When is the best time of year to buy a fireplace?

Around the university, simple wins

Mars Hill's academic-year rhythm concentrates fireplace demand into fall — students return, rentals fill, and everyone wants easy-use gas heat at once. Landlords and homeowners near the university should work the opposite side of that calendar: choose and install over the summer lull, when the schedule is loose and a unit can be in, permitted, and proven before the semester starts. Sealed gas is the right spec for that market — flame at the flip of a switch, nothing to haul, little to maintain.

Out the creek roads, it's propane and wood

Spring Creek and Gabriels Creek run on a different system: rural valley homes heating with propane or wood, where the purchase is about dependable Btus. For wood, the Regency Cascades F1500 is the serious option — EPA-certified, 78% efficient, heating up to 1,500 square feet, and completely indifferent to whether the power is on. For propane, remember the connection is licensed work: regulator, piping, and appliance setup, permitted and pressure-tested, with the tank coordinated through your supplier.

Up roads where outages linger, zero-electricity gas matters too — the Valor H5 runs on a millivolt valve with no blower and no circuit board.

Cold arrives early at 2,350 feet

Mars Hill is one of the colder spots we serve, which shortens the runway between pleasant fall and full heating season. A spring or early-summer start absorbs that compression easily; an October start doesn't. We're 30 minutes south at 629 Emma Rd — visit the showroom, then book the free in-home assessment. Call (828) 545-0525.