Is your home gas or total electric?

Gas heat, hot water, dryer, kitchen. Gas is wonderful (unless it's from beans - then it's not so great).

 

We ended up buying the home I lived in when I was in high school. My mother never liked gas (explosions and all) but my dad finally had talked her into gas heat. So the only thing gas is the package unit outside our home. I'd love to have a gas stove and water heater, and I can do the work...just don't want to spend the cash or time (and effort). I thought about gas logs instead of wood as they are so much more efficient...but can't bring myself to get rid of the fireplace.

 

That is on my wish list. We have two fireplaces - one in the den and one in the living room. The living room one is small and directly over the gas furnace so I'm thinking it won't be too hard to switch it to a gas fireplace. I want to be sure that it is one that will throw off heat and will work without power. We will leave the one in the den (which is a BIG firebox) wood so we can enjoy real fires as well.

 

You can get a ventless fireplace and it will heat much better than wood. Sounds like you'll have no problem with going with gas (you'll get a ventless insert...but make sure you have the chimney cleaned before you install the insert). It'll work without power and provide ample heat. For me, with only one fireplace...well, I'm still undecided but I like the idea of burning wood.

 

We get our chimney cleaned every year. Well, we get it checked every year and if it doesn't need a cleaning, our guy tells us so! Last year we didn't need it cleaned (and he didn't charge for checking it - I LOVE our chimney guy) but this year we probably will since we were without heat for 5 days last winter!

Yep, I want to get an insert but I think it will be costly. I need to go check out how much and start saving up. Maybe in a few years......