Direct Vent Gas Fireplaces Bring Instant Charm

When skies are gray and you have made your way home from work through freezing sleet, high winds, and horizontal rain, there is nothing more appealing than stepping into a cozy living room, removing wet boots, shaking off a sodden raincoat and pulling up a chair in front of a roaring fireplace, with a cup of hot tea and a good mystery novel to make you forget the storm outside.

If you are unfortunate enough to live in a home that does not have a fireplace, don't give up hope on adding this cheery accessory to your life. If there is a blank wall where your cozy fireplace should be, there is a solution that can change your interior –your winter lifestyle -- drastically: a direct vent gas fireplace.

Today's direct vent gas fireplaces mean that apartment and condo dwellers can have a fireplace, too. A direct vent gas fireplace can be installed in almost any living situation.

Zero Clearance Technology

Direct vent gas fireplaces have been called the fireplace of the future. Interior spaces may be growing larger these days, but the space between homes is shrinking. Direct vent fireplaces don't emit the toxic fumes that traditional wood burning fireplaces send out, so they are "greener," and friendlier for tight living situations where population density is high.

Direct vent gas fireplaces are made of metal and designed to be installed in homes made with traditional wood-frame construction methods, but without the foundation and chimney that wood burning fireplaces require. It is the lack of the chimney requirement that makes a direct vent fireplace such a versatile choice for residents everywhere. Instead of requiring a chimney and furnace stack rising through the stories of a home, a direct vent gas fireplace can be vented through a wall.

Vent Flexibility

The efficiency with which gas fireplaces burns is what enables the venting to go through a wall instead of through a chimney. Improvements in venting technology now enable a direct vent gas fireplace to be vented up to 20 feet from an exterior wall or up to 40 feet vertically through a roof. Units can even be installed subgrade in basements or daylight basements.

Environmentally Friendly

Old fashioned wood burning fireplaces are, frankly, bad for the environment. First, trees that emit oxygen and clear the air of carbon dioxide are cut down for fireplace fuel. Then, smoke and other toxic particulates are released into the environment when the wood is burned. Finally, the homeowner has ashes to dispose of. Although wood ashes add valuable nutrients to a compost pile, most fires are burned during the dark hours of winter when gardeners have to don hip waders just to get out to the compost bin. Therefore, wood ashes end up in the garbage.

In contrast, a direct vent natural gas fireplace burns clean, releasing zero particulates into the air, generating no garbage, and causing no trees to be destroyed or diverted from more valuable uses.