One of the joys of winter is coming home on a cold day to a warm and roaring fire. Homeowners have the option to opt for a traditional fireplace, but electric fireplaces are the more modern choice. While some argue that nothing replaces the ambiance of a large wood-burning fire, the maintenance involved with traditional fireplaces often proves to be more trouble than they’re worth.
Why Should Homeowners Choose an Electric Fireplace?
- With traditional fireplaces, you will need to pay for a professional chimney sweep each season. Electric fireplaces don’t require a chimney, which will spare you of the associated maintenance costs.
- A regular fireplace requires fresh firewood, kindling wood and a full set of tools to keep the fire going. This can be costly, time consuming and messy.
- Storing enough firewood for the season requires space in a garage or outdoors. If you store wood outside, you will need a sturdy, all-weather cover to keep the wood protected from sleet, rain and snow.
- Lugging wood inside and building a fire often creates a trail of debris that will need to be cleaned after each use. There’s no need for wood with an electric fireplace, so every fire is a warm and clean experience.
- Tending to a live fire requires a lot of work. You need to keep a close eye on it to make sure embers don’t escape the fireplace and ignite a carpet or couch. To keep a traditional fire under control, someone will need to maintain it the entire time.
- If left alone, a fire will simply flame out and die. For a fire that lasts several hours, you will need to add fresh wood, stoke the flames, brush up the debris and rearrange wood to get the best flame. An electric fireplace simply needs to be plugged in.
- When a fire dies out, the real dirty work begins. To have a functional fireplace, it is important to brush it out after each use, discard any dead wood and vacuum the area around the fireplace. These cleaning chores will be necessary each time to ensure your fireplace doesn’t become piled with soot and burnt logs.
- Traditional fireplaces are in a fixed location and can’t be moved. Electric fireplaces can be moved to any room in the house where you want instant heat and the look of a real fire.
Choose from a variety of fireplace designs to match your home decor and simply plug it in to achieve the pleasant experience of a fire in winter. No mess, no hassle and no extra costs, electric fireplaces are a great alternative to the cumbersome traditional fireplace!
