LOTS! We spoke to four of Winnipeg's leading fireplace and wood stove retailers/installers and got the low down on the latest. Fireplaces seem to be more popular than ever these days and fireplace design is exploding (not literally!) with all kinds of new features, both esthetic and practical.

The future of gas fireplaces is no longer restricted
to rectangular boxes!

     On the practical side, Kerry Johnson of Embers Fireplaces and More carries a unique gas fireplace with a built-in fan, thermostat and remote control. Made by Vermont Castings, the Majestic Comfort Control System allows the flame and fan to be raised and lowered manually by remote enabling you to control the temperature of the room from your seat. Or, set the thermostat and it will respond to the temperature in the room, automatically, keeping it constant to the setting. You can also get this system in a free-standing stove. On the more esthetic side of wood stoves, Osburn puts out a new bay window stove with a viewing area that is huge relative to older stoves -- now you can really see that wood burn!

     Dave Hoban of Prairie Fireplaces Ltd. says that "gas fireplaces have overtaken wood stoves in popularity recently because more people are putting 'feature walls' in their homes rather than adding sunrooms." Air quality was a big issue for installation of fireplaces until direct venting was developed. This system solves the problem in a modern home where there are several systems vying for use of air. Oil stoves are becoming popular again in remote rural areas. "Oil is clean, cost effective, easy to get and they've come a long way in technology," Hoban says.

Fireplaces have now become architecturally unique
and interior designers love them!

     Another interesting item on the practical side of things is a much needed fix for those old, drafty brick fireplaces that were built into homes in the 60's and 70's. "Wood or gas inserts fit right into the opening of your brick fireplace," says Dave Neufeld of Hearth Products International. "The new fireplaces are about 80% efficient in bringing heat into your room -- the old brick ones sucked most of your heat right up the chimney and the only thing you could do then, was seal the chimney to stop the heat loss. Now you can install a wood or gas insert that is heat efficient -- we just run a liner right up the chimney which brings the heat back into your room." BIS Panorama and Ultra make energy efficient zero-clearance fireplaces with large glass fronts that can heat up to 2000 sq. ft. You can actually run furnace ducting from these fireplaces and heat the rest of your home that way. This is best done in a new-home build so that proper ducting can be put in place from the start.

     Now, when it comes to what's new in fireplaces on the esthetic side of things, Flame & Comfort really heats up the scene! Dave Rousseau says "the future of gas fireplaces is no longer restricted to rectangular boxes!" Until now, fireplaces were metal boxes, but Heat-n-Glow (the progressive fireplace manufacturer that Flame & Comfort represents) has developed a ceramic fibre mould that allows the firebox to be any shape or size! Fireplaces have now become architecturally unique and interior designers love them! At time of writing, Flame & Comfort is displaying a diamond-shaped fireplace that sits four feet off the floor but the future will bring many different shapes and sizes that can simply be embedded in a wall or sit flush on the floor and have fire inside. Venting restrictions have changed making this all possible.

There's big news inside the firebox, too -- the logs and embers
are the burners and the flame comes through the log
making it look like a real wood fire.

     There are fabulous new "see-through" fireplaces which look just like a window when they're not fired up. Placed into an exterior wall of the home they allow viewing from inside and/or out! They are also being used in commercial buildings - two McDonald's restaurants in town are using this type of fireplace. There is also a downward-venting see-through fireplace that allows the venting pipe to go below the floor and out. Using this kind allows the fireplace to sit on the floor anywhere without having to see a chimney or pipe of any kind. And, there's big news inside the firebox, too. In the past, all gas fireplaces had to have burners on which the "logs and embers" were placed -- the flame burned around them. Now, the logs and embers are the burners and the flame comes through the log making it look like a real wood fire. Taking it even a step further is a new combination electric/gas burner which allows the embers to glow electrically leaving more gas output for the log flame. That simple idea gives you a lot more flame and fire output for your gas dollar and it's much more dramatic because the fire is larger.

     Fabulous new designs, great energy efficiency and cost efficient, too, today's new fireplaces and wood stoves are enough to warm your heart as well as your hearth!