New Gas Fire Inset - worth it?

peterdm

Thought I would ask for some advice here. 

We moved into a house 6 months ago. Gas certificate mentioned leak at gas fire. We’ve had a gas engineer have a quick look and recommendation is to get whole new fire / inset. Cost likely to be around £500. 

Question is if people feel this is worth the expense. I’ve read some things about it has fires being phased out in coming years. 

Thinking it may be best to make a feature of fireplace and just rely on radiator with electric heater as back up. 

twopenny

As someone who went through the beast from the east with no central heating but did have gas fires I'd say keep it - new or old.

Currently no heating and freezing nights an electric fire is ok ish but a gas one would be cheaper to run and could be left on.

tacpot12

I would not spend the money to keep a gas fire that I didn't want. They are inefficient, as a lot of heat goes straight up the chimney, and when you are not using them, cold draughts come down the chimney. An electric heater or stove would be more efficient and less draughty. 
 

ThisIsWeird

It has to be an individual decision, Peter, based on the individual's factors.

I wouldn't be concerned about gas being phased out - that just cannot happen for waaaay over a decade, if even then. So that ain't a factor, I don't believe.

Things that are - just how much do you like your gas fire?! That's a biggie, 'cos they can be very lovely things. And, how often in winter could you shut your CH off (ie down to 'frost') and get away with heating just one room? If 'no prob', then that will also make the gas fire more cost-effective - you'd only be heating that room, and more directly for the occupants (I'd suggest there would be little in it if the CH is kept on just to heat one main room).

How efficient are modern gas fires? Most/many now are sealed off behind glass, and heat almost fully by convection? Not too bad in the efficiency stakes, I don't think. Compare the figure with a gas boiler running at, say, ~90%. (But surely other losses in the whole CH system, so unlikely to be anywhere close to that?)

If you really really want one, I wouldn't dismiss it, Peter.

ThisIsWeird

(Check out your local Facebook Marketplace and eBay - good chance you'll find many, barely-used units being removed, often swapped for log burners. On that note, could you get away with a free-standing 'log burner' style? These cost silly money new - between £1 and 2k - and often sell for ~£100. I bought one recently for just £80 - a lovely thing, because it was constructed from the exact same shell as the company used for their wood burners.)