When logs are burnt in a wood burning fireplace or stove, or when natural gas is burnt in a gas fireplace, byproducts are produced as a result of the combustion process.

The processes within both wood burning and gas fireplaces are centered around an real flame that burns the fuel (either wood of gas) and produces heat, light and other byproducts.

Burning of wood in a fireplace produces smoke (quite a lot if the wood isn’t burning properly), and also releases other gases and particles. Over time, these can be seen as soot around a fireplace, up the chimney and on the glass door of a wood stove.

Vented gas fireplaces also produce gases as a byproduct of the combustion process, but can be much less visible than those produced by burning wood.

These byproducts produced by burning wood and gas are unwanted, and need to be vented out of your home for safety reasons.

(If you’d like to know more I’ve discussed how smoke and gases can be bad for your health.)

In comparison to wood burning and gas fireplaces, electric fireplaces don’t have a real flame. Instead, they have a heating element located within the appliance that warms up the air in your room.

There is no combustion process in an electric fireplace. With no flame and no fuel, there are no byproducts produced that need to be removed from home.

Therefore, electric fireplaces don’t require any form of vent, chimney or flue. They can be placed in either your existing open fireplaces or in numerous locations across your home (where there’s a plug socket nearby!)