Electric insert vs gas insert — which is better for an existing fireplace?
Brevard sits in propane country, so the gas-versus-electric choice starts with fuel: a sealed gas insert runs on an LP tank set up with the right orifices and pressures, heats at 70-percent-plus efficiency, and works in an outage. Electric needs only a plug — a fair pick for a small room, or for a chimney too far gone to reline.
Propane changes the setup, not the verdict
There is no gas main serving most of Brevard, so a gas insert here means propane — and propane is not just natural gas from a different pipe. It burns hotter per unit, so the appliance gets converted with LP orifices and its pressure dialed in, or it soots. Done right, that insert throws real heat off a Connestee Falls or Sherwood Forest tank. An electric insert — the Dimplex we carry, with a flame-only mode for summer — skips fuel entirely and gives you about 5,000 BTU for up to 400 square feet. It is supplemental warmth, not a heater for a whole great room, but it asks nothing of a propane budget.
When your chimney tips the scales toward electric
Transylvania County catches 80-plus inches of rain a year, and it shows up in chimneys — cracked crowns, spalled brick, rusted dampers, moisture creeping through the crawl spaces and chases these homes are prone to. That condition matters, because a gas insert needs a sound stainless liner run down the flue; if yours has been chewed up by weather, we replace it and pull the Transylvania County permit for the gas and inspection. An electric insert sidesteps the whole problem — we block the failing flue off, and there is nothing up there to keep dry. On a house whose chimney is losing the battle with the rain, that is a genuine argument for electric. We are 40 minutes northeast in Asheville; call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Brevard
We install and service fireplaces throughout Brevard and the rest of Transylvania County — just 40 minutes southwest from our Asheville-area showroom.
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