Unlike traditional fireplaces with a chimney where up to 80% of the heat produced can be lost out of your home, all of the heat produced from electric fireplaces is released into the room.

This means that electric fireplaces give off heat at 100% efficiency; much higher compared to other fireplaces in terms of the heat provided from the energy used.

Electric fireplaces however, are limited to what they can output due to the voltage of electricity provided to homes.

In general, a standard electric fireplace will produce an average of 4500BTUs, but can be found producing around 5,000BTUs, and even up to 6,000BTUs for some of the top-of-the-range electric fireplaces.

BTU stands for British Thermal Unit, the measurement used to represent how much energy it takes to produce heat

A 5000BTU electric fireplace will provide sufficient heat to warm a small to medium sized room.

An electric fireplace of this heat output is like having a hairdryer on the ‘high’ setting.

Some electric fireplaces will provide approximately double the heat output of standard ones, averaging 9,000-10,000BTUs. These would have more than enough output to heat any room in your home.