Im planning to replace my fireplace from gas to electric. The problem is that my house is an ancestral property and guess the kind of wiring. Were are looking for a more energy efficient for the system and hence planning to installing solar panels. My question is do I have to do a rewiring for my whole house to install an electric fireplace. I am planning to hire an electric fireplace installer, Stylish fireplace in Toronto to get the new fireplace installed. Before I hire them do I do an electric inspection. Open to ideas and suggestion.

Resistance electric heaters all have the same efficiency (= abyssmal). The only place something like that would have in an energy efficient home is as backup heat when the other systems needed repair or supplementary heat. An electric radiant floor would have the same efficiency as an electric fireplace, but would provide more comfort.

If you care about efficiency, warm the place with heat pumps, and install a picture of a fire (or a flat-screen TV and a DVD of a fire. :-) ) Even a so-so ductless air source heat pump would use only half the amount of electricity that an electric fireplace, and the better ones would use about 1/3 in a Toronto climate, provided that it's sized correctly for the loads.

lol DVD of a fire... nice... the psychological BTU value there!

Posted By James02 on 08 Dec 2015 08:23 PM
lol DVD of a fire... nice... the psychological BTU value there!

Yeah, but if displayed on a pre-1965 color TV it puts out as much heat as an electric fireplace! ;-)