Homeowners who are looking for an excellent focal point in their living room are usually very satisfied when they choose to add a fireplace to their home. However, a wood-burning fireplace has tons of problems that come with them as well as the fact that you can’t even build them in apartments, condos, or even new homes in many regions of the country. There are two options that people tend to lean toward when they are looking for a wood-burning alternative to their fireplace solution: gas or electric. In the article that follows, we are going to talk about the different types of fireplaces that you can put in your home, the benefits of electricity, what a Napoleon fireplace is, what different Napoleon models are available, and how a Napoleon compares to a MagikFlame electric fireplace. Let us get into it.
PLEASE NOTE: Napoleon is a leading fireplace company. They have exceptional products in the marketplace and should be considered in your buying decision. The intent of this blog post is to highlight MagikFlame products and differentiate features while illustrating high-level observations of other fireplace companies and products.
Here Are The Topics That Will Be Covered In This Post:
- What Are The Benefits That You Can Expect When Choosing To Put an Electric Fireplace in Your Home? – For starters, let’s talk about all of the benefits of using an electric fireplace over wood fireplaces for anyone who still thinks a traditional fireplace that burns wood is still a good idea.
- How do Fireplaces Work To Generate Heat? – In this section, we will break down the basics of how an electric fireplace works to produce heat for your home and also how it works efficiently to save you money.
- How do Fireplaces Create Flame Effects? – Electric fireplaces come with a wide variety of visual effects, and not all of them are created equally. In this section, we will talk about some different visual effect technologies that you might find in popular electric fireplace brands and which will help provide you a more realistic fireplace atmosphere.
- What Are Most Fireplace Types To Choose From? – There are quite a few different types of electric fireplaces that you can choose from. In this section, we will talk about some of the most commonly found types and what situations you might want to choose one over another.
- What Are Napoleon Fireplaces? – In this section, we will talk about Napoleon fireplaces and give a quick overview of the product types that they have.
- What Direct Vent and Vent Free Gas Fireplace Models Does Napoleon Produce? – Gas-style fireplaces can come in more than one fuel type. Propane, natural gas, and more. In this section, we will cover the specific models of gas-style fireplaces that Napoleon has. This will cover models like the Ascent and more.
- Why Is An Electric Fireplace Better Than a Ventless or Direct Vent Gas Fireplace? – While gas fireplaces definitely have their advantages compared to wood fireplaces, they are still lacking when you compare them to electric. In this section, we will talk about why it might be a good idea for you to avoid gas fireplaces altogether.
- What Models of Fireplaces Does Napoleon Produce? – Napoleon doesn’t just make fireplaces that run on gas, they also create a wide variety of electric fireplaces for your home. In this part of the article, we will highlight some of the electric fireplaces that Napoleon produces. This will cover models like the Alluravision with their Allure line and more.
- How does Napoleon Fireplace Compares To MagikFlame? – Are you interested in how these two different fireplaces compare to one another and which you should think about getting for your home? In this section, we will talk about MagikFlame electric fireplaces regarding how they match up against Napoleon electric fireplaces.
- Where Can I Find Additional Information About MagikFlame Fireplaces? – If you are looking for more information regarding MagikFlame electric fireplaces, this section will give you some additional helpful links so that you can learn more about them.
There are plenty of reasons you should get an electric fireplace over a wood one:
● There is no additional risk of a house fire like you are going to have to worry about when you have a roaring fireplace with tons of flammable soot building up inside of the chimney of the fireplace.
● electric fireplaces don’t produce any kind of smoke or carbon monoxide like wood fireplaces, so you don’t have to worry about inhaling these harmful emissions.
● Since there is no smoke for you to worry about, you also don’t have to worry about the lingering smell of smoke or the smoke staining and yellowing your walls, curtains, furniture, and carpet.
● Electric fireplaces are easy to use with the push of a button unlike all of the work and maintenance that has to go into using a wood fireplace on a regular basis.
● Most electric fireplaces are super easy for you to install. You simply pick a place in your home and set them down. Then all you have to do is plug them into a standard outlet.
● You can easily put an electric fireplace in any room of your home. You aren’t limited to only the main room of your house.
● Electric fireplaces are heating efficient compared to wood fireplaces due to their infrared quartz heating coils and the that they don’t need any kind of ventilation where heat will escape.
● If you have a particularly large house and don’t find a single electric fireplace sufficient, you can set up multiple in zones around your house and keep the fireplaces off in unused zones to save even more on your heating bill.
● Electric fireplaces are easy to turn on or change settings with a remote control that comes with most electric fireplaces on the market.
● The flame effect of a high-quality holographic electric fireplace can truly capture the realistic ambiance of a fireplace that is wood burning, without all of the hassle that comes with it.
Good electric fireplaces use infrared heating coils inside of them. The cold air is pulled from the room, into the fireplace. It is quickly cycled out and pushed back out into the room through the blower. As the cold air cycles through, the infrared quartz heating coil warms that air almost instantly. This means that the cold air to warm air cycling can warm a room quite quickly, and use very little electricity doing it. However, you need a fireplace with a sufficiently powerful heating coil to warm larger areas. On the flip side, if you have too powerful of a heating device, it can actually end up costing you more than necessary your heating bill. The sweet spot for a home electric fireplace heating device is just above 5,000 BTU. This is the amount that can easily heat most rooms while remaining incredibly heat efficient. For larger homes, you can use multiple fireplaces with zone heating and close off the doors between rooms to save even more money. This is similar to closing vents in infrequently used rooms using a central HVAC system.
There are a few different ways for electric fireplaces to create flame effects. Really cheap ones use things like a cylinder that just spins around reflecting colored LED lights. These look extremely tacky. Heading in a slightly better direction, you can find ones that use LED flames or just play looped videos of a fire on an LED screen. Of course, these still suffer from looking very 2D and flat. Going in a more 3D route are things like LED flames being projected onto jet streams of water vapor. While this is almost there, it is still lacking in realism. For truly realistic fire effects, you need to go with holographic 3D flames projected onto an electric log set. This technology is called Holoflame and is only found in MagikFlame electric fireplaces.
It can be overwhelming when trying to choose the right fireplace type simply because there are so many choices out there. Here are the common types so that you know which one is right for you.
● Flat Wall Fireplace Mantel Package – This is the most basic type of electric fireplace. They usually look like a standard open-heart fireplace and come with a mantel to be installed with it. These are placed on the floor up against the flat wall. The mantel comes unattached so that companies can allow you to choose from multiple mantel styles.
● Corner Fireplace – Functionally, these are just the same as the flat wall fireplaces. However, these have been designed to fit into the corner of your living room rather than against a flat wall like the previous example.
● TV Stand Fireplace – These are TV stands with fireplaces built into their bodies. The fireplace tends to make sacrifices for the limited space, and you also have less space for your devices and media collection compared to a standard TV stand fireplace .
● Corner TV Stand Fireplace – This is the same as above except this is meant to fit into a corner rather than against a flat wall. These usually have to sacrifice even more due to the further limiting of the space. You are better off getting a standard corner electric fireplace and just putting a TV on top of it.
● Wall Mount Electric Fireplace – These electric fireplaces can be mounted on the wall, up off of the ground using special mounting brackets. They can also be installed into a wall recession to sit flush with the wall for a more modern look.
● Electric Fireplace Insert – This is a unit that can go into the opening of a standard wood fireplace, making it an electric one. They can also be used with third-party mantels, or if you want to build your own mantel.
● Freestanding Electric Fireplace Heater – While many of the fireplaces on this list are technically free-standing, these specific ones are basically just cheap, tacky space heaters made to look like a fireplace and they should be avoided.
● Electric Fireplace Stove – These are electric fireplaces that are made to look like wood stoves for an extremely rural aesthetic.
Napoleon is a fireplace company that makes both electric and gas fireplaces. They have several models of each type. Their fireplaces are EPA approved. They have a wide variety of aesthetic styles of their fireplaces like modern linear electric fireplaces with a wide viewing area or more traditional masonry fireplace types. They also have stainless steel fireplaces with a clean face, and several of their models have a see-thru window. The see-through window allows for the flame effects to be shown inside of the firebox, making the fireplace looks slightly more authentic compared to just a screen of LED flames. Many of their fireplaces have a lifetime warranty included with them. The gas fireplaces use a millivolt thermometer system or an electronic system.
While their main focus is on electric and gas fireplaces, they also make wood fireplaces like the High Country fireplace. The High Country focuses on airflow for more efficient burning while keeping a rustic, farmhouse look.
Napoleon has many natural gas fireplace types as well as ones that use propane. One of their gas-style fireplace models is the Ascent line. The Ascent line is known for trying to capture realism with their hand-painted log set and ember bed that resembles something you might see in an outdoor fireplace like a fire pit.
The Acies gas fireplaces are a set of linear gas fireplaces that are usually installed into a recessed wall.
Another is the Grandville, which focuses more on a traditional look rather than a modern look. They have a heavy chain screen that rests in front of the fireplace.
The STARfire model tries to match a traditional look with more advanced gas-style fireplace technology.
Gas fireplaces are without a doubt safer, cleaner, and more efficient than wood fireplaces. However, they still suffer from some issues and you might be better off avoiding them and sticking with electric fireplaces exclusively. Here are the problems gas fireplaces have:
● Fire Is Exposed – Since the fire of these is still exposed to your home, there is an increased risk of a house fire or other accidents happening.
● Carbon Monoxide – While they don’t produce smoke like wood fireplaces, they still produce deadly carbon monoxide for the types that need ventilation.
● Terrible Flame Color – For the types that don’t require ventilation, they usually have really bad flame colors like neon blue. This looks completely unauthentic.
● Weaker Flame – They tend to suffer from having weaker flames compared to wood fireplaces. They stream out like Bunsen burners and have very little flicker to the flame, breaking the illusion completely.
● Costly Installation – Regardless of which type of gas-style fireplace you go with, you can expect a costly installation where you will likely need professionals to install it for you.
Napoleon makes a wide variety of electric fireplaces for your home. This range from traditional looks to some fireplaces that have a very unique and modern look to them. They have some that are wall hanging, some that can be free-standing, and still others that can be installed to sit flush within the wall.
The first set is the Allure line of fireplaces, with their flagship: the Alluravision Slimline linear electric fireplace. The Allure fireplaces have a very thin frame so that you see more of the fire effects themselves rather than the whole of the fireplace. The Allure line fireplaces are a more modern style, without being as futuristic as some of their other models.
For the more futuristic look, there is the Stylus. This is a free-standing style fireplace with an exposed glass wall. This electric fireplace is meant to be viewed from either side of the fireplace, rather than from just one side against a wall. These are definitely people that want a super modern look and aren’t really going for realism. These fireplaces feel more like a piece of modern art rather than a traditional-looking fireplace that burns wood.
Napoleon’s electric fireplaces have their place, but there are several things that MagikFlame has going for it beyond certain Napoleon products. Here are the reasons that you will want to pick up a MagikFlame over a Napoleon:
● Ultrarealistic 3D Holographic Flames – The flame effects inside of MagikFlame fireplaces are unlike anything else found on the market. They are so realistic, that most people in your home won’t even notice that it isn’t a traditional fireplace. You can select between 30 flame styles to flicker and dance while 3D projected onto the log set inside of the MagikFlame fireplace.
● Sounds of Crackling Logs – To add to the realism, MagikFlame has the sounds of crackling logs that play along with the visuals for an unforgettable fireplace escape. For even more realism, you can choose to turn on some additional nature sounds, allowing you to relax even more.
● 5,200 BTU Infrared Quartz Heater – The heater inside of MagikFlame fireplaces is very powerful and very efficient. It can warm homes of up to 1,000 square feet without any issues, and it will use the least amount of electricity possible to do so. You can expect your home to stay nice and toasty while enjoying the peace of mind of having a low heating bill.
● Beautiful and Timeless Fireplace Design – Unlike so many electric fireplaces, MagikFlame focuses on giving you a traditional fireplace experience with all of the nostalgia and atmosphere. On top of this, most models come with mantel designs that are simultaneously modern and timeless. This will be a fireplace that will still look great in decades while many other fireplace companies will look outdated and out of place.
● Smartphone App – In place of a standard remote, MagikFlame allows you to control your fireplace right from your smartphone or tablet with their intuitive application. The app is easy to use, has large buttons, and con control every feature and aspect of your MagikFlame fireplace.
