We get asked this a lot – will my gas fire cost me a lot of money to run? It’s a valid question. No matter how convenient and good looking your gas fire is, if it’s going to chew through gas at an exuberant rate then you’re not likely to turn it on very much.
Here’s the thing – not all gas fires are the same.
Much like cars have a number of factors that determine how much petrol they need to run on, gas fires are the same. There are, of course, the inefficient ones that give gas fires a bad rap. Then there are the clever, technologically advanced ones that surprise people when they find out how little they cost to run.
The biggest difference between the inefficient and the highly efficient gas fires is the way they are flued and how they bring in (and take out) the air used for combustion.
Open-fronted gas fires use the room air to burn which makes them less efficient. On the other hand, fires that use sealed combustion don’t need any air from your home. They draw the air from outside the house in one flue, and expel the combusted air outside through another flue. Less energy is wasted and there’s no risk of any gas smell or exhaust in the home.
This is known as a Direct Vent System and it can make a fire up to 95% efficient – compared to an open-fronted fireplace at around 45%.
We could talk more about the technology that makes all the difference to your wallet, but we think it’s better for you to hear it from our customers.
We surveyed Escea customers who had (within the last 2-5 years) replaced a wood fire with an Escea gas fire. To qualify for the survey they also had to now be using their gas fire in the same way they used their previous wood one. You can see the results in the infographic below: