When you want the heating quality you get from a wood stove, but already have an existing fireplace, you can look at a wood stove insert instead. This type of insert fits into your existing fireplace space and converts the fireplace into a self-contained system. Instead of leaving the door open on the insert, you load your wood into the wood stove, light it and then close the door. You vent the heat generated using optional blowers which force the hot air into the room.

A Wood Stove Insert Only Releases a Small Amount of Carbon Dioxide

People often have concerns about burning wood in a wood stove insert, like the models available on our website, here at Copperfield Chimney Supply. Part of the concern has to do with the release of carbon dioxide into the air. However, a wood insert releases no more carbon dioxide into the air than a decomposing tree.

Gas fireplaces are easier to maintain than traditional wood burning fireplaces. There are no ashes or other types of deposits, like creosote to have to clean up after using the fireplace. Starting a fire is also easier with gas units and in most cases, you just flip a switch and the fireplace ignites. There is no wood to attempt to light on fire nor do you have to wait until for the fire to start generating heat, as gas units will make heat as soon as they are turned on.

Gas Fireplaces Can Be Used Just About Anywhere in the Home

Installing gas fireplaces, like the ones available on our website, here at Copperfield Chimney Supply, are easier to install than wood burning fireplaces. Since you only need a gas line connection and a direct vent to the outdoor air, you can place gas units just about anywhere in the home. You do not have to worry about installing a chimney when you place at least one side of the fireplace on an exterior wall for venting.

As winter’s chill advanced on the Pikes Peak region Tuesday, David Parker of Colorado Timber Products delivered a cord of wood at 720 Bonfoy St.

The load, a mixture of soft pine and hardwood, cost $209, dumped next to Nick Fransioli’s home. For about 25 years, a wood stove in has been the primary heat source in winter.

Is it cheaper?

“I think so. I don’t know exactly how much,” Fransioli said, “but we usually just go out and cut our own.”

There is room for debate about whether it is cheaper to burn wood instead of using natural gas, but there are variables to consider. It depends on whether you own a chain saw and cut your own wood, or how high you set your thermostat, and so on.

There are qualitative factors, some favoring natural gas, some favoring wood. Included is the fact that a wood stove’s heat doesn’t diminish quickly, the way heat leaves a room when the gas furnace shuts off. Or the fact that you don’t have to clean a stovepipe when you simply use natural gas.

“I like the atmosphere of it,” Fransioli said. “I like the smell of it.”

According to Colorado Springs Utilities, any residential customer hooked up to the city’s gas infrastructure must pay about $9.30 in gas connection charges even if the gas is never used. So that’s a part of the cost of doing business with the utility, whether you burn wood or not. Utility spokeswoman Patrice Lehermeier said when gas usage and connections fees are factored together, the average residential customer’s gas bill is about $228 a month during winter.

If Fransioli burns a cord a month and pays the gas connection fees using no other gas for heating, his total bill would be right in that $228 ballpark ($209 for a cord of delivered wood plus the $9.30 in connection charges).

Based on wood stove installation statistics, the demand for wood isn’t growing much.

The Regional Building Department has issued 19 permits for wood stove installations in El Paso county so far his year; the number was 41 in 2008, 15 in 2009 and 26 in 2010. Traditional open fireplaces are becoming rare: Since Jan. 1, 2007, only 29 such fireplaces have been built in El Paso County.

Parker says the recession has increased competition in the firewood business, so his sales are down 20-30 percent. He’s been cutting pine in the Black Forest area and makes two or three deliveries a day.

“The economy gets down, guys pick up a chain saw,” he said with a shrug.

By late in the day Tuesday light snow fell in some portions of the region and a thick steam plume rose from the Martin Drake power plant downtown.

The idea of a wood fire was appealing, but so was the feel of warm air coming up from a vent in the floor.

Connecting your gas fireplace or stove to your natural gas line will require using different types of connections. You can choose to use traditional piping, which is rigid and makes going around corners and angles difficult. Or you can use CSST gas line , which is a special type of flexible gas pipe and is less expensive to install. Rather than having a bunch of short sections of rigid pipe, you can use one long section of flexible gas pipe.

CSST Gas Line Can Be Used for More than Just Fireplaces

You can use CSST gas line not only for your gas fireplace or stove, but also for other types of gas appliances. You can connect your gas hot water heater, gas dryer, or gas grill to your natural gas line using this type of flexible gas line. You can even obtain a kit which contains everything you need to connect a single appliance, here at Copperfield Chimney Supply.

Natural gas does not smell naturally, so energy companies add a smell to it when processing the natural gas, which gives it a rotten egg smell. When first turning on a gas fireplace, it may have a slight smell as a result, but should dissipate when your fireplace is properly vented. Venting a gas fireplace or stove, with Duravent gas vents is necessary in order to prevent carbon dioxide and other harmful gases from being released into the air in the room.

Duravent Makes Several Pieces Needed to Install a Venting System

There are several different pieces needed to install a gas fireplace or stove venting system. You will need a Duravent termination cap, gas vent pipe, couplers and other such items to connect to your gas fireplace or stove, which are available on our website, here at Copperfield Chimney Supply. While you do not need a complete chimney, like with a wood burning fireplace, you will need at least a direct vent exhaust.

There are a variety of different designs and styles of gas grills available to fit anyone's budget. You can find small grills which offer the ability to grill all the food you desire and do not take up much space when you have a small patio area. There are larger grills available which feature side burners to cook other foods at the same time while grilling. Copperfield Chimney Supply carries a selection of grills for you to choose from, including built-in models.