Yes — and in Leicester a below-grade gas fireplace has a particular advantage: it can run on almost no electricity. Many rural properties out here have limited electrical capacity, and a millivolt direct-vent unit lights and heats on the fireplace's own standing pilot system. Most Leicester homes are on propane, and a sealed unit is the right below-grade choice for it.
Heat that barely touches the panel
On a remote Sandy Mush or Turkey Creek property where the electrical service is stretched thin, an appliance that heats without drawing power is a real asset. A millivolt direct-vent gas fireplace generates its own control voltage from the pilot — no household circuit required to make heat, and none lost when the grid goes down. A Valor unit takes this furthest, running on a standing millivolt system with no blower and no circuit board at all, which also makes it one of the most dependable heaters we install.
Propane, set and sealed
Leicester runs mostly on propane, so the fuel side is ours to build correctly: regulator, piping, and LP-matched orifices and pressures, with the tank coordinated through your supplier. Because propane settles into low spaces, a sealed direct-vent unit is the appropriate design for a basement — its combustion is closed off from the room entirely. Wood heat is popular out here too, but below grade, direct-vent gas is the cleaner, simpler performer. We pull the Buncombe County permit and meet the inspector; the showroom is 15 minutes west. Call (828) 545-0525.
Colder here than in town
Cold-air drainage runs these rural valleys 5 to 8 degrees colder than Asheville on clear winter nights, so a basement here holds real cold. A low-electrical, propane-fired fireplace that keeps heating through an outage — the kind WNC valued after Helene — turns the lower level into the warmest, most self-reliant room in the house. For an off-the-beaten-path property, that self-reliance is the whole appeal.
Fireplace help in Leicester
We install and service fireplaces throughout Leicester and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.