I'm probably going to buy a gas fireplace for my living room. Based on where I'd like it to be placed (an interior wall), it looks like a vent-free is my only cost effective option.

A few family/friends have vent-free installs and seem very happy with them, but the salesman at the one showroom I went to was pushing a vented (meaning running the exhaust/intake pipe up through the roof) fireplace option, which of course was several thousand more than the vent-free and 2-3 times the price for install. I do understand the advantages of going the vented route, it's just not an option for me.

My house is already gas heat and there is a gas line that could be easily tapped right under where I want to put the fireplace. It won't be used heavily, and honestly, I'm getting it as much for the aesthetics of a nice mantle as much as the heating ability.

A few questions:

- has anybody purchased one locally?
- I know Thompson's (Boonsboro) has a showroom. Anybody else semi-local to the H-Town area that sells them and has a showroom? This may sound silly, but I'm kind of avoiding the Lowe's/Home Depot route. I'm willing to pay a little more to just be able to write one check, then have the company order it and install it without much effort from me.
- does anybody have an good or bad experiences with vent-free fireplaces?

No experience SMan, but have you also checked Shawleys over in Maugansville? It's on Shawley Drive just down from Hub Labels.

You might check Home Adventures also (used to be Grove Oil) over on Wilson Blvd. They sell pellet stoves and such, not sure they carry gas.

SMan,

We have one and love it. Got it from AC&T. They do have a show case at the office over by the mall. It is sooooo nice during the winter. We had a wood stove, but got tired of all the smoke and dust.

We have an old home so it is nice to have it to heat up the downstairs quickly. But, we mostly like it for the atmosphere. Have had it just a few years now.

Thanks for the input! I'd forgotten about AC&T and never considered Home Adventures.

Great Thread SMan, we are in the planning phase for our new home and a vent-free fireplace is definately on the table. Found great ones on the net, but.... I'd like to find someone local.

If you're new construction, cful, I'd consider the vented fireplace. You get a much better looking flame (like real wood, except for the crackling) and no chance of any odors or allegerens being combusted since it draws fresh outside air instead of your room air, which is the stated reason the showroom guy was steering me away from ventless.

I have to work evenings this week, so I'm going to make my showroom rounds during the days.

We have a vented gas fireplace; I don't trust the vent-free ones, or for that matter, myself, to know when there's too much carbon monoxide. You see, it's a cold winter night, and you turn it on while you're watching TV just to take the chill off of the room..... Next thing you know, you're toasty warm and ASLEEP! And if there's too much carbon monoxide and you're already asleep, well you can figure out the rest.

We got ours from Chimney Doctors in Waynesboro. I don't know if they do vent-free ones, but you could call and ask. They were great to deal with, and we're very pleased.

Hey, sheash. Haven't seen you in awhile.

All vent-free ones come with an oxygen depletion sensor built in, so they'll shut off automatically if there's not enough 02.

I'll add Chimney Doctors to my list. THanks.

They also have a temperature control. You can punch in the degrees that you want to maintain on the remote control and when it warms up to that temp, it automatically shuts off. That way you don't waste the propane, or overheat the room.

We also have a carbon monoxide detector near by, just in case. But, we had that when we had the wood stove also.

Thought about the Vented, but don't want to spend the extra. Yes I'm Frugal. They say the ventless have progressed much. We are actually looking at two, one for the living room and one for the master bedroom.

SMan,

Did you ever get your Fireplace? We have one on order for our new house. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't know the name of it right now, but the company that is going to do our Stonework for the front of our house, strongly recommended them. He is going to do Eldorado Stone around our stove and make it look like a vented one.

It gets installed next week. About $2500 for the mantle, log, blower, thermostat remote, and install. I'll try to remember to post a pic and some initial thoughts on it.

We've had ours on already with this cold weather. It's so relaxing after a long day. Better than TV!

I love love love that remote!! Push a button, and volia! instant fire! And the auto temp feature is also really nice!

it seems to me if you put it back iinto the firplace your not gettiing all the heat , or does the blower push it all out of there?

I think everyone on here is talking about a stand alone gas fireplace tagout. That is what mine is.

OK, I've had my fireplace a little over a week and have a few initial impressions.

• The mantle is beautiful. It *almost* matches my floors perfectly
• The log and gas flame look much better than I expected. You'll never mistake it for a real wood fire, but it'll do just fine.
• The on/off thermostat remote is awesome!
• The blower is a smidge louder than I would have liked, but I'll deal with it.
• The "new" smell seems to have burned off. For awhile, it kinda smelled like heated up metal, if that makes sense.
• I went ahead and bought a nice ($50) carbon monoxide detector just to be on the safe side. It has always read a steady zero, so I guess I'm good to go.
• Wow. This thing can heat up the house in a hurry
• I guess I should go ahead and pay the installer the other half of the money.

Ok, time to bring this one back up.

Ours is installed and after I figured out how to turn the gas on, works fine. It does heat up a room quickly.

I hope that new smell burns off quickly, that was pretty bad.

Open your windows and let that thing blaze for an hour or so and the smell should be gone.

Get a carbon monoxide detector!

Oh yeah, CO detectors are a must whenever you have combustible heat sources. They should be placed close to every smoke detector that you have.

My mom died of accidental CO poisoning. Don't take any chances.

SMAN,
who did you end of having do your install?

Thompson Gas