Does a standing pilot fireplace work better in a power outage than electronic ignition?
In Arden, yes — a standing pilot fireplace keeps heating in a power outage, lighting on the tiny voltage its own pilot flame produces rather than anything from the wall. Electronic ignition needs house current unless it's battery-backed. In the 1980s and 90s Royal Pines and Skyland homes, the bigger win is converting a tired open masonry firebox into a sealed insert that both heats better and survives the grid going down.
Turning a drafty open firebox into real heat
A lot of Arden's housing came up in the 1980s and 90s around Royal Pines, Skyland, and Glenn Bridge, and those homes often have open masonry fireplaces that look the part but quietly bleed warmth — an open firebox with the damper up can run a net heat loss, pulling more conditioned air up the flue than it ever gives back. A sealed gas insert changes the whole equation: inserts commonly run 70 percent efficient or better, and paired with a standing pilot they deliver that heat even when the power's out. It's the single most cost-effective upgrade for these tired hearths — you keep the fireplace you have and get a real heater that doesn't depend on the grid. Natural gas serves Arden along the mains, and gas keeps flowing under pressure whether or not your home has electricity.
Biltmore Park spaces and Buncombe permits
The larger Biltmore Park retail and office spaces face the same outage logic on a commercial scale — a gathering-space fireplace that dies with the power isn't doing its job — and there too a millivolt or battery-backup unit is the fix. Every install, home or commercial, is permitted through Buncombe County and pressure-tested; connecting the gas line is licensed work a showroom or mason legally can't complete. Keep in mind the blower needs house current, so a strong radiant unit holds heat in an outage even with its fan down. Arden is 15 minutes south. 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.
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