Vent free gas fireplaces have become very popular in the last couple of years. A lot of people are trying to avoid old fashioned fireplaces, because of all the hassle and mess that these fireplaces brought. With vent free gas fireplaces there is no need of wood chopping and storing it in basements. Vent free gas fireplaces have a very attractive and modern design; therefore they are a great decoration for any room. However, a lot of people are asking themselves whether these fireplaces are safe to be used or not. The truth is that fireplaces emit some toxic substances such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Vent free gas fireplaces don’t have any venting capacity, which means that they don’t come with a chimney, therefore all the harmful byproducts from the fireplaces are remaining inside the house. Vent free fireplaces are available as electric and propane models. But, her we will discuss more about the safety of using vent free gas fireplaces. The truth is that a lot of houses are air tight. When we add to this vent free gas fireplaces, where will all the byproducts go? The answer is – they will all stay inside the house. This is a considered by some as a bad thing. Because of this, vent free gas fireplaces are banned in some US states. This is a very important thing to promote safety in those states. However, we can’t really say that vent free gas fireplaces are that bad and that unsafe. First of all, vent free gas fireplaces are equipped with carbon monoxide detectors. Once when the level of oxygen in the room falls, the gas will turn off automatically. Also, it is always advised to leave the windows of the room where the fireplace is working, a few open because of ventilation. However, because of all the mentioned things, a lot of people are afraid to buy vent free gas fireplaces. Because of this, these people always opt for direct vent fireplace.
The truth is that these fireplaces are much safer. How these fireplace work is very simple. They have two pipes where one of the pipes is used to draw the air from outside directly to the fireplace, while the other pipe is used to exhaust the combustion products to the outside. In other words, these fireplaces have a chimney. However, these fireplaces are not for everyone´s pocket and they cannot be used in small rooms where there is no place for putting a chimney or making a hole in the wall. Also, these fireplaces are very expensive to install, because you will not be able to do it by yourself, but you will have to call a professional in order to install this vented gas fireplace inside your home.
