Three fireplaces, one showroom floor, three completely different jobs. Here is how we help people work out which one they are after, before they spend the money.
There is a particular kind of winter evening on the Coffs Coast that a fireplace is made for. The southerly comes in off the water, the house takes on that damp cold it only gets near the ocean, and everybody goes looking for the heater. What people are buying when they walk into our showroom is the end of that. Warmth, and a fire worth sitting near. Not kilowatts.
The trouble is that almost everyone walks through our door asking the same question, which is which one is best. It is a fair question and it has no answer, because a wood fireplace, a gas fireplace and an electric fireplace are not three versions of the same product. They are three different tools that happen to sit beside each other on a showroom floor and all make a flame. Which one is right for you comes down to what you need it to do, and that is worth working out before you fall in love with a firebox. Get it wrong and you end up with a good looking fire in the corner that never quite warms the room, or a heater you are frightened to run because of what it does to the gas bill.
The short version
- Wood for whole home warmth, gas for heat on demand in one room, electric for the look of a fire.
- Work out what you want to heat and why, before you pick a fuel.
- There is no reticulated natural gas anywhere on the Mid North Coast, so every gas fireplace here runs on LPG.
- Not sure which one suits your place? Call Coffs Gas Company on (02) 6652 2411.
Which fireplace heats a home best?
A wood fireplace, which most people around here still call a wood heater, heats a home better than anything else in the showroom, because it is the only one of the three built to hold temperature across an entire house for hours on end rather than warm the room it is standing in. A gas fireplace wins on convenience and speed. An electric fireplace wins on looks, on cost to install, and on the fact that it will go anywhere.
Where it gets interesting is everything that headline comparison leaves out, which is what each one asks of you and of your house. We stock all three, so if you already know which way you are leaning, head straight to our woodfire heaters, gas fireplaces or electric fireplaces.
| Wood fireplace | Gas fireplace | Electric flame fire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is built to do | Heat a whole home | Heat a room, quickly | Look like a fire |
| How long you run it | All day, if you want | A few hours at a time | As long as you like |
| What it needs from you | Wood, and a flue swept every year | A service on a schedule | Next to nothing |
| What it needs from the house | A flue, and a floor that can take the weight | A flue for a gas log fire, and LPG | A power point |
| Best suited to | People home during the day, cold houses, hinterland blocks | People who want warmth at the push of a button | Apartments, rentals, second living rooms |
Start with two questions, not three products
Before you look at a single unit, work out what you are trying to heat and why you want a heater at all. Once you can answer those two, the right product is usually obvious, and it is often not the one people came in for.
What are you trying to heat?
Decide whether you are heating one room or the whole house, because that single answer rules out two thirds of the showroom. A small unit at Park Beach is a different brief to a four bedroom place on acreage out towards Bucca with high ceilings and a cold hallway. A heater sized for a bedroom will never keep up with an open plan living, dining and kitchen area, whatever the brochure says.
Why do you want a heater?
Some people want to stop being cold. Some people want a hearth to sit around on a winter night. Both are good reasons to buy a fireplace and they point at different products. There is a third reason almost nobody walks in with and a fair few walk out with, which is damp. Say the real one out loud and the rest of the conversation gets a lot shorter.
Wood fireplaces: the one built for the whole house
A wood fireplace is what you buy when the problem is a cold house rather than a cold room. It is our biggest seller by a distance, which is why we usually have 30 to 40 woodfire heaters on the floor. There is also no better feeling than a wood fire going on a wet July night, and you will not convince us otherwise.
Built to run all day
You light it in the morning and it stays going. There is no thermostat clicking on and off and no running cost ticking over in the back of your mind. It is the reason people who are home through the day keep coming back to wood.
A modern fireplace is nothing like an old open fire
A modern slow combustion fireplace is far more efficient than the open brick fire most people picture, and the gap is not close. What people mean by a wood burning fireplace today is a sealed firebox with a door and a flue, not an open hearth. The Australian Government’s Your Home guide notes that with an open fireplace up to 90 per cent of the heat goes up the chimney, and rates open fires as the least efficient wood heating method there is. A modern slow combustion fireplace is a different appliance entirely.
The rules have moved a long way too. NSW EPA regulations require every new solid fuel heater sold in the state to have “at least 60 per cent efficiency and no more than 1.5 grams of particle emissions per kilogram of fuel burnt”. If a heater does not meet that, we are not legally allowed to sell it to you, so everything on our floor complies as a matter of law rather than as a sales point.
The moisture thing nobody mentions
Wood heat dries a house out, and in this region that matters more than people expect. A closed up house through a wet Coffs winter can go musty in a fortnight, and plenty of our customers tell us the place feels drier and smells better long before they notice the temperature.
The comparison behind it is worth knowing. A wood fire and a flued gas fire both send their combustion products, water vapour included, straight outside. An unflued portable heater does not. NSW Health notes that when gas fuel is burnt, air pollutants and water vapour are also produced, that with an unflued heater “moisture build-up can occur in the room you are heating”, and that this “may lead to the growth of moulds and dust mites”. That does not make a portable heater a bad appliance and we sell plenty of them. It does mean that if damp is already one of your problems, wood has a real edge, and a flued gas fire beats a portable one.
What does a wood heater ask of you in return?
Wood, somewhere to keep it dry, and a flue that gets looked after. A neglected flue builds up creosote and can become a real fire risk inside a single season, which is why we recommend a chimney and flue clean once a year on every woodfire heater we install. Splitting your own wood is optional these days. There are plenty of people delivering it around Coffs now.
Gas: convenience, and a running cost that surprises people
A gas fireplace gives you heat at the push of a button with no wood to chop, stack or carry inside. The trade off is that it is a few hours a night appliance, not an all day one, and that is the part people are least prepared for.
Press a button and it is on
You get heat within a minute or two of walking in the door, with no kindling, no ash bucket and no waiting for a firebox to come up to temperature. That is the whole appeal and it is a strong one. For anyone getting on a bit, or anyone who simply does not want the job of running a fire, a gas fireplace is a very easy life. Our gas fireplaces and gas heaters cover both the built in gas log fire and the portable units.
The bit that catches people out
Gas heaters get through more gas than most people expect, and it is the single thing our customers are most surprised by. Run one all day, every day through a cold snap and you will feel it on the bill, because here you are buying LPG by the bottle rather than drawing off a mains connection.
That is not a reason to avoid gas. It is a reason to buy gas for the job gas is good at, which is warming the room you are sitting in for the evening. If you want the house warm from breakfast to bedtime, we will point you at the wood heaters, and we would rather do that before you buy than after. Our post on everything you need to know about gas heaters goes into how the different gas units compare.
Every gas log fire has to be flued
The realistic flame units, the ones that look like a wood fire, all have to be flued. They use a power flue to draw air in from outside and push the exhaust gases straight back out, which is what keeps the combustion products out of your living room. Portable gas heaters are a different category with their own rules, and NSW Health is worth reading on using unflued gas heaters safely if you are running one.
Electric flame fires: bought for the look, and that is fine
An electric fireplace will take the edge off a small room, but it will not heat a house, and most of our customers who buy one still run the air conditioner when they want real warmth. What they are buying is the ambience, and it is a lovely thing to sit in front of. It is just not a heating system, and any electric versus gas fireplace comparison that suggests otherwise is measuring the wrong thing.
What it wins on outright is that it asks nothing of the building. No flue, no gas, no roof penetration, no site check for floor loading. Where a conventional indoor fireplace is impossible, an electric flame fire is often the only fire you can have, and it costs nothing to install because it plugs into a power point.
Why the three are almost impossible to compare on paper
Each type is sold in a different unit of measurement, so there is no honest apples to apples number to line them up with. Gas is rated in megajoules, electric is rated in kilowatts, and wood heaters are sold by house squares.
That is not marketing sleight of hand, it is just how each industry has always done it. It does mean that if you are asking what size fireplace do I need, no online calculator is going to settle it, and a straight gas versus wood output comparison will mislead you. Room dimensions, ceiling height, how open the plan is, how well the place is sealed and which way it faces all move the answer further than the number on the sticker does. If you would rather not guess, get in touch and we will size it with you.
What living on the Coffs Coast changes
Two things change the decision here and neither turns up in a national buying guide. There is no reticulated natural gas anywhere on the Mid North Coast, so every gas appliance runs on LPG, and the coast and the hinterland are cold in two different ways.
There is no natural gas here, so everything runs on LPG
Coffs Harbour has no reticulated natural gas, and neither does anywhere else we service. The NSW Government’s gas networks reporting sets out where the state’s distribution networks actually run. On this coast the network covers the Hunter, Newcastle, the Central Coast and the Illawarra, and the next one north of that is Tweed Heads. The whole Mid North Coast sits in the gap, Grafton and Dorrigo included.
In practice that means every gas fireplace across our service area runs on LPG, and an appliance bought as a natural gas unit has to be converted before it can be connected. It also means bottles, and somewhere sensible to put them, which we sort out as part of the job through our LPG supply and delivery.
The coast and the hinterland are two different climates
A beachfront place at Sawtell and a property up at Dorrigo need different things. Down here the salt air is what shortens the life of the metalwork, and it is usually the rain cap on top of a flue that goes first rather than the flue itself. Up on the escarpment it genuinely gets cold, for months, and the conversation shifts from taking the chill off to keeping a whole house warm through a Dorrigo winter.
Plenty of people come in for gas and leave with wood
It happens most weeks, and it is the clearest sign that the fuel is the last decision rather than the first. Someone arrives set on a gas log fire because a mate has one, and by the time we have talked through what they are trying to heat, they have worked out they want the house warm from breakfast time and not just the lounge room after dinner. They go home with a wood heater.
It works the other way too. People come in certain they want a wood fire because that is what they grew up with, then admit they are out of the house from seven in the morning until six at night and nobody is there to feed it. There is no right answer, only the one that suits how you live.
Choosing a fireplace with Coffs Gas Company
We have been selling and installing heating in Coffs Harbour since 1982, and we are still family owned. What we can offer that most places cannot is all three types side by side in one of the largest showrooms in the region, so you can judge them in person instead of judging spec sheets.
We are not only a retailer. We install what we sell, we service and repair it afterwards, and we will service and install appliances you did not buy from us as long as they meet Australian Standards. All our gasfitting is carried out by licensed gasfitters. Jeff is a fully licensed plumber, drainer, gasfitter and roofer, and Jay, our Head Gasfitter, is qualified across the same four trades with 17 years on the tools. Every installation carries a workmanship guarantee. We are also one of very few businesses on the Coffs Coast that sweeps chimneys and flues, which matters more than it sounds when you are choosing a wood heater and want to know who looks after it in five years.
You can read more about our family and our team, or see what is involved in an appliance installation before you commit to anything.
FAQs
Is a wood fireplace the same as a wood heater?
In everyday use around here, yes, and you will hear both across the same conversation. Traditionally a wood fireplace meant an open hearth, while a woodfire heater, sometimes called a wood fireplace insert, is a sealed firebox with a door and a flue. These days most people use wood fireplace to mean either, and that is how we have used it on this page. The sealed version burns far less wood for the same heat and keeps the smoke going up the flue instead of into the room, which is why nearly everything we install now is a heater or an insert rather than an open fire. Ask for either and we will show you the same units.
Which fireplace is cheapest to run?
Wood, if you have a reliable and reasonably priced source of hardwood, because you are buying fuel by the tonne rather than by the megajoule. Gas sits in the middle and gets expensive fast if you run it like a whole home heating system rather than an evening one. Electric flame fires cost the least because they put out the least heat, so the comparison is not really fair. The useful way to think about it is cost per hour of warmth delivered, not cost per hour switched on.
How long does it take to get a fireplace installed?
Longer than most people assume, and longer again once the cold sets in, because a wood fire is a build rather than a delivery. There is the site check, the unit itself, and the fluing, which is the part that varies most. Book it over summer and it is a straightforward job. Book it in July and you wait through the coldest part of the year. That is why you hear us on the radio talking about fireplaces in January.
Can I put a fireplace in a rental or an apartment?
An electric flame fire, yes, in almost every case, because it plugs in and changes nothing structural. Anything gas or wood needs the owner’s permission and a flue, which rules it out for most tenants and a lot of apartments. If you are renting and want a real fire, the electric option is the practical one, and you can take it with you.
Do I need council approval to put in a wood heater?
Very likely yes. Installing a solid fuel heater in NSW needs an approval under section 68 of the Local Government Act, which sits separately from a development application, and whether you also need a DA varies by council and changes over time. Our patch covers several councils with different requirements. We lodge the paperwork with the council for you either way, so it is not something you need to chase yourself.
Can you install a fireplace I bought somewhere else?
Yes, provided it meets Australian Standards. We will look at what you have, check it can be installed safely and legally where you want it, and quote the installation and fluing. What we will not do is put in something that does not comply. If it is not right, it is not safe and it is not legal, and it is our name on the certificate.
I already own a natural gas fireplace. Can it be converted to LPG?
In most cases yes, and it is worth asking before you write off a unit you have brought up from Sydney or Melbourne. Because Coffs is LPG only, conversion is routine work for us rather than an obstacle. It is not a DIY job and it is not just a matter of swapping a jet. The appliance has to be certified for LPG, converted properly and then tested, and the work generates a Certificate of Compliance that we lodge and hand you a copy of.
See All Three Side by Side in Coffs Harbour
Choosing a fireplace off a website is guesswork. Standing in front of a wood fire, a gas log fire and an electric flame fire in the same room, seeing the size of the fireboxes and the build quality up close, is not. It is why most of our customers make up their minds on the showroom floor rather than online.
Bring three things and we can usually settle it in one visit:
- Your room dimensions.
- Your ceiling height.
- A rough idea of how many hours a day you want the heat on.
We will point you at the right one, even if the right one is the cheapest thing in the room.
And do it now rather than in the first cold week of the year, when everybody else rings at once.
Come and see us at 92 Industrial Drive, North Boambee Valley, call (02) 6652 2411, or send us an enquiry. We look after Coffs Harbour, Scotts Head, Dorrigo, Grafton and everywhere in between.
Written by the team at Coffs Gas Company.
Disclaimer: This article is general information only. Heater sizing, clearances, fluing and approval requirements depend on the specific appliance, the building and the council area, and every installation is assessed on its own facts. Always follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions, and have gas and solid fuel appliances installed by a licensed professional.
[REFERENCES]