What Is An Electric Fireplace?

Electric Fireplaces are such a common sight in so many homes nowadays, and they have become very popular for a number of reasons. But what if you do not have one and need to know what they are all about? Here we will explain fully and concisely exactly what an electric fireplace is, and its advantages and disadvantages compared to the traditional fossil fuel burning fireplace.

An electric fireplace is quite self explainatory. Yes, it is a fireplace, but instead of using coal, wood or natural gas, it uses electricity to power an electric heater to provide warmth and comfort to the room. Quite often now, electric fireplaces can be placed in the existing position of the old traditional fireplace, and plugged into a wall socket or hard wired into the mains supply. However, if the electric fireplace is placed in the original hearth, it can no longer be used by traditional methods. Electric fireplaces can be classed as ventless fireplaces, which is a fireplace that does not need any ventilation in order to operate.

There are now many electric fireplaces that not only heat the room they are situated in, but they also look very attractive because of flame effects that are often displaying when the heater is turned on. These electrical flame effects first began to be used in 1981, with Dimplex claiming to have made the very first realistic wood burning flame effect fireplace in the mid 1990’s.

There are many advantages to an electric fireplace, which comes as no surprise because they have become so popular. Electric fireplaces do not need chimneys to work, which means they are very flexible in terms of where they can be situated. They are also often very portable, and can be moved from room to room, or to an entirely different house. They are so much cleaner than a traditional fossil fuel burning fireplace, with no mess to worry about, and also no need to clean up the morning after or “make the fire” before you can enjoy some heat. They are also much safer than the traditional method, with most electric fireplaces now made from a cool touch material.

However there are some disadvantages to an electric fireplace. Depending on what the power rating is on the heater, they can be less efficient than traditional ones, because of the amount of electricity it needs to consume. They can also be quite expensive to buy compared to just a normal portable heater that would manage to do exactly the same job. And also, even though the flame effects are fantastic, they still do not recreate the beauty of real flames coming from a real fireplace, but there has to be a trade off somewhere!

Overall though, an electric fireplace can be a fantastic investment for you and your family, making your living room look more attractive, cleaner and less messy, providing heat and warmth through the coldest parts of winter.