Supplemental Heat on Switch

I've got a gas fireplace.  It's a simpler unit that is not very easy to get started. It's also in a position in our main room that we don't like. 

We're not attached to the "ambiance" of a fireplace but we are attached to a fireplace chase and mantel. We've had a few non-functional fireplaces in past houses that we always enjoyed - especially around the holidays - but my wife LOVES the warmth of a real wood fireplace.

We're debating moving it to a more central location for both design improvements, and also, while its out, either upgrading it to a more modern gas valve or even a whole new unit completely. 

We'd like to keep some sort of supplemental heat around, as our hydronic radiant slab is pretty slow to react, and doesn't do well on really cold nights. We often wake up to a cold house. 

The only other options I can think of would be:

1) Minisplit - less efficient on coldest mornings (single digits, teens) 

2) Wood Fireplace - Cheapest option, but my wife likely would not enjoy having to stoke a fire in the morning. (impacts interior and exterior air quality)

3) Smaller natural gas furnace - direct vent wall furnace? If we did this, we might considering building the fireplace chase to actually hold the furnace.

4) Upgrade our Existing Fireplace with a more automatic control switch. (impacts interior air quality)

5) Buy a newer, more efficient fireplace specifically designed with space heating in mind. 

In reply to pheller :

Pellet stove? An insert that fills the fireplace is expensive, but our mini unit wasn't terrible. I just saw it at rural king for an even grand yesterday, less than I spent when I bought mine. 

Obviously you'd need somewhere to store pellets, but it lights in 2 minutes, on low it burns for 10ish hours, and heats my 1700 square feet up in about half an hour from 64-70. 

While a wood-burning fireplace is a wonderful aesthetic element, they really do make lousy space heaters.  My vote would be for option #5, a high-efficiency gas fireplace which vents to the outdoors.  The highest efficiency ones can actually vent to the outdoors via PVC piping.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

An airtight fireplace insert with a fan moving air around the fire box can be an excellent space heater. I have extensive experience with two different airtight inserts, and both work extremely well.

Turboeric said:

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

An airtight fireplace insert with a fan moving air around the fire box can be an excellent space heater. I have extensive experience with two different airtight inserts, and both work extremely well.

Point taken, but the OP only references a "Wood Fireplace" option and does not address inserts.  And an insert removes, to some extent, the open feeling of a simple fireplace.

I don't have a chimney, so an fireplace "insert" wouldn't work.

You don't say what size, or how many BTU's, but I just put this heater in my shop.

It may or may not be suitable for your application, but I'm very happy with mine.

I bought the biggest one with the fan option for a little more than $200

The thing I like about it is, since I'm running it on propane tanks, if the power goes out in my house, it's portable so I can bring it in here to supplement the wood stove I have in the basement.

And it just occurred to me... I'm supplementing in the shop with an ancient electric furnace. The furnace is set to 10C and I turn on both on really cold days. The electric goes off at 10C, at which point I shut it off and the heater maintains temp no problem. At 30k BTU it would take too long to raise the temp in the cold shop.

I'm not much help since I'm a fireplace nut, but I'm a big fan of a good crackling fire.  When I was shopping for wood fireplaces, the sales people all told me "you know they're terrible at heating, right?"  I always told them yes I knew that.  I want to see it and hear it. I want to toast marshmallows with my nephews and put a dutch oven with some stew on the hearth.  And in all honesty, they do crank out significant heat after an hour or so of heating up the firebrick.  My whole stone chase and mantel/surround gets toasty warm.  Sure, most of the heat goes out the chimney, but I just don't care.  I hosted Thanksgiving at my house last year and it was 40 degrees.  The fireplace put out enough heat that we were opening windows.

Coming home from a long day at work and lighting a fire while I listen to Billie Holiday and enjoy a neat single-malt Scotch is a joy I wouldn't give up for anything. 

To your comment about polluting the inside and outside air, I don't stress about it.  If you're burning wood, you're simply burning biomass that spent the last 80 years removing CO2 from the atmosphere.  You're simply returning carbon back to the atmosphere from whence it came.  If that wood were out in a forest somewhere rotting, it is still realeasing the same CO2, just that it takes a few years instead of an hour.  If you're worried about the atmosphere, gas is not the wise choice, as it takes carbon that has been buried for billions of years a mile below the earth and releases extra CO2 into the biosphere.  Having said that, when I installed my fireplace I did include a gas firestarter (basically a piece of pipe with 40 pinholes drilled in it.)  I haven't plumbed gas to it yet, but I've used them before.  They're really nice because you can start the gas for 10 seconds to start a draft, then you can skip the paper and kindling and just toss a log on it.  30 minutes later you have enough log lit that it keeps going on its own.  Regarding the inside air, mine puts zero smoke in the house.  It's actually slightly disappointing since I do like the smell as well, but it's nice that I never smell the sooty smell often associated with a fireplace or stove.

I also have the benefit of being part of a family that owns a farm in PA and a farm in WV, so free firewood is always available to me for the cost of my labor.  If I had to buy firewood commercially it wouldn't represent a good BTU-per-dollar exchange.

If you're looking to upgrade, I have been super happy with my cheap-ass Superior WCT2036.  I think it was $400 two years ago but they're up to $900 now.  Awesome drafting, zero odor inside, lovely fireplace and I use it a lot.

We went ventless propane gas fireplace for us. It's a 36,000BTU unit tucked into the corner of the living room all pretty. We keep it turned as low as it'l go for normal use and adds a nice warmth that hea pumps/electric furnace just don' provide. If power goes out, I can crank it up and keep the house warm for a few weeks. 

Here's a potato photo from a few years ago:

Ok I'm back! 

So I found a local guy selling a HeatNGlo "Slim" which is only 16" deep. It's also newer than our model (which is 22" deep), with the automatic pilot and gas control valve. $250. 

I'm still really torn between going this route and going for a wood fireplace. Curtis's suggestion of finding a woodburning unit with a gas firestarter sounds awesome. It would meet my wife's need of "heat on a switch." 

How hard would it be to convert my Gas Fireplace to a Wood Fireplace? Is it just a matter of lining the interior of the wood chase to handle the heat, replacing or adding a chimney/flu and a new roof outlet? Is there any prep I could do in the design of the chase to make that conversion easier?