Electric fireplaces: are they a good option for green homes?

As someone who heats his home partly with firewood, I am aware of the ecological impact, as well as the impact on air quality inside my home and for my downwind neighbours. I live in a rural area of Quebec, and my guilt is assuaged somewhat by the fact that easily half of my surrounding neighbours also heat with wood.

I love direct source heat, I love a flickering orange light, but I don’t love the smoky smell that seems to be unavoidable even with airtight stoves. What I really love is the resiliency a wood stove provides in terms of being able to heat my home in a power outage. 

I built my home right after the 1998 ice storm that devastated the power grid in Quebec and eastern Canada and drove people out of their frozen homes for weeks. So being able to heat my home in a power outage was a top priority for me. Now that there are suitable alternatives to all that I loved about my wood stove, I’d like to transition away from wood heating. So this article is if nothing else, the start of the process to convince myself that it’s time.

Why I will not buy a gas fireplace

Gas fireplaces became very popular for the convenience of being able to start and stop them by flicking a switch, and having the joy of a flickering flame in your living room without the hassles of wood. Many (but not all) gas fireplaces can be operated without power, so they can offer that heat security.

Getting a gas fireplace did run through my mind in the past, albeit briefly and reluctantly. There was some appeal to having a fire without having wood to split, stack and carry, no ashes to clean up, and no gigantic spiders to chase down that were inadvertently carried inside on a log. Yeah, it happens.

But natural gas is a fossil fuel, and along with the climate impact of burning it, the reliability of supply and cost looks unpredictable for the future. And worst of all – natural gas-burning cook stoves, furnaces and fireplaces are dangerous for human health. There are strong links between gas burning appliances in homes and respiratory issues such as asthma and even cancer. This is part of the reason why natural gas heating is being phased out of homes.

Heating a house during a power outage

The first big thing to reconcile about giving up my wood stove is not being able to heat my house during the somewhat common power outages that comes with life in the woods of Quebec. But a game-changing advance in EVs can now offer me that heat security with what is called 'bidirectional charging'. Some electric cars can now reverse the power flow allowing your car to power your house during service disruptions. That one fact alone opened the door to this inner dialogue you are witnessing.

Another biofuel-burning home heating system with a nice flickering flame would be a pellet stove, however most require power to operate. Here are a few examples of pellet stoves that operate with no power, though there may be even more available now. 

How much heat does an electric fireplace produce?

Electric fireplaces are effectively just space heaters, so they do not provide even close to the heat output that you would get from a wood stove. On a standard 120-volt power supply you would be limited to about 1,500 Watts, which produces between 4,000 and 5,000 BTUs. In a code-built house, you could heat a room around 400 to 500 hundred square feet with that much output.

With some wiring modifications to provide 220-volts, you can get a higher-end model and increase the output to as much as 3,000 Watts, so basically double.

If you build to Passive House levels of efficiency, you could heat an entire home with an electric fireplace, and many models feature thermostatic controls along with fan-assisted heat distribution. But for a standard home this would really just be a supplemental heat source for added comfort.

Are electric fireplaces realistic looking?

Under close scrutiny, you would really need to have just fallen off a turnip truck to not recognize you are looking at a fake fire. But do you need to look that close? The same can be said of gas fireplaces. When my wood fire is dying it's just a pile of glowing embers, but I love it just the same, and at that stage it looks like a gas fireplace on low. I've even stuck a few candles in my wood stove to help wean myself off the look of fire when summer comes, so I’m already practicing self-deception.

Even gas stoves look fake when you look close, but you learn to appreciate it for what it is. The motion of a flickering fake-flame out of the corner of your eye will be pleasing, full stop. And what I find to be a real bonus is that they can be operated giving just the light, so you can use it in summer as well.

Are electric fireplaces efficient?

All electric heat generation offers the same efficiency, which is effectively 100% conversion of power to heat. So an electric fireplace is as efficient as an electric furnace, a boiler heating radiators, electric baseboard heaters, cook stoves, hair dryers or even your toaster. Read more here about why you should heat your house with electricity.

More efficient than an electric fireplace or any source of electric heat would be an electric heat pump, as a heat pump is 3 times more efficient than other heat sources. We love heat pumps, but they don’t have flickering flames and they don't radiate heat directly towards you. In a perfect world you would have both.

Personally I like to keep a cooler house, and when I sit and relax I'm in front of my fire where I get that direct source heat. So an output of 1200-1500 Watts is fine with me. That is just my own preference, and I recognize that it conflicts with a lot of the writing I do, such as here where I describe in great detail how to design a home for thermal comfort and then live the complete opposite.

We live in an age where thermal comfort and temperature consistency is expected in homes, and where variables in air temperatures or surface temperatures are considered unacceptable for designers or builders. So we are all used to expecting consistance temperatures in our home, and receiving it. Almost all homes and cars have A/C now, so we really have come to like our creature comforts.

I recognize that my personal  lifestyle preferences are at odds with most people, as well as the topics I talk and write about. But the bonus is that I keep my heating bills lower with a cooler house, and I thoroughly enjoy the direct heat from my fire when it's time to put my feet up.

The cost and of electric fireplaces in USD

Electric fireplaces have a pretty wide variety of styles and cost, as well as available features and complexity of installation. Unlike wood or gas fireplaces, they have no requirement of chimneys, gas lines or ventilation, so installation costs are much lower. Here is a general breakdown:

Wall-mounted or freestanding units: $200–$800

These are the ones you may pick up online or at a local box store. The entry level models often look like a small cast iron stove that you just pull out of the box and plug it into a wall. Typically they can offer you a heater option or just the lighting visual, and a variable speed fan to distribute heat. Wall mounted units are similar to a wall mounted flat screen TV and are a pretty easy DIY install.  

Built-in or recessed models: $1000–$2,500 and up

These are designed to be installed flush into a wall, often during renovations or new builds. They will at least require a modest amount of framing and drywall work to create a pocket or cavity in which the unit can sit.  While some are plug-in models, many recessed units can also be hardwired offering a more permanent, upscale finish. These often mimic the clean look of a gas fireplace and are a favorite for minimalist interiors. Some will offer higher heat output and require higher wattage.

High-end designer models: $3,000 and up

This is where they start to get fancy. High-end electric fireplaces often combine recessed installation with premium aesthetics and features. Some features include ultra-wide panoramic flame beds, more realistic looking embers, smart home connectivity, multi-colour LED effects, dual-zone heating, and even crackling sound effects. These are designed to be focal points in luxury homes or commercial spaces. Designer models are more likely to offer greater heat output, meaning the 220-Volt versions that offer up to 3,000 Watts of heating.

So that's all I have to say about that. I'm trying to convince you this is a better option than wood, and myself in the process. I think I've succeeded with me at least. If anyone has one and loves it, please back me up on this in the comment section.