The warm flicker of a solid fuel fire makes everybody feel warm, nostalgic and relaxed and few would argue that a well chosen fireplace makes an attractive feature in any room of the house. Real fires are so mucky though, aren’t they? All that cleaning out before you can rebuild another fire; then there’s the soot and the smoke…
Well, of course, you know where we’re going here! Today’s electric fireplaces give you many of the benefits of an open fire with none of the usual mess. Within minutes of getting your new fire home you can have it fitted, switched on, and providing a cosy glow for the family.
Great for control freaks – you can adjust heat level and brightness by having the flames without the heat or the heat without the flames. At the end of a long summer day when you want to snuggle up in front of the television, switch on the flames and you have all the cosiness without the heat. Although, if the British summers of the last couple of years are anything to go buy, you might want to switch the heat on too.
Lots of people think that because they don’t have a chimney they can’t have the cosy look of a fireplace. Well, perhaps the best thing about electric fireplace inserts is that they don’t require venting, which means they can be placed against any wall, whether its an outside wall or not. Its up to you whether you choose to inset the fire into a fire surround or just have it against the wall, perhaps as part of an entertainment centre.
Electric fires do not require any ventilation and there are no carbon monoxide threats as no fuel is burnt. This is also better for the environment than traditional fires, of course. As with any electrical installation, care should be taken to prevent ingress of water and little fingers.
You should, perhaps, bear in mind that no matter how our technological and manufacturing processes improve, an electric fire is never going to fool the eye into believing it is a real fire; having said that, today’s electric fires and electric fire inserts are a world away from the electric fires of old. And, most importantly, they give anybody the opportunity of having a warming, cosy focal point in their home.
