Thanks for all that Whetu. Jude I will have to wait until Grant is home to tell you the running costs as I can't remember :oops:
We had a log fire but got sick of chopping and carting in wood (especially when cockroaches, white tail spiders and other critters came in with it). We replaced with gas as we have heat pumps at the other end but thought an alternative in a power cut might be useful and we like the look of flames.
Our lounge (with many windows) does not lend itself to an efficiently placed heatpump hence the need for something else.
We already had the hearth to place a free standing something on
Pellets are now widely available from an ever growing number of suppliers apparently.
A basement furnace would be good - but we haven't got a basement
Another reason for changing from gas (apart from the ever increasing cost) is our model is no longer serviced and parts are unavailable. Although we bought a well known brand (Masport) the company was sold, then resold, and spare parts are no longer available. We just had the man in to fix it as the gas lighter doohickey whatchamacallit wore out. He had to jack up a replacement using a bit from a Moffit oven with Grant providing some sort of override for the cutout bit built into it :roll: