Fireplace FAQs

Three. Wood burning, gas burning and electric.

Before choosing a fireplace, check with your local building department to be sure of local code restrictions. Many municipalities will not allow any fireplace which is not a "direct vent sealed combustion chamber gas fireplace."

Wood burning fireplaces are made to burn either wood, or after-market gas logs. Gas burning fireplaces can only burn gas and come complete with logs, burners and igniters.

Two: radiant and circulating.

Radiant fireplaces have clean faces, with no visible louvers. Non-combustible finishing material can be installed to the very edge of the fireplace opening on radiant fireplaces. Circulating fireplaces are slightly more energy efficient, but have louvers above and below the fireplace opening, which cannot be covered over with finishing material.

Three. B-Vent, Direct Vent and Vent Free.

B-vent fireplaces use a small diameter gas vent, which must be vented upward through the roof. Direct vent fireplaces use a slightly larger vent which can be vented horizontally through a wall or vertically up through the roof. Vent free fireplaces require no vent at all, but are not approved for use in California.

Of those allowed to be installed in California, direct vent fireplaces are typically heater rated, and are much more efficient than B-Vent fireplaces.

Direct vent fireplaces produce so much heat that they may not be well suited for bedrooms or other small rooms. Direct vent fireplaces always have fixed glass panels which cannot be opened during operation.

An electric fireplace is a fireplace which operates totally by electricity. There is no flame present, only a source of light which simulates flame. They can be installed where other fireplaces can't because they require no vent or gas line. They can be wall hung, built in, or be installed within a finished cabinet.