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hondadrv24 · 05-27-2008, 07:17 PM

Does anyone have a gas fireplace in their house?
We are looking into putting one in the basement as we are finishing it. We were thinking about putting in a ventless firelplace until we talked to the local fireplace salesmen who strongly discouraged us from going that route. Apparently they are only legal in half of the states and several cities in our state have outlawed them. They are unsafe for health especially if you have asthma. So plan b, I can install a second vertical chimney next to the existing furnace chimney and still have the fireplace where we wanted it, or we could move to an exterior wall and vent out the back.

Brands that the locals have are Vermont Castings and Kozy Heat. I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for what you all think of a gas fireplace.

**inspectorD** · 05-28-2008, 05:41 AM

I'm a wood stove guy...because we have 80 acres of free wood.

I just installed a double sided propane unit in my current customers addition. It is actually a pretty easy installation, and we are having the unit finalized or finished up by the company who sold it.Then the inspection from the fire Marshall and stone faced.
It is a Vermont castings, good product as we have done this before.

Go for the direct vent, and get the piping with the fresh air intake with the venting. Then have a good installer finish up and check the install. These units need to be adjusted perfect or they soot up the glass pretty fast.

Enjoy it while the gas prices are lower now than you will ever see again.

handyguys · 05-28-2008, 02:05 PM

I put this in when I did my basement. Its direct vent. It costs more to install (parts and labor).

Mine is a Vermont Castings

The Handyguys has a podcast/blog on home improvement and DIY topics. We are wrapping up a basement finishing series. You may want to check it out.

http://www.handyguyspodcast.com/tag/basement-finishing-series

hondadrv24 · 05-28-2008, 06:58 PM

thanks guys, We are definately going with the direct vent we just have to decide if we can afford to do it now and where we want to put it (location slightly matters for do it now or do it later). I know gas prices will go up, but part of having the fireplace will be to help heat the previously unheated basement.

I'm gonna check out that podcast now
justin

handyguys · 05-29-2008, 09:05 AM

The fireplace in my previous post heats 1400 sq ft of finished space without an issue. Its 28000 BTU as I recall. It has a remote control thermostat, on/off timer and a blower. During the winter I just set it at 68deg. It comes on when it needs to. I just turn it off when I'm not going to be going in the basement for a few days. It works when the power is out (even the remote, not the blower). If I leave it off and it gets cool it doesn't take long to come up to a comfortable temp.