Gas Logs - A Convenient Alternative to Wood

I was never very impressed with the thought of having gas logs in my fireplace.  I always felt like they looked exactly like a bunch of fake logs that flickered and glowed and gave the appearance of, well, a fake fire.  If you want the appearance of real wood burning in your fireplace then put real logs in the firebox and light 'em up.  If you want a gas heater in place of your fireplace, then by all means, install a gas heater.  Why try to make it look like logs burning.  Well, as with so many other things in my life, my wife had a different take on the subject and as is so often the case, my theory proved to be wrong in her eyes and we now have a beautiful set of gas logs in our fireplace.

After having a gas line run to our fireplace and spending a couple of hours unpacking and installing our new gas logs, I must admit they look more realistic than I would have imagined.  Not like the real thing, mind you, but close enough to pass for real with a fleeting glance.  This is my first experience with this modern convenience and I now will confess to the fact that they are growing on me.  I have always been around and used wood burning fireplaces and was always mostly satisfied with the result of a rip-roaring fire.  While I would not put this gas fireplace I now use quite in the same category as a real fire when it comes to producing heat, it does emit enough heat for you to stand in front of and warm up on a chilly day.

I still miss a real fire sometimes.  I kind of liked the slight smell of smoke and burning wood that always seemed to be so welcoming when arriving home on a cold winter evening.  I also enjoyed stirring the coals with a poker to get the logs free burning again and still miss the crackling and popping of a real fire.  No matter how realistic those gas logs may appear to be, they can never replace the nice feeling that always appealed to my senses of smell and hearing.

However, there are several things I do enjoy about my gas logs.  It is nice to walk over and turn the dial and have the fire instantly lit.  Not quite the same satisfying feeling I used to get with starting a real fire, but definitely convenient.  No more cutting, splitting, stacking and hauling wood.  Wow, that part I definitely do not miss.  I will confess that I have mostly purchased my wood in recent years so it wasn't quite as much work as I made it sound, even though I was still stacking and carrying it into the house.  There is also no mess from traipsing through the house with a pile of wood in my arms and no more cleaning ashes from the fireplace.  After it is all said and done, the gas logs in my fireplace are nice, but, to be perfectly honest, they are not as enjoyable as a real live honest to goodness rip-roaring wood burning fire.