Natural Gas Hearth Products
With wintery weather bringing out the sweaters and slippers, it’s time to get serious about the cozy comforts of home. In days of yore, when messy fire
wood was the only way to keep the home fires burning, keeping toasty was a major project. But now that there are so many options in natural gas hearth products, it’s easier, neater, and more eco-friendly than ever to keep cuddly throughout the colder months.
Natural gas hearth products have many benefits. For one, these products enables zone heating, this focuses heat on where people are actually spending time in your house. This will increase your home’s energy-efficiency and your savings. Of course using hearths both for heat and the enjoyable aesthetic contributes to the comfort of your home, and the convenience of natural gas hearths is phenomenal—just flip a switch to turn the fire on and off.
There are many types of natural gas hearth products to choose from, and several important elements to consider in designing your cozy new fireplace.
Log sets: An easy way to get a gas fire going is to adapt your current fireplace to gas using a log set. This is the most popular gas hearth product, since it is a low-cost, low-impact way to make the switch.
Fireplace inserts: To get a more heat out of your existing fireplace, insert one of these self-contained units into the fireplace opening. These inserts provide more heat than log sets do, and they make use of your existing chimney, which must be lined by a flue liner.
Freestanding stoves: They are self-contained units that can take the place of an existing wood stove. They come in a variety of styles and can contribute significant heat to the room.
Venting options: If you don’t want to bother using your chimney, go with a vent-free (or unvented) natural gas fireplace. These aren’t the units you rely on for heating your house—they’re designed for occasional, attended, and supplemental use. An oxygen depletion sensor (ODS) must be included for safety.
The range of choices in natural gas-powered fireplaces means you can design yours however you’d like: modernist, minimalist, classic, and everything in between. What about two-sided or multi-sided? You’ll need to choose log set-ups. There’s so much to consider that it’s best to find a knowledgeable salesperson before making your decision.
