My new home has a wood burning fireplace with a heatilator installed. It's fantastic, would totally recommend it. I think my wife loves it more than she loves me.

My last home had a wood burning fireplace but no blower/fan. It was pretty, but was a net heat loss.

New fireplace really cranks out the heat, especially once you have some coals going. Variable rate fan means you can set it to minimal flow (and almost no sound) to full speed with high flow rate and somewhat noisier. Not sure about how efficient it would be with gas, but check out this site for more info -

http://www.heatilator.com/index.asp

__________________
Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon