Will a gas fireplace still work when the power goes out?
In Arden, the common setup works against you in an outage. The 1980s-90s open masonry fireplaces across Royal Pines and Skyland pull warm air up the chimney and lean on central heat that dies with the power. Drop in a sealed gas insert with millivolt controls and that tired firebox becomes real outage heat — lit with no electricity. Only the blower needs power.
An open firebox is the wrong tool when the grid's down
Arden's established Skyland and Royal Pines homes were built with big open masonry fireplaces, and an open hearth actually runs a net heat loss — it pulls more warm air up the flue than it returns to the room. During an outage, when you're relying on that fireplace instead of dead central heat, that's exactly backward. A drafty open firebox burning wood gives you some warmth, but it's inefficient and demanding, and it does nothing if you were counting on the furnace.
A sealed insert turns it into a heater
Converting that open firebox to a sealed gas insert changes the math: sealed combustion keeps the heat in the room, and spec'd with a millivolt valve the unit lights on its own current with the grid completely down. You get real radiant heat from a fireplace that used to leak it — power-optional, no batteries required. The Hendersonville Road corridor funnels cold air down through Arden on winter nights, so that dependable heat earns its place. We pull the Buncombe County permit and line the flue.
Fifteen minutes south
Arden is about 15 minutes from our Asheville showroom, close enough for a free in-home look at whether your firebox is worth converting. We'll size the insert to the room and tell you honestly what it delivers. The blower will still need wall power, so in an outage you're getting radiant warmth rather than fan-forced air — a fair trade for a warm house. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Arden
We install and service fireplaces throughout Arden and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes south from our Asheville-area showroom.
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