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Gas or Electric Fireplace?


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Hi all,

We're currently in the middle of a house renovation and have built an opening for a 3-sided room divider fireplace.  Problem is, we can't decide on electric or gas? We prefer the look of the gas option because it's more realistic looking but it is expensive in terms of setting up in comparison to electric.  Are electric fires cheaper to run than the gas option?  And can anyone verify whether it's possible to have a very realistic  and modern looking electric fire with logs?  Obviously with Covid restrictions, we're unable to get to any showrooms.  Annoying, we can't finish this space off until we know which one we're going for.  Feedback much appreciated.

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Have you got a chimney/flue or are you looking at flueless gas fires? The latter produce a lot of water vapour so can cause condensation and mould unless well ventilated. 

 

If no flue i would go electric. Some of the electric "wood burner" stoves look ok.

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As for running costs..

 

Electricity costs about three times mains gas per kWH but is this intended to heat the room on a regular basis or just on Sundays and christmas? 

 

In theory flueless gas and electric fires are both 100% efficient as no heat goes up a chimney in either case. However a flueless gas fire may still need more ventilation than an electric fire so some heat is lost that way.

 

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Search youtube for "electric wood stove" as there are videos showing how convincing some can be. Not sure if this one is available here. Edit: This one uses water vapour to create its effect so perhaps see some of the others.

 

 

 

Edited by Temp
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@Temp.  Thanks for your response and sorry for delay in responding - still new at this and didn't realise anyone had got back to me!   ?‍♀️.   You're right, some electric fires look very realistic and if we could find the perfect one, I'm sure we would go that route as I'm more interested in the ambience than the heat!  However we've actually built a fake chimney structure in case we go with a balanced flue. We built this from timber which we plan to line internally with fireproof material to protect heat from the flue and fireplace. Problem is, it seems the structure should have been built out of approved materials and not timber!  We've been on a couple of fireplace websites where they have actually shown false chimneys being constructed out of timber and then fire-lined. So confused? Any advice greatly appreciated.  

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