Is it worth switching from a wood-burning fireplace to an electric fireplace?
In Brevard, switching to electric is worth it mainly if you want out of the wet-flue upkeep — 80-plus inches of rain a year cracks crowns and rusts dampers here, and an electric insert sidesteps the chimney entirely. But this is propane country with frequent storm outages, so you'd be trading weatherproof backup heat for a flame that dies with the power.
Rain is the local wildcard
Brevard's crawl spaces and chimney chases take a beating — 80 inches of annual rainfall spalls brick, cracks masonry crowns, and rusts dampers, especially through the wet March-to-June stretch. An electric fireplace needs none of that flue at all: no sweeping, no waterproofing, no creosote. Drop a Dimplex into the old firebox and the maintenance headache of a wet Transylvania chimney largely goes away.
For a downtown home used lightly in winter, that appeal is real.
But you're on propane, and the grid is fragile
Out toward Connestee Falls, Sherwood Forest, and the cabins, most homes heat with propane, and mountain storms here can knock power out for days. Electric gives you about 5,000 BTU of supplemental heat and nothing at all in an outage. Give up a working wood hearth for it and you've retired your only grid-independent heat.
The conversions that fit Brevard
A sealed propane insert solves the wood labor without surrendering the warmth — 70% efficient or better, with millivolt or battery-backup ignition that keeps running when the lines go down. In the timber-frame and mountain-modern homes around Brevard, a Mendota gas fireplace gives that convincing wood-fire look with real heat behind it. We set the LP orifices and pressures correctly, pull the Transylvania County permit, and pressure-test the line. 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.
Related questions
- Wood-to-gas vs wood-to-electric conversion — which is better for my fireplace?
- Electric insert vs gas insert — which is better for an existing fireplace?
- Should I install gas logs or keep burning real wood in my fireplace?
- Electric fireplace insert vs electric log set — which should I put in my old fireplace?
- Which fireplace still works during a power outage — gas, wood, or electric?