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Heating, Cooling & Comfort - Choose a Product
What's Available on the Market Today?
Great progress has been made in gas fireplace technology over the past decade. Depending on your situation and personal preferences, you may have three choices:
- Gas fireplace inserts are meant to be installed in an existing fireplace cavity, to convert a wood-burning fireplace to use natural gas or propane. With this technology, the existing chimney must be relined with an approved vent.
- Factory-built gas fireplaces - also known as zero clearance units - are installed when there is no existing fireplace, typically during new home construction or as part of a renovation project.
- Free-standing fireplaces resemble wood-burning stoves. All surfaces are exposed, so these fireplaces tend to be more effective in supplying heat to a home.
Whatever design you choose, it should be installed by a heating professional. And you'll want to pay close attention to how the fireplace is vented. It's both a safety and an energy efficiency issue.
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