice, but you have to split the wood, split the kindling, lay the fire, light the fire, roast when the fire gets too hot, wait around for it to go out so you can close the damper, wait for it to cool so you can empty the ashes, trying not to make a mess...

With the gas, you hit a switch.

I sort of wish one of the 5 at the new house was wood for the smell, ambiance and sound. The one I'd wanted to do as a woodburner is in a tough place to vent, so it ended up gas, too.

In an either/or for the only FP in a house, I'd go gas without hesitation.

Thanks, oruboris, for your response. DH and I are a bit at odds on this one - he loves the actual fire - all that stuff you describe - but I love the idea of hitting a switch and having the ambience. Do you find you get actual HEAT from the gas fire?? I want the ease, and I would also like heat. In So Calif where we live, sitting by the fire is often enough to keep us warm on a cool afternon or evening.

You can get serious heat from a gas fire if it is a sealed unit (it has glass over the front that you don't remove when you burn the fire).

If the fireplace is unsealed, you really don't get any heat from gas. If you can, go to a fireplace showroom and ask them to turn on an unsealed unit before you make your decision.

One option is to get a firebox that can burn wood and gas. Then, when you wanted a wood fire, you'd just remove the gas logs. The rest of the time, you'd just flip a switch. This would have to be an unsealed unit, so you wouldn't get heat when you used the gas, but you would get heat when you used wood.

Some areas restrict wood burning fireplaces now though you may be grandfathered in.

An open fire tends to suck all the heat out of the rest of the house unless you find a way to take air from the outside.
Actually even an open gas flame might do that?

I built a house a few years ago and insisted on a wood burning fireplace. I had a decent contractor but for whatever reason - new houses are sealed tighter? - it tended to smoke the place up more than I remember my sister's fireplace in her huge high ceilinged victorian monster. (My living room had a fairly high ceiling too)
She's now in a different house with a wood burning insert which bakes the room its in. If you open it for that fire ambience though it also tends to smoke the place up but it is an option.

Im in a place now where I have a glass sealed gas fire place with a motorized air vent and it warms the place. Not really fast and not really hot or efficiently but I don't think its a high end model either.

I hate giving up on wood fireplaces but they just don't make much sense anymore - they freeze the rest of the house out, smoke, bake the room they are in......

Massive heat from all my gas FPs.

We've only had one meal at the new house, and the perpetually cold members of the family were fighting over who got the end of the table next to the fireplace-- this in a room that was already quite warm enough for the rest of us.

All of mine have a knob that lets you dial down the flame, and the Mendottas let you turn of the rear most part of the burner for more ambiance, less heat. But when you DO want heat, all deliver.
The technoledgy of gas fires is taking a leap forward: I saw several new models just coming out last year that use a single piece molded 'brick' interior that looks better than anything I've seen before. We ended up with only one of that kind, but I felt a little bad that I had to committ when I did-- there were some that might have been better than the ones I used the most.

I've wondered throughout the build if the fire would be something I really felt drawn to-- like a wood fire-- or more like a video fire on TV. So far, it seems like everyone in the family is drawn to them, including the 2 year old. You don't get to poke and prod them, but otherwise they are quite engaging.

I am writing this as I sit by my crackling, cozy fire in my wood fireplace. I think that it gets down to the ease and efficiency of a gas versus the authenticity and ambience. There's just something truly relaxing about a real crackling warm fire. Is there clean up and does it take time for it to really kick in, yes. But it's so worth it- I'm the envy of all my friends and people love to come over and hang out around it. My wood fireplace is the single biggest "ooh" elicited by the visitors to my house. I live on the water and I can tell you- the fire is romantic and cozy. It's an evening activity, yes. But to me at least, it's a very pleasing one.

For a bedroom or kitchen, I'd do gas. For the family room where people spend time gathering, I'd stay true to classic.

I wanted to offer a suggestion...My fireplace has sode and back walls that are metal. It's like a metal insert- but it's permanent. This insert really makes the fire more efficient and warmer. It's something that before I moved into this place- didn't know even existed. So check your fireplace walls and see if they are brick- and if they are-get an estimate for the box and see if that makes the difference.

Lizwaxy - thank you for both of your posts,which are very intriguing. Yes, there is nothing like a crackling wood fire - good point! And like many good things, there is a "price" to pay - in this case, the effort of building it, cleaning up after, etc.
As to the metal fireplace - again, can you tell me a brand name? The one we currently have is brick and the ones that we are looking at installing are also.

oruboris - my dh does like the "poking and prodding" of the fire, being an inveterate camper - but the visual is also important, and I appreciate your saying that it's attractive and engaging. That is important to us.

The environment (air pollution) should be another consideration when choosing wood versus gas.

I didn't think I'd like anything other than a wood-burning fireplace either but the time and expense of stocking wood, building a fire, and then cleaning up the ashes eventually caused us to use the fireplace on special occasions only. Since we replaced our wood-burning fireplace with a gas insert about 10 years ago, I've been able to enjoy a fire whenever I want.

Our fireplace is in a very large room in the center of our house with vaulted ceilings and it often feels drafty. We use the fireplace to warm things up on cold mornings. It's as easy as hitting a button on the remote control. The fireplace adds so much ambiance to the room and the heat is so efficient we can keep our central heat turned down pretty low on cold days, which allows us to enjoy the fireplace more often. The only trade offs are losing the sound of a crackling fire and the woodsy smell although I can always go out on the patio and light a fire in the fire pit when I miss those things.

How much you enjoy any heat from a fire may depend on your climate. Any time you have to open a flue for a fire, the heat from the open fire will mainly go up the chimney. If it's below zero...well, with or without a gas fireplace, your gas bill will rise as the furnace tries to replace the heat going up the chimney. You may even need to crack a window to provide a draft. At least that's been my experience with both wood-burning and gas fireplaces in Chicagoland.

I grew up with a wood-burning fireplace. DH and I 'modernized' a wood-burner to a gas log with windowed enclosure in our first home. I think you can convert any wood-burning firebox and chimney to gas. BTW we didn't like the change.

Gas is expensive to pipe and gas logs and their controls are not cheap. In our town you must use lead pipe and have n emergency gas cut-off three feet from the flame. Gas itself is ever more expensive.

A gas fire is, to me, a a little boring, no snap or sparkle. If I needed it for heat it would have to be sealed behind glass with blowers. That's little different from a furnace with a peek-hole! It does nothing for my love of the 'primitive' wood fire. Isn't that what we are trying to capture anyway? The *reason* for most fireplaces isn't about heat but is an ancient human fascination with fire.

Now, building a wood-burning fireplace with a real chimney is a big expense! (I'd do it though. The *one* fireplace in our new house is 'real'.)

I'd love to have a fireplace that works well. Of course, the ease of a gas line is tempting, but I dont' want to sacrifice the actual warmth of a real fire so am wondering - Who out there has gas fire place and do you like it? does it provide actual warmth in addition to a pretty atmosphere? I would like both, if possible!

For actual heat and a visible fire it's hard to beat gas. I've seen plenty of the new direct vent gas FPs that can rapidly heat a room, while providing some ambiance. I'll probably replace are rarely used wood FP with gas in the next couple of years.

I think it comes down to your lifestyle, with a normal busy life, its hard to have enough time to enjoy a open wood FP. You pretty much need 5 hrs or more time to make it worth while. A gas fireplace you could use every day while relaxing for the evening. One of my concerns was they heat so well you may not be able to keep them on very long to enjoy the ambiance before your sweated out.

We had our wood burning fireplace changed to gas (sealed unit) a few years ago and are sorry we waited so long! Now instead of a fire a few times a year--and drafts from the cold firebox--we have the fireplace on every chilly morning and evening. It does a great job of warming our large family room w/a high ceiling. We actually saw our gas bill go down because the family room stays cozy while the rest of the house is cooler because the thermostat is in the FR. So we enjoy the ambience of a fire and are warm while reading or watching TV and the bedroom is pleasantly cool when we go to bed.

I was picky about which brand/model we got so that we have a nice looking surround and pretty realistic looking flames.

My once skeptical husband is now a big proponent of gas fireplaces.

Mnzinnia - which brand/model did you get? We are definitely becoming convinced about the gas option - we just don't have the time that chris refers to to get the wood fire going, enjoy it, clean up after it, etc...and so many of you seem to enjoy the gas that it's helpful to know it's an option - thanks for all your responses!

The crucial step in the decision process is to go to a local fireplace shop where they have several models from several companies all plumbed in and ready to burn.

You need to see them burning to decide which factors count for most-- a realistic log set? Tall dancing flames? A glowing ember bed?

i agree, for quick use and small area, go gas. but for me i prefer wood. as a matter of a fact i jus tgot thru splitting 8 cords today. should be enough to last me thru the winter, maybe even thru next winter. i hate using wood that has not had months to season, but this year i was unable to get wood until a couple weeks ago. my wood fireplace has an insert and heats the frontof the house well. if i want to use gas, all i have to do is pull out the insert, hook up gas logs, and turn on a valve.

you CAN setup a wood burning FP to also use gas. you CANNOT setup a gas fireplace to also use wood. the difference is the chimney liners. wood burns hooter and will melt out the liner in a gas FP. so if you are going to reline when this is done, make sure they put a liner for woodburning. my FP has the old style terra cotta flue, and it takes more heat than most modern liners, but then again this FP was built to be a primary heating source.

about once a month i spend 5 minutes to empty the ash out. it does NOT have to be perfectly clean, as a matter of a fact if you leave an inch of ash in teh bottom it will help protect the fire bricks.

We had an gas insert put into our main fireplace in the living room and we all LOVE it. It has a remote control with a timer and you can set the temperature as well. For example, set the temp for 68 and it will automatically come on and the house will be toasty warm when we get up. It has a blower to circulate the heat through the house but it so quiet, I really don't hear it. The blower can be turned off as well if we really don't want the heat but want the fire on just for "show."

We loved it so much that we added another gas freestanding stove to our sunroom off the kitchen. That one has a thermostate on the wall to set the temp.

Both have real "fire"-to me it doesn't look one bit different than our old "fire" but oh boy, what a world of difference. No work-nothing-push a button! we use them all the time and never even use the whole house heat anymore. Please go look at the stores before you decide because this was one of the best improvements we ever made!

The things I hated about the "real" wood fireplace, getting the wood and having it in a buggy stack outside, hauling in pieces and the mess it made inside, "tending" the fire, sparks flying, cleaning the mess, worry of having it still burning if we had to leave the house and trying to put it out, and most of all, our pediatrician told us it was really bad for the babies. She said even the best of fireplaces contributed to indoor air pollution.

Things I love about the new insert and freestanding stove-pushing the button! Being able to set the temp to come on automatically, being able to raise and lower the flame to change the look, the realistic looking embersm NO cleaning other than once a year the company comes in and cleans the glass and checks it out for a minimal cost.

Just for your info, they really can get HOT, you don't want to underestimate the power just because it is an insert. Ours seems to be much more efficient than the real wood fire and I would not put it too close to my kitchen table!

So after all of your input, and some visits to the fireplace store, we have decided to go with a gas insert. Even the DH - who says he LOVES watching a wood fire - has become convinced that the ease of gas, given our current busy lifestyles, makes the most sense.

We liked the look of the gas fire well enough, and it provided more heat than we expected - also, we just don't have the time these days to deal with the wood from start to finish. Thank you all for your input!

I am so happy for you! You will love it. Did you pick one already?

Some tips we didn't know at first-blower/no blower? One of ours has a blower and is quiet and really heats a large part of the house. Depending on where yours is in the kitchen, think about adding one. Thermostat-don't put it too close! Ours is actually in an adjacent dining room. Remote-extra $200 but sooo worth it. Color-some of the trims wear better than others. Watch the cleaners you use.

good luck, can't wait for pictures!