Fireplace: Gas or Wood?

[DrPizza]

I'll try to correct a couple of errors in the thread - there are plenty of them.
Decaying wood does not give off CO. It gives off CO2.
Wood fires give off some but not much carbon monoxide. With a modern fireplace, it's unlikely to be a problem at all - all of the CO should be vented - but there will be very little of it.
Natural gas fireplaces, if they are operating correctly, do NOT produce any appreciable amount of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is produced from incomplete combustion. If the flames are blue, carbon monoxide is not an issue. That's why you can buy ventless fireplaces - I don't recommend them, but they're nice to heat a single room on occasion.

I'm in the same boat, I think I will go with a wood burning fireplace. Most inserts nowadays behave like wood burning stoves and are pretty darn efficient.

Just make sure that your flue is the right size and done properly, otherwise it won't be worth it.

Back when I was a kid, we used to use the wood fireplace all the time. There was something wonderful about the process of starting a real fire that brought the family together to enjoy it. The ambiance cannot be matched with a gas or electric heater.

That's right, I said heater. Unless you are burning wood, it's not a real fireplace!

I pretty much agree.

Well, I'm in Florida and have a wood one actually that I rarely use.

As far as practicality, I'd say none. A lot of your heat can get funneled out of one in Michigan.

Because... you're in Florida. When the fireplace isn't on, the chimney should be closed off - very little loss of heat. As a practicality, it takes a lot more energy to heat a home in the North - and plenty of people do it solely with wood. There's not a net loss of energy in the home - it's a net gain.

OP: if you have access to wood (Michigan, you likely do?) and free or at a good price, and a place to store the wood, then that would increase a recommendation for a fireplace. If you don't - then don't get a wood fireplace. Just a face cord of firewood is 4' high and 8' long. I'm pretty sure - like 100% - that you're not going to use it as the sole means of heating the house. I personally don't think that a pretend fireplace will ever match the ambiance of a real fireplace. With brand new construction by modern standards, you should never need supplemental heat, even in Michigan. Though, it's refreshing to know that if the power's ever out, you do have a source of heat.

A nice fireplace looks nice, even if unused. But, it takes up wall space. Is your home sufficiently large that losing a few feet of wall space doesn't matter? It's incredibly nice to spend a day out sled riding with the kids, come inside, build a fire in the fireplace, and sit around playing board games while drinking hot chocolate. A gas fire just isn't the same - as someone above said, you may as well just get a 50" television, mount it in the fireplace, and play a yule log video on auto-replay.

And, though it's work, there's just something about cutting and splitting firewood that's very cathartic, not to mention, it's real exercise.

 

[echo4747]

Rotting wood does not emit CO, it emits CO2. CO can only happen with incomplete combustion.

Thats correct I got mixed up with monoxide/dioxide for min there.. my error. With modern woodburning appliances (catalytic or secondary burn type) combustion is fairly good. People that are burning wood properly are not harming the environment as much as it appears. A basic fireplace basically a grate and chimney has a more significant environmental impact (releases way more particulates)