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[CAMOGIRL]

I have had both - wood and gas. I prefer wood. More work , yes - for sure, but you can not beat a crackling fire, I always thought I would like gas better - no wood carrying, no clean up, and absolutely no smell. But, for me - wood won out. You just can not imitate a real log burning fire, so for us it's worth the extra work. Now, please toss me another marshmallow...

[jackthebear]

We converted our fireplace to a gas one and I love it.  I hated the mess with the wood.  With the gas  you just turn it on and off.  It was actually great when we lost power with the storms a few years ago.  I wish I had gone for the remote

I don't use it to heat up the room just for the look and feeling. 

[Lipstickdiva]

I have no fireplace in our house but my sister has a gas one.  Whether it heats or not really depends on the temperature outside.  No matter what, it doesn't do a great job because she has vaulted ceilings.  It will add some warmth but not much.  When it's really cold outside, it looks good but unless you are sitting right in front of it, forget it.

We heat our home with a woodburning stove.  You want to talk about toasty warm!     

[drizzellla]

We got a gas fireplace two years ago. And are pleased with it. It keeps the family room toasty warm. It has a remote, silent blower and thermostat.  Even when it is COLD outside the gas fireplace keeps the room (32'  20') nice and warm. In fact we find that the furnace goes on much less because of the heat given off from the fireplace.

I am so glad we got it. 

[Lucky Charm]

I like wood burning fireplaces for the ambiance alone. 

We have fireplace (cottage circa 1920's) and the brick is painted white as is the mantel. 

There are white birch logs that have been in there for about 50 years.  We've never lit a fire in it. 

[sfnative]

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@jackthebear wrote:

We converted our fireplace to a gas one and I love it.  I hated the mess with the wood.  With the gas  you just turn it on and off.  It was actually great when we lost power with the storms a few years ago.  I wish I had gone for the remote

I don't use it to heat up the room just for the look and feeling. 

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@jackthebear

I am psyched about your advice!  Having been here just 3 months, we were told to expect multiple power outages during the winter.  We're fortunate as we have a gas source right on the other side of the fireplace, which is one of the ugliest fireplaces I've ever seen.  Will run this great idea by my husband tomorrow morning.

Thanks, again.

[mousiegirl]

I love our wood burning fireplace, but we only use it in the Winter.  I couldn't be without it because once we were without power for one week during a freezing Winter and it is the only way we kept from freezing.

I bought two Duraflames for the family and rec rooms mainly for the ambiance, as we are not allowed to build another wood burning fireplace.

[AnikaBrodie]

Seven years ago we added a new master bedroom to our home.  There were two things I insisted on:  a gas fireplace and a French door to the patio.  At night we turn down the thermostat and turn on the fireplace about an hour before going to bed.  It's been great! 

I don't like a wood fireplace for the simple reason my sinuses close up.  Also, DH doesn't have to chop wood and it's dirty.  Might smell good, but that's where it ends IMHO. 

[OnlyShopsOnline]

We had a wood burning fireplace in our last house.  It threw a lot of heat, but a lot of heat from the house went right up the chimney.

In this house we have a wood burning fireplace, but we have a wood burning insert.  It's a new clean-burning unit, so we aren't putting smoke into the outside air.  It's great.  Very little mess, throws a nice amount of heat.  And, if you need to heat the whole house, you adjust the flue, add more wood, and turn on the blower.  I think it's the best of both worlds.