Hey gurus,
My family and I have a central gas furnace, and while winters in Georgia rarely get absurd it's still expensive when you add up gas bills and electric. Our house is an open-concept ranch with a finished basement, but we are currently just living in the upstairs and doing laundry / guest room downstairs.
The house has a Desa International unvented fireplace that heats up the room about 10 degrees in 15 minutes. It's crazy! I'm interested because it's going to cost us a fraction of what it costs to heat the whole house, especially when we don't do most of our living in the whole house. We crack a window for air supply, turn on the fan to help with moisture, and run it only about 15-20 minutes at a time, which then warms the house for an hour or two without running our central heat. We have multiple CO detectors as well, and it's about a 1200 ft. room.
So, my question: 1.) We have two small daughters, and I'm far more interested in their health than in the money I can save, but of course I'd like both. There is a propane smell when we run it, and I've read that that is normal, but I wanted to check with the experts. Is this safe for my children (just running it early in the morning and during the evenings for about 1 hour per day total,) or are they breathing in gasses that are going to harm them?
I know there are lots of takes on these things, and we're planning on getting a wood-burning stove insert in the future, but I just wanted to check. Thank you!
My family and I have a central gas furnace, and while winters in Georgia rarely get absurd it's still expensive when you add up gas bills and electric. Our house is an open-concept ranch with a finished basement, but we are currently just living in the upstairs and doing laundry / guest room downstairs.
The house has a Desa International unvented fireplace that heats up the room about 10 degrees in 15 minutes. It's crazy! I'm interested because it's going to cost us a fraction of what it costs to heat the whole house, especially when we don't do most of our living in the whole house. We crack a window for air supply, turn on the fan to help with moisture, and run it only about 15-20 minutes at a time, which then warms the house for an hour or two without running our central heat. We have multiple CO detectors as well, and it's about a 1200 ft. room.
So, my question: 1.) We have two small daughters, and I'm far more interested in their health than in the money I can save, but of course I'd like both. There is a propane smell when we run it, and I've read that that is normal, but I wanted to check with the experts. Is this safe for my children (just running it early in the morning and during the evenings for about 1 hour per day total,) or are they breathing in gasses that are going to harm them?
I know there are lots of takes on these things, and we're planning on getting a wood-burning stove insert in the future, but I just wanted to check. Thank you!
