Propane stove (fireplace)- good choice?

[FullCaliber]

Looking for opinions, hopefully based on experience...
My house has a large living room with vaulted ceilings and big openings on both ends to other rooms. There is a large open hearth wood burning brick fireplace taking up a whole wall. The opening is roughly 48"x32" so obviously very inefficient when I burn. Our home is heated by a heat pump so the fireplace is just a bonus/ambiance on cold days. The large room gets chilly though and I want to install something to pump some heat in there.
I am leaning towards a propane insert or even sliding a free standing one in there since the opening is so large. I considered wood but we're not too far south of the Pierce County clean air BS and I reckon soon enough all wood burning stoves will be banned.
Also since we're in Graham I don't have a natural gas supply line. This is less of a how cost efficient propane stoves are and more of a do you think it will be worth the hassle type question. I currently do not have any propane appliances or a holding tank but I have room for one.

[tdow]

I live in Graham as well and have both propane insert and range and both are great! We have an open floor plan with great room consisting of kitchen, dining area and living room and the insert works great to heat this area, only drawback is the back rooms don't get the benefit of the heat from the insert, probably because the thermostat is located in the hallway and once it gets the heat from the great room it shuts off all other heating from the heat pump/ furnace.
I have been thinking of replacing the propane insert with a newer wood stove (very clean burning and extremely efficient) mainly because I can burn any wood in case of SHTF and propane is no longer available to me.

[L_O_G]

Ever thought about getting a Certified wood burning insert?

[toys in the toybox]

Propane is a great option!!! It stores well, can be purchased late summer when it's cheapest and is one of the best energy sources to convert I to heat

Buy the tank, DO NOT rent one and buy bigger than you think you need as there are a few advantages to it

If ya still need info feel free to contact me at 360-280-0759. I used to work installing fireplaces and put our system together when we built our house

[leadcounsel]

I am in Pierce but just outside the wood burn ban zone. I was looking at an efficient wood burning stove and have considered them for a few years. So I'm in a similar situation.

I did not ever consider propane, so that's a different equation. Not sure I want a big bomb sitting outside my house...

Anyway, for wood, my time horizon and the hassle/inconvenience didn't make it worth while. I figured about 5-10 years for a "break even" from a financial point. And then there's weekends of gathering and splitting wood, or buying it, adding even more "costs." In the end, I passed on it. In 6 years here, we've had maybe a couple days of no power. I will not likely be in the house long enough to justify the expense and inconvenience. I look at it as a luxury item here, at the moment.

So factor your time line into the added costs.

[heymagic]

We put a propane fireplace in a few years back. It has been great, heats the house well, works when the power is out (without the fan) and the fan runs when the generator is hooked up. Costs about the same as the newer Cadets to run , we use it about 50 of the time with a heat pump. . We'll have one in our next house when we build (and a heat pump also).

[FullCaliber]

Thank you guys for the input. I plan on being in this house for many (20+) years to come so the long haul cost will work out, plus as I get older the idea of turning on the stove with a remote control is much more appealing than spending time splitting wood. The initial cost still looks like it will suck- those tanks aren't cheap, stoves are expensive, etc. My current fireplace does have a built in ash-dump with a clean out port in the garage so at least running the supply line through the brick will be simplified.
It appears that if I keep my tank under 125 gallons I can mount it close to the house too. The least appealing part to propane is one having one of those 500 gallon tanks taking up a large part of my yard...

[FullCaliber]

Ever thought about getting a Certified wood burning insert?

Yes, I've compared this to propane... so far propane is winning the argument for my needs. Part of it involves ease of use for my wife and also, my above mentioned belief that sooner or later these clean air regulations are going to get worse.

[toys in the toybox]

For a few extra dollars you can get a tank that you can bury...look ma, no tank