Direct Vent Fireplaces

On a cold day, gathering around the fire is the perfect place for great conversations, reading a good book or a little romance. In fact, when it comes down to it, nothing quite matches the warmth and ambiance of those flickering flames in a fireplace. But what if your home doesn't have one? Well ... direct vent fireplaces may be your answer.

Discovery Direct Vent Insert by Lopi

A direct vent fireplace can be a wonderful choice for rooms in which a traditional fireplace is not practical or possible. Aside from providing clean warmth and the cheery glow of real fire, a direct vent fireplace saves space by allowing furniture to be positioned directly to either side with "zero clearance." This simply means that while heat is radiated out the front glass, the sides are safe for combustibles to butt up against the firebox.Unlike traditional masonry fireplaces with foundations and chimneys, direct vent units take advantage of zero-clearance technology.

Top Hat provides direct vent units from Avalon, Lopi and Hearthstone. They are prefabricated from metal and designed to be installed in wood-frame construction without a foundation or a chimney and this is the big difference between these and other types of fireplace. They burn so efficiently, they can be vented directly out through a wall. This means they're much easier and are usually less expensive to install than masonry units.  Normally, you have much greater flexibility in their placement.

Cambridge Direct Vent Insert by Avalon

Direct vent fireplaces burn natural gas or propane, not wood. But direct vent models are different from conventional gas-fired fireplaces that require a through-the-roof, flue to carry away hot, combustion gases. They burn efficiently, extracting most of the heat from the combustion gases and sealing the combustion off from interior rooms. A direct vent model has a glass door that is securely sealed to prevent leaks of combustion products into the room. Air to feed the flame enters from outside and the relatively cool combustion gases are exhausted through the wall-mounted vent (if you prefer, you can also vent it through a roof).

Because they are gas-fired, these units address the serious problem of wood-smoke pollution that grew to crisis proportions in some regions about a decade ago. Unlike wood-burners, these gas fireplaces give off virtually no particulates.

Like all gas-burning fireplaces, they're much easier to use than wood-burning units because you don't have to buy, chop, haul, start and continually feed wood to the fire. And you don't have to scoop out the ashes or sweep the chimney. With gas, you just turn on the fire with a knob, a switch or even a remote control. Or you can let a thermostat do the job. When in use, they only cost pennies per hour to operate.