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Realistic-looking gas-burning logs are a more efficient replacement for real wooden logs
The crackling sound of a roaring fire on a bleak winter’s night, the life-giving warmth that holds off the cold and envelopes you with its delicate touch, the all-encompassing smell of burning wood, and the rock fireplace which radiates heat from its rigid heart. Ohhhh, the memories.
They’re not my memories, certainly, and probably not yours either, in case you grew up in the city. But if this is what you see when you look back, then I am sure you can also recall spending a lot of time cleaning out the fireplace, cleaning the chimney, chopping and stacking the wood, and inhaling the smoke, ash, and fumes. I start hacking just thinking about it.
All of the negative memories can be a thing of the past, and only the good ones will remain, if you start using ceramic gas-burning logs instead of real wood. Being ceramic means they will last for a long time while using either propane or natural gas. Vented and vent-free are the two types of logs offered for sale. Learn more about ventless fireplace gas logs, gas logs and fireplace mantle.
Vented gas logs are “stacked” in the fireplace just like real wood logs. Their flames wrap around the logs and frolic along the edges like flickering sprites. That is, at least, until you get bored watching the fire and turn the flames off with a remote. Vented gas logs offer an attractive option to wood burning, however this is great only if you have a fireplace in your home, or the spare room to have one installed.
What about the vast number of people who are more square-footage-challenged? Well, apartment-dwelling city folk can have memories, too, by acquiring vent-free ceramic gas logs. This typeof fireplace may be portable and they produce a small but pleasing blue flame. An amazing thing about vent-free logs is they generate more heat than a wood burning stove of comparable size. This is because the logs are manufactured using a ceramic that causes heat to radiate outwards after it reaches a certain temperature. The dense, refractory ceramic used to make these logs so they are realistic in appearance and efficient in heat output, also lets you to enjoy your fireplace without the cleanup of ash, wood dust and wood debris. Since they are self-contained (that is, no vent), every bit of of the heat produced stays in the room. The drawbacks to vent-free logs are the rise in humidity, necessity of having oxygen and carbon monoxide detectors (which sometimes come with the unit), and the need for fresh airflow (an open window) if the fireplace has been on for a long time.
Which type of gas-burning logs you decide on will depend on a trade-off between aesthetics, functionality, and convenience. The vented log will look real and set a cozy ambiance, but it won’t give off much warmth because most of that goes up the chimney. The vent-free fireplaces and logs are more portable and more “green”, but the flame is small and blue and the logs need more attention to guarantee safety.