In Arden, yes — and for most homes here the move is a sealed insert. The 1980s and 90s houses in Royal Pines and Skyland came with open masonry fireplaces, and those tired fireboxes pull heat out of the room instead of adding it. Drop in a sealed gas insert and that same opening becomes a legitimate main-zone heater.
Turning a Heat Loser Into a Heater
An open masonry fireplace can actually run a net heat loss — it draws warmed room air up the chimney faster than the fire replaces it, which is why your Royal Pines living room feels drafty when the fire's lit. A sealed gas insert closes that loop; a Kozy Heat Chaska 25L, blower included, or a Napoleon Oakville insert commonly runs 70% efficient or better and puts steady warmth into the room.
That's the difference between decoration and a heater. Instead of feeding the chimney, the insert feeds the room, which is exactly what you need if it's going to carry your main heat.
How Much House One Insert Can Hold
For the main living area, one well-sized insert can carry the load and let the furnace rest through the coldest stretch of a Royal Pines or Skyland winter. Whether it reaches the whole house depends on the plan — an open layout gives it a real shot, while bedrooms down a hall still want central heat for the far corners.
So we size to the rooms you actually use, not to the biggest number on a spec sheet; an oversized insert short-cycles and never settles into steady, even warmth. Honest sizing is the whole point of an in-home look.
Straightforward Tie-In, Outage-Ready
Arden runs on natural-gas mains, so most inserts tie right into the utility with no tank. Extending or connecting that line is licensed work — we pull the Buncombe County permit, meet the inspector, and pressure-test the line before it carries fuel.
We're 15 minutes south of the Emma Road showroom, easy to reach from Biltmore Park. If you want heat that also rides out a power failure, battery-backup or millivolt ignition keeps a gas insert working when the grid's down — a lesson Helene drove home here. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Arden
We install and service fireplaces throughout Arden and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes south from our Asheville-area showroom.