Electric or Gas Burning Ventless Fireplace Inserts Should be Treated Like Real Fireplaces
Many modern homes were built without fireplaces. If you find yourself looking at your living room and missing the old fashioned fire place that you had as a child, you can still have all the look and the warmth of a fireplace with your choice of a ventless fireplace insert. Fireplaces that do not vent into a chimney that sends the smoke outside are called ventless fireplace inserts. These are not really just very ornate imitation fireplaces.
While this type of fireplace insert can be very convincing that they are a real fireplace, complete with mantle and carved wood stained in maple or walnut or whatever the manufacturer offers, they can also be functional fireplaces and provide real warmth. The logs sold with your insert unit can use a recommended gas or electric heating element. With some inserts, you have your choice of turning off the heat and turning on the logs to have a flame effect without the heat or the smoke.
They also come with a remote control which makes it very comfortable to use from the comfort of your couch without having to get up and turn the appliance off. Electric logs are environmentally friendly as no carbon monoxide is emitted. Some electric logs can heat a room 20 X 20 as if they were a space heater. Prices for these electric log fireplaces can range from $400 to a $1000. These electric log fireplaces are very nice and environmentally friendly, but if you were looking for real flames, you also have that option. Many of these units are visually a very realistic ventless fireplace in their look and function.
Real flame ventless fireplace inserts use gel as fuel and are indoor fireplaces. Most fireplaces are made from wood like pine and coated with a flame retardant substance like steel. Along with the mantle, the firebox, the grate, you get cast concrete logs, decorative lava rocks, and real flame gel fuel. These are called indoor gel fuel fireplaces and produce real flame by burning the gel or natural gas. The point of concern with these real flame burning ventless fireplaces is the fact that since they are burning fuel, there is some carbon monoxide emission going on and your room may become very unhealthy if the heat is allowed to build up, the room is shut off from the rest of the house or if left unsupervised.
In some states like California and Massachusetts, ventless fireplace inserts that burn real fuel are not allowed for health hazards rather than for environmental hazards.
