A standard 20,000 BTU gas fireplace will use about 20 cubic feet of natural gas per hour. Given that price of natural gas is about $1.09 per 100 cubic feet, running a standard-sized gas fireplace will cost about $0.22/hour at 100% heating output. In short: Gas fireplaces are quite inexpensive to run.
A Gas fireplace might cost anywhere from $556 - $1,112* per year when being used for supplemental heating with natural gas. A Freestanding Gas Stove might cost anywhere from $1,016 - $2,031* per year when being used as a zone heaters with natural gas.
The average price of natural gas in the US in 2020 was around $11 per thousand cubic feet 1, equating to about $1.06 per therm. That means that a 38,000 BTU gas fireplace costs approximately $0.40 an hour to run.
An average 40,000BTU gas fireplace on full heat will use approximately 10 Therms of energy per day. Depending on the age of a gas fireplace and its maximum heat output, a gas fireplace can use a relatively large amounts of gas if used at max settings for a number of hours per day.
It's usually cheaper to run a gas fireplace because of its increased efficiency. Additionally, furnaces release convective heat, which takes longer to warm you up than the radiant heat of a fireplace. Another thing to consider is that because furnaces heat a larger area, they cost more to run per hour than a fireplace.
Why is my electricity or gas bill so high? There is a number of reasons as to why your energy bill is higher than you expected. These could include the bill being based on an estimated rather than actual energy use, inadequate insulation, a cold spell, having just moved to a new home and lots more.
Standard gas stoves
As gas doesn't produce any heavy smoke, as a wood burning stove would, they don't require you to have a Class 1 brick chimney – though they usually can be installed into one of these without any issues.
While gas fireplaces don't produce creosote, they do still need annual cleaning. Both propane and natural gas are clean burning gas fuels, so they don't produce the same byproducts as wood, but they can still produce buildup that needs to be cleaned away.
Natural gas is a fairly inexpensive form of energy, so a gas fireplace is inexpensive to run. Gas fireplaces cost 17-19 cents an hour to run, or about $60 annually, Electric Fireplaces Direct says. Wood-burning fireplaces cost about $190 annually to produce a number of BTUs similar to a gas fireplace.
Gas fireplaces give off heat as a result of a real flame combusting the gas supply to the fireplace. Heat is a by-product of the combustion process of burning the fuel within a gas fireplace.
A gas fireplace offers a range of benefits over burning wood in your home, including the ability to instantly turn on, control and turn of the heat from the fire. The advantages of having gas fireplace can outweigh the disadvantages in many scenarios, making a gas fireplace a worthwhile investment for your home.
In general, you should not run an unvented fireplace for more than three hours at a time. If you are using natural gas, you can usually run your fireplace for up to four hours before needing to refuel. If you are using propane, the limit is typically two hours.
But, how many hours can you leave a gas fireplace on? Generally speaking, gas fireplaces that are fully vented (aka direct vent) and have a sealed glass front can be left on for many hours. But models that are vent-free and have front doors that can be opened should only be left on for a maximum of 2 hours at a time.
Because burning wood releases about 75 percent more CO₂ than natural gas, efficient gas furnaces or fireplace inserts will emit only around half to two-thirds as much CO₂ per unit of heat as the best wood stoves, while natural gas emits far less toxic material than even the cleanest wood stoves.
The American Lung Association recommends choosing cleaner, less toxic sources of heat than burning wood when possible. Although efficient fireplaces and stoves that burn natural gas or propane eliminate exposure to some of the dangerous toxins wood burning generates, they rely on costly, unsustainable fossil fuels.
Gas fireplaces cannot burn any form of wood, whether that's firewood logs or wood pellets. For example, firewood logs typically used in wood burning fireplaces, wood burning stoves or multi fuel stoves, or wood pellets used in pellet stoves, can't be used in any form of gas fireplace. What is this?
Many gas fireplaces will work without electricity. You can run both intermittent pilot ignition fireplaces and standing pilot light systems during a power outage. IPI valve systems will normally have a backup battery system in place to ignite the flames.
Q: How long do gas logs last? A: In the average home, a well-maintained vented log set with ceramic logs will last 10 or more years. A well-maintained vent-free log set with ceramic logs can also last a long time, but, if heavily used, will begin to wear in 3-5 years.
So much so, that it's easy to forget that even a gas fireplace needs upkeep every once in a while. To keep your gas fireplace operating safely and in tip-top shape, it's recommended to perform annual maintenance.
Yes, gas fireplaces are one potential cause of carbon monoxide poisoning. While there are many potential sources of such exposure, including certain appliances and devices, motor vehicles and wood stoves, gas fireplaces are a common culprit.
Electric heaters and gas fireplaces both produce heat immediately once activated. However, gas fireplaces tend to be better than electric units for heating larger rooms because of their higher heating capacity. You may also feel gas heat more quickly than electric heat if you're standing further away in a room.
According to the figures, the average cost of natural gas in the U.S. is a little over $100 per month. Gas is used to heat your home, warm your water, and often powers your stove or oven. Although $100 is the average monthly cost, the amount you pay can vary depending on the time of year.
Using Your Gas Fireplace at Night
DON'T leave the unit on overnight. DO leave the flue open so that excess carbon monoxide is vented. The main concern with a gas-burning appliance is the exhaust of carbon monoxide and leaving the unit on overnight is simply risky.