They produce a yellow flame, the logs look like actual logs, and you can even include little woodsy details like pine cones and leaves. You can have realistic, glowing embers in a direct vent fireplace. A vent free fire place, on the other hand, features gas logs that burn at so high a temperature they turn blue, like the flames that come from your stove. Some, therefore, have felt that gathering around a gas vent free fire place is like gathering around the stove, while the direct vent version offers the feel and look of a traditional fireplace, or the sort of fire you build while camping. A direct vent fireplace is more expensive to install, and requires more maintenance, but some see this as a plus, enjoying the hands-on experience of caring for something that looks and feels like the real thing.

The best method for obtaining a gas direct vent fireplace is to convert your old, wood-burning fireplace into one. The advantage of such a conversion is that you can have fire with the flip of a switch. No more buying, hauling, splitting wood. No more matches, no more balled up newspaper. You simply flip a switch, and presto - a warm, bright, realistic fire appears, complete with scraggly logs and other artistic touches. Wood-burning fireplaces require constant upkeep and cleaning, not to a mention a potential fire hazard. Gas logs, contrariwise, are maintenance free, come in several different looks, and are not difficult to install. Gas fires present less of a fire hazard, and studies have shown that they put out up to double the heat of wood fires! Burning gas logs in a direct vent fireplace, then, offers the comforts, sounds, and sights of a wood-burning fireplace, without the botheration of cleaning and repairing, lifting and lighting.

Another option, if you do not want to install a gas fireplace into your existing direct vent fireplace, is to purchase gas inserts and burn them. Gas inserts aren’t as realistic as gas logs, but they offer several conveniences, such as 90% heat efficiency, remote control operation (or, as in the case of gas logs, a wall switch), and even a thermostat that automatically turns the fire on when the temperature in the room drops too low. Gas inserts require that you use your house’s gas line; it might, therefore, be a good idea to contact a professional installer. With gas inserts you don’t get the open range feel of gas or wood logs, but a glass panel is installed over the flames so that you can watch them if you wish.

Direct vent fireplaces offer a variety of options to homeowners looking for the wonderful tradition of a wood-burning fireplace minus the vigorous labor involved in caring for one. Both gas logs and gas inserts are practical, economical, and low-maintenance. Direct vent fireplaces offer realism on the one hand and pure, burning efficiency on the other, so that the homeowner is getting the best of both worlds, safe in the knowledge that a fire risk has been greatly reduced even while heat efficiency has been greatly enlarged.

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