Ventless gas/propane fireplaces??? Thoughts anyone??

[EweSheep]

I remember one time as I was reading, that you could not use the ventless fireplaces for more than 12 hours in a 24 hour span. What good would it do if you have a power outage that lasts for seven days? ( I remember the last ice storm we had....lucky us, we were not affected but for my relatives elsewhere in different part of town, suffered three days up to seven days without power and it was miserable that they had to go out and buy propane heaters).

 

[PurpleChicken]

Ok, I've had a ventless for a few years and use it to heat my 900 square foot house. It works GREAT. Propane burns very clean and the two biggest emissions are CO2 and WATER VAPOR. Yup, water vapor. My windows fog up from it. There isn't much soot but I burn a lot of candles and have a dirty dog. I also don't run it much, maybe 3 hours a day on the coldest days.

Bottom line is vented are better but 5 times the money and 30% less efficient. For now I'll enjoy my ventless.


For the record ventless are illegal in CA and MA.

 

[EweSheep]

Can you cook anything over it during the power outages? Boiling a pot of water wouldn't hurt??????

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
On mine you can't but it still works during a power failure.

 

[EweSheep]

I guess I will settle for a camp stove to cook things on in the kitchen. At least it serves its purpose.

How long can you really let it run? From what I heard you could not let it run for more than 12 hours in a 24 hour span.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

My ventless natural gas fireplace has a theromstat on the wall just like a regular furnace or electric heat. It kicks on at a certain temp. We keep ours on 65. It also has a remote. It can be manually run with the electric goes off! We use our buck stove in the LR for our main heat to heat the whole house and upstairs in winter. That I can cook and bake on if needed but our cooking stove is also natural gas heat. Wouldn't do without either one! I would never have a total electric house! Brrr.... on a money pit!

 

[PurpleChicken]

My house is all electric excluding the propane fireplace. If I set the propane unit at 65 it will keep my place warm in the coldest month and cost me $150 in propane versus $400 in electric.

I keep both my electric heat and propane fireplace set to 50 when I'm not home and around 65 when I'm home.

 

[EweSheep]

I remember my FIL said his all electric bill was $700 a month during the winter months and the house was only 40 years old. he lives out in the country and didn't want propane.

 

[ParadisePoultry]

Wow you guys, I never expected such a great response to this question. I SO appreciate all your opinions and experiences. We have decided to go with the ventless propane fireplace. The CO2 monitors are already in place. We won't be using it for our main heat source (unless the power goes out

), mostly for heating the LR and for the ambiance.Will definitely have it installed by a reliable professional. Now the only trick will be to find a reliable professional!

 

[Lunachick]

Good luck paradise, and let us know how you like it!

BTW I like your sig line