Should I install gas logs or keep burning real wood in my fireplace?
Around Brevard, weather and fuel drive this. Much of Transylvania County runs on propane rather than a gas main, and 80-plus inches of rain a year is brutal on masonry, causing cracked crowns, spalled brick, and rusted dampers. If your wood chimney is slowly deteriorating, converting to sealed gas can retire a flue you would otherwise keep patching every year.
The rainfall factor most brochures skip
Brevard sits in one of the wettest corners of the state, and chimneys pay for it. Moisture works into crowns and chimney chases, rusts dampers, and degrades clay liners faster than in drier towns, and the wet season from March through June does real damage while crawl spaces stay damp. A masonry wood fireplace here means signing up for that maintenance in perpetuity. A sealed direct-vent gas appliance vents out a sidewall and sidesteps the open-chimney upkeep almost entirely, which is a bigger deal in Brevard than most people expect.
Propane country, and what conversion looks like
Out toward Connestee Falls, Sherwood Forest, and the cabins, most homes burn propane, so a wood-to-gas job pairs the appliance with your LP supply rather than a city main. For a cabin that needs real heat, a Kozy Heat Springfield 36 is built for propane country; for a timber-frame or mountain-modern great room, a Mendota FullView gives you the most convincing wood-look flame we sell. Propane burns hotter per unit and needs its own orifices and pressures, and get that wrong and it soots, which is exactly why it is licensed work.
Keep wood if you love it, just maintain it
Plenty of Brevard folks genuinely love a real wood fire, and there is every reason to keep yours if you will book the fall sweep and let us check the crown and liner after another wet season has worked on the brick. Whichever way you go, the gas side is ours: we pull the Transylvania County permit, pressure-test the line, and meet the inspector. 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
- Should I get a gas fireplace or a wood-burning fireplace?
- Is it cheaper to heat your house with wood or with gas?
- Does a gas fireplace give you the crackle, smell, and feel of a real wood fire?
- What are my options for converting a wood-burning fireplace to gas — logs vs insert vs new fireplace?
- Can I convert my gas fireplace back to wood-burning, and is it worth it versus keeping gas?