Is it cheaper to heat your house with wood or with gas?
In Mars Hill, the rural homes up Spring Creek and Gabriels Creek mostly run on propane or wood, so out there cut-your-own wood is the cheapest heat and propane is the pricier gas option. Closer to the university, easy-to-use gas fireplaces win for rentals where nobody wants to tend a fire.
Two Mars Hills, two answers
Out in the valleys, homes lean on propane or wood. Wood is the cheapest fuel if you cut and split your own, which is the practical choice on a wooded Spring Creek or Gabriels Creek property; propane costs more per unit, burns hotter, and needs the right orifices and pressures, which is licensed work, and the Kozy Heat Springfield 36 is a solid propane-cabin heater for the rural homes out here. In the university-area rentals closer to town, a flip-a-switch gas fireplace with no wood to haul and no ash to clean is what tenants and landlords actually want.
One of the colder spots
Mars Hill sits higher and colder than a lot of what we serve, so the heating season is long and you burn more than the lowland towns do. The more you burn, the more the efficient appliance pays you back over the winter: an open firebox that leaks heat undoes any fuel savings you thought you had, while a sealed insert at 70% or better keeps the warmth in the room where you paid to put it. That is why we rarely lead with the fuel here: a family up Forks of Ivy burning free wood in a leaky open firebox can spend more of their winter cold than a neighbor running a right-sized sealed unit, whatever it burns. Fix the appliance to match this long, cold Madison County season, and the fuel question gets a lot smaller.
Permit and inspection
We pull the permit and meet the inspector, whatever the fuel, so the install protects your insurance and your resale. The showroom is 30 minutes south in Asheville, and the assessment is free. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Mars Hill
We install and service fireplaces throughout Mars Hill and the rest of Madison County — just 30 minutes north from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
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