Fireplaces are undeniably a very attractive feature to put inside of your home, especially in the main room so everyone can see and enjoy it together. Of course, there are quite a few types of fireplaces to pick from if you don’t already have one in mind. Since more people than ever are switching out of wood fireplaces, either by choice, or just because they aren’t available in their area anymore, we are here to compare gas fireplaces and electric fireplaces like MagikFlame for you. By the end of this article, you are going to have all of your questions about gas fireplaces and electric fireplaces answered so that you can make sure to make the best choice for you and your family.
MagikFlame vs. Indoor Gas Fireplaces
This Post Will Teach You Everything You Need To Know About an Indoor Gas Fireplace as a Home Decor Focal Point Versus MagikFlame Fireplaces and Will Answer All of The Following Questions That Homeowners Are Sure To Have:
- Why Is a Wood-Burning Traditional Fireplace Bad For The Living Room of Your New Home or Your House Remodel, and Why Are So Many People Switching To an Indoor Gas Fireplace or an Electric Fireplace Instead of One of a Wood Burning Open Hearth Fireplace or Other Type of Wood Fireplace?
- Does an Indoor Gas Fireplace Come In Both Direct Vent Gas Fireplace Varieties and a Gas Fireplace Variety That Doesn’t Need Venting?
- Do Direct-Vent Gas Fireplaces or Ventless Gas Fireplaces Come In Different Fuel Types Like Natural Gas Fireplaces or Propane?
- If You Don’t Have Natural Gas Utilities In Your Home So That You Can Install a Vented Natural Gas Fireplace, Is Your Only Option a Vented Fireplace or Vent-Free Fireplace Where You Have To Change Propane Gas Tanks Whenever The Tanks Are Low?
- For Interior Design and Function, How Are Direct Vent and Ventilation Free Gas Fireplace Types That Are Indoor Gas Fireplaces Different That a Vent-Free Outdoor Gas Fireplace Like a Fire Pit and Why Would a Home Builder, a Hired Architect, or an Interior Designer Recommend an Interior Gas Fireplace?
- Do Gas Fireplaces Come With a Gas Log Arrangement or Log Set Inside of Their Firebox and How Do The Gas Log Sets Affect The Flames Coming Out of The Fireplace Burner?
- Is There a Gas Fireplace Insert So That You Can Turn Your Wood Fireplaces Into Gas Fireplaces While Still Using The Same Fireplace Housing That Used To Be For The Wood Fire?
- If Someone Likes The Rural Decor of Wood Stoves, Is There a Gas Fireplace Type That Is a Gas Stove With The Same Aesthetics?
- Does a Gas Fireplace Need a Full Chimney, or Can You Just Have a Simple Flue For Ventilation Instead?
- What Is The Difference Between Lava Rock Layers or Fire Glass in Interior Gas Fireplaces and How Much Cleaning and Maintenance Is Required For Them?
- Are All Gas Fireplaces a Stainless Steel Design or Can You Get Them In Various Materials To Look More Natural and Aesthetically Pleasing?
- Do You Need To Get a Brand Name Gas Fireplace Like a Heat & Glo, or Is It Safe To Get a Cheap Generic Fireplace With Better Pricing?
- Are There Gas Modern Fireplace Designs Like a Longer, See-Through Gas Fireplace That Is a Linear Gas Fireplace if You Don’t Want One That Is Single-Sided?
- Since Gas Fireplaces Still Produce Carbon Monoxide In Most Cases and There is a Real Flame Exposed To The Home Causing a Fire Hazard, Are Electric Fireplaces a Much Safer Alternative?
- What Is The BTU Heat Output of Quality Electric Fireplaces and How Large of a Home Can a Single Fireplace Successfully Keep Warm?
- Do Electric Fireplaces Come With a Realistic Log Inside So That The Fireplace Looks a Lot More Realistic?
- Since Many Electric Fireplaces Have Terrible Fire Effects, Are There Higher End Electric Fireplaces With 3D Flames That Do a Great Job Capturing The Ambiance of Traditional Wood Fireplaces?
- Because The Blower on Electric Fireplaces Points Outward Into The Room, and Electric Fireplaces Don’t Release Any Smoke or Other Emissions, Is It Safe To Mount Flat Screen TVs Above The Fireplace Mantels?
- Are There Wall Mounted Electric Fireplaces and Can They Be Installed Into Recessed Walls So That They Sit Completely Flush With The Wall?
- Are Freestanding Electric Fireplaces That Are Pretty Much Just Portable Space Heaters Good Enough, or Do They Have a Lot of Problems With Heating Performance and Less Than Realistic Fire Effects?
- Do All Electric Fireplaces Come With a Useful Remote Control So That You Can Operate It While On The Couch or Do They Have Apps Instead of a Remote Control So You Can Just Operate It From Your Phone or Tablet?
- Which Luxury Brand of Top of The Line Electric Fireplaces Is Perfect For People That Desire a Realistic Experience With The Fireplace In Their House or Apartment?
Why Is a Wood-Burning Traditional Fireplace Bad For The Living Room of Your New Home or Your House Remodel, and Why Are So Many People Switching To a Indoor Gas Fireplace or an Electric Fireplace Instead of One of a Wood Burning Open Hearth Fireplace or Other Type of Wood Fireplace?
Most people already know why you should be using wood fireplaces anymore. However, if you don’t quite know the problems they cause, here is a list of the most common issues:
- Fire Safety – Because of all of the layers of soot that end up accumulating on the inner surface of the chimney, wood fireplaces really are a huge fire hazard. If that soot doesn’t get professionally cleaned out two or three times per year, there is a massive chance of a potential house fire in your home.
- Harmful Emissions – While logs are burned in the fireplace, they put off two big emissions: smoke and carbon monoxide. Although a lot of this ends up escaping through the chimney you have attached to your fireplace, not all of it escapes. Some start to fill your home and can be very bad for your health, even deadly.
- Hassle – There is no end to the amount of work and maintenance that you have to take care of when you have wood fireplaces. Cleaning, building fires, and watching the fire for safety is a daily chore.
- Heat Loss – Losing heat out of your fireplace’s ventilation is a big problem and is one of the reasons they aren’t very heat efficient. Plan on burning a lot of wood to make up for the heat loss.
- Smell – While logs burn, the smoke causes quite a bad smell that you will have to just put up with. Unfortunately, this smell gets in your hair, your clothes, your furniture, and more.
- Stains – Smoke also has the unfortunate side effect of staining all of your white and lighter colored walls yellow over time, along with some soot getting on the wall just around the fireplace too.
- TV Damage – The fastest way to damage a TV permanently other than smashing it is by hanging it just above the mantel of wood fireplaces. Smoke and quickly rising heat doesn’t make a good combination for TV safety.
- Wood Storage – Since you’ll need to burn quite a lot of wood, you’ll also need to store this massive amount of wood, which requires a lot of free space.
- Expensive Construction – Considering you can get approved to build wood fireplaces in the part of the country you live in, expect to spend a small fortune hiring professionals to construct it for you.
Does an Indoor Gas Fireplace Come In Both Direct Vent Gas Fireplace Varieties and a Gas Fireplace Variety That Doesn’t Need Venting?
Yes, both of these varieties exist for gas fireplaces in your home. Some of these fireplaces produce quite a lot of emissions that are harmful to breathe in like carbon monoxide, so they need ventilation. Other types don’t produce nearly as many emissions if used properly, so they technically don’t need ventilation. However, with improper use or faulty systems, even these can release harmful emissions.
Do Direct-Vent Gas Fireplaces or Ventless Gas Fireplaces Come In Different Fuel Types Like a Natural Gas Fireplace or Propane?
These are the two main types of fuel that you’ll usually find for indoor gas fireplaces. There are some rarer types that use things like ethanol for burning, but they aren’t as efficient or powerful, and you will usually just find these types as a simple novelty piece for the top of a table. For serious fireplaces, one of the other two fuel types will usually be chosen before looking for a fireplace to match.
If You Don’t Have Natural Gas Utilities In Your Home So That You Can Install a Vented Natural Gas Fireplace, Is Your Only Option a Vented Fireplace or Vent-Free Fireplace Where You Have To Change Propane Gas Tanks Whenever The Tanks Are Low?
There are many areas that don’t have access to gas utilities in their home just because of their location and distance to nearby cities. For people that have a living situation like this, it is unfortunate you don’t get the opportunity to have a steady supply of gas to your fireplace. Your only alternative will be to use tanks and change them when needed. You’ll usually want some extra tanks already at your home so that you aren’t caught by surprise. How often you need to change them depends on your fireplace usage and how high your burners are on.
For Interior Design and Function, How Are Direct Vent and Ventilation Free Indoor Gas Fireplace Types That Are Indoor Gas Fireplaces Different That a Vent-Free Outdoor Gas Fireplace Like a Fire Pit and Why Would a Home Builder, a Hired Architect, or an Interior Designer Recommend an Interior Gas Fireplace?
Indoor and outdoor versions of gas fireplaces are more or less the same in how they function. The main difference with the outdoors is that they are exposed to the open air so you don’t have to worry about ventilation unless you have it under some kind of covered outdoor area. The downside to outdoor fireplaces is that they require a lot more fuel to make up for the worse heat efficiency, plus you can’t really use them year-round like in bad weather. Interior ones have the benefit of your house acting like an oven, holding in the heat, so you use less gas than outside.
Do Gas Fireplaces Come With a Gas Log Arrangement or Log Set Inside of Their Firebox and How Do The Gas Log Sets Affect The Flames Coming Out of The Fireplace Burner?
Some brands of gas fireplaces don’t strive for realism at all and instead lean into a very contemporary aesthetic that isn’t necessarily pleasing to everybody. However, there are some brands that try to add to the realism with fireproof logs that sit inside of the fireplace. These logs also help break up the normally mundane fire stream, adding a little bit of a natural flicker to it like you’d see with wood fireplaces.
Is There a Gas Fireplace Insert So That You Can Turn Your Wood Fireplaces Into Gas Fireplaces While Still Using The Same Fireplace Housing That Used To Be For The Wood Fire?
If you have an old open hearth or enclosed style fireplace for burning wood, but you want to get away from that fuel type, there are inserts for gas fireplaces you can use to convert them. These installations can be difficult though and you are going to need professionals to help you out setting it up correctly and safely. However, there are electric inserts as well, which you can purchase from MagikFlame, and these are a lot easier and quicker to install yourself compared to gas inserts.
If Someone Likes The Rural Decor of Wood Stoves, Is There a Gas Fireplace Type That Is a Gas Stove With The Same Aesthetics?
Rural styles can be great for farmhouses and country living. If you really like the look of a wood stove, you can find these in varieties of both gas and electric fireplaces. Keep in mind, both will be more about looks and function as a fireplace, and they don’t usually have the cooking ability that a traditional wood stove usually has.
Does a Gas Fireplace Need a Full Chimney, or Can You Just Have a Simple Flue For Ventilation Instead?
If you are looking at gas fireplaces that need ventilation, the installation isn’t as big of a job as wood fireplaces because gas fireplaces don’t need large chimneys since they don’t produce a lot of smoke. Instead, you would just install a simple ventilation pipe rising to the roof. These flues allow harmful emissions from burning gas to release instead of filling your home and making it difficult to breathe.
What Is The Difference Between Lava Rock Layers or Fire Glass in Interior Gas Fireplaces and How Much Cleaning and Maintenance Is Required For Them?
For people that really want to go the modern route with gas fireplaces, they can use either of these accessory types for the bed of their fireplace. The rocks are more natural looking, and they don’t need to be cleaned quite as often, although they do sometimes need cleaning. The glass is colorful and helps add a glow and sparkle when reflecting the flames, however, they need cleaning much more often due to griminess being more noticeable on them sooner.
Are All Gas Fireplaces a Stainless Steel Design or Can You Get Them In Various Materials To Look More Natural and Aesthetically Pleasing?
Many will have strong metal builds to them, but not all will have steel as the main material you actually see. Several gas fireplaces use other exterior materials to look like different styles of fireplaces, and some come with mantels or you can get mantels to go around them. If you are looking for specific materials, you will need to check with manufacturers because some brands specialize in certain looks over other brands.
Do You Need To Get a Brand Name Gas Fireplace Like a Heat & Glo, or Is It Safe To Get a Cheap Generic Fireplace With Better Pricing?
Anytime you are buying larger appliances, furniture, and other items for your house, it is always better to spend a little bit more and invest in quality brands. Even though the prices of generic brands are very tempting, the problems these cheaper fireplaces can cause will likely end up costing you a lot more in the long run. This goes for electric fireplaces as well. Always buy from trusted and proven brands.
Are There Gas Modern Fireplace Designs Like a Longer, See-Through Gas Fireplace That Is a Linear Gas Fireplace if You Don’t Want One That Is Single-Sided?
Yes, if you want a fireplace for an interior wall to separate the space between two parts of a room, these kinds of two-sided fireplaces exist. While they can be beautiful and interesting, you need to understand that they can also be a lot more dangerous because of an additional exposed side of the flames. This is important to know if you have pets or kids.
Since Gas Fireplaces Still Produce Carbon Monoxide In Most Cases and There is a Real Flame Exposed To The Home Causing a Fire Hazard, Are Electric Fireplaces a Much Safer Alternative?
Without a doubt, the safest bet will always be electric fireplaces. There isn’t the large added fire risk that is associated with wood and gas fireplaces, so you can rest easy. Also, since nothing inside of these fireplaces is actually burning to produce heat, they also aren’t producing any kind of harmful byproducts to fill your home, endanger your breathing ability, cause a bad smell, or stain any of your walls or furniture.
What Is The BTU Heat Output of Quality Electric Fireplaces and How Large of a Home Can a Single Fireplace Successfully Keep Warm?
5,200 BTUs is the most optimal amount for electric fireplaces. This is powerful enough to warm an area quickly, without being much more than you need for indoor areas. Too powerful and you will be wasted money on an extra heating ability that won’t even be utilized. The top electric fireplaces like MagikFlame, can warm residences of up to about 1,000 square feet or more. For most homes, a single fireplace is more than enough.
Do Electric Fireplaces Come With a Realistic Log Inside So That The Fireplace Looks a Lot More Realistic?
Yes, some brands of electric fireplaces, especially luxury brands that have a focus on realism, include logs in them for added immersion. In fact, some brands of electric fireplaces tend to look more like wood fireplaces than even gas fireplaces that are attempting to do the same thing. It is also common for quality electric fireplaces to have ember beds at the bottom that glow for an additional effect.
Since Many Electric Fireplaces Have Terrible Fire Effects, Are There Higher End Electric Fireplaces With 3D Flames That Do a Great Job Capturing The Ambiance of Traditional Wood Fireplaces?
Yes, electric fireplaces like MagikFlame have the most realistic fire effects you’ll ever see in a fireplace that doesn’t actually burn any wood. These 3D fire effects are holographically projected because of the exclusive Holoflame technology that MagikFlame has at their disposal. With fire effects, this real, most people who see your MagikFlame fireplace won’t even really be able to tell it isn’t the real thing.
Because The Blower on Electric Fireplaces Points Outward Into The Room, and Electric Fireplaces Don’t Release Any Smoke or Other Emissions, Is It Safe To Mount Flat Screen TVs Above The Fireplace Mantels?
Unlike wood fireplaces that will quickly damage TVs, electric fireplaces are safe for any kind of TV mounting job you want to do. This is an excellent setup if you are trying to save space or if you are just looking to have both the fireplace and TV be a focus together in the same part of the room.
Are There Wall Mounted Electric Fireplaces and Can They Be Installed Into Recessed Walls So That They Sit Completely Flush With The Wall?
Some types of electric fireplaces are able to be mounted on the wall like your flat screen. These use very robust mounting brackets connected to wall studs so that the weight is secure. You can also embed these in recessed walls to get that flush look you want.
Are Freestanding Electric Fireplaces That Are Pretty Much Just Portable Space Heaters Good Enough, or Do They Have a Lot of Problems With Heating Performance and Less Than Realistic Fire Effects?
Although many different types of electric fireplaces are technical of the freestanding variety since you install them by placing them against a wall, if you are talking about the kinds that sit in the middle of the room like a space heater, you should really just stay away from these units. They don’t work well at all and are poor excuses for electric fireplaces. Instead, go with a nice flat wall mantel package, corner fireplace, or insert.
Do All Electric Fireplaces Come With a Useful Remote Control So That You Can Operate It While On The Couch or Do They Have Apps Instead of a Remote Control So You Can Just Operate It From Your Phone or Tablet?
Just about every brand of an electric fireplace will come equipped with some kind of remote for you to change settings and turn the unit on or off. However, if you don’t want to worry about changing batteries or losing remotes, you can get higher-end fireplaces that have great apps for your smartphone.
Which Luxury Brand of Top of The Line Electric Fireplaces Is Perfect For People That Desire a Realistic Experience With The Fireplace In Their House or Apartment?
If it isn’t obvious by now, MagikFlame is the fireplace you are looking for. Their selection of gorgeous models like the MagikFlame Neo are timeless designs for all types of home decorating styles. Every unit gets you all of these great features:
- Realistic 3D Fire Effects
- Immersive Crackling Log Sounds
- Cozy 5,200 BTU Heating
- Intuitive Smartphone App
