Buying guide
Electric fireplaces in the Valley
No gas line, no chimney, no permit in most cases. Here is what an electric fireplace really does, where it fits in a Valley house, and the questions worth asking before you spend anything.
Why here
Why they sell so well in the Valley
Most of the electric fireplaces we sell go into houses that could not easily take anything else. A condo with no gas stub. A room on an outside wall with nothing above it to vent through. A rental where the tenant wants the look and fully intends to take it with them when the lease ends.
The install is an outlet and a bracket. No venting, no gas line, no combustion air, nothing to inspect afterward. That is the whole appeal. It is the one hearth product you can decide on a Saturday and be sitting in front of on Sunday.
The other half of our electric buyers already own a wood-burning fireplace and stopped using it years ago. The firebox is still there taking up a wall. An electric insert drops into that opening and gives it a job again without anybody going near the chimney.
- Gas lineNot needed
- VentingNone
- PowerStandard 120V outlet
- PermitUsually none, check your HOA
- InstallAn afternoon
No Burn Days
The rule that catches people out
Maricopa County declares No Burn Days through the winter, most often in December and January when cold air settles over the Valley and holds the smoke down. On one of those days you cannot burn wood in a fireplace, a chimenea or an outdoor fire pit. Residential fines run from $50 to $250 depending on how many times you have been cited.
What stays legal on a No Burn Day is gaseous fuel, and that includes gas logs. Electric sits outside the rule completely, because nothing is burning. If somebody wants a fire on Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve happens to be a No Burn Day, electric and gas both still work. Wood does not.
You can check whether a No Burn Day has been called on the county's Clean Air mobile app, or by calling 602-506-6400.
The options
The four shapes they come in
All four do the same thing. The difference is how much wall you are willing to open up.
Wall mounted
Hangs like a television, usually 30 to 70 inches wide. Surface mount takes an afternoon. Recessed sits flush with the drywall and looks built in, but the wall has to come open.
Insert
Drops into the opening of an existing masonry fireplace. The most common electric job we do. The chimney stays shut and untouched.
Media console
Firebox and television stand in one piece of furniture. No wall work at all. Good for a rental, or anywhere you are not ready to commit.
Built in linear
Long and low, framed into the wall during construction or a remodel. The one that reads as architecture rather than as an appliance.
The feature that matters here
The heat switches off
Every electric fireplace worth buying runs its flame independently of its heater. You get the light and the movement with no warmth at all.
That sounds like a small thing until you own one. It means the fireplace stops being a winter object. It runs in June at ten at night with the air conditioning going, and it costs about what a few light bulbs cost, because that is essentially what it is doing.
It is the first question to ask about anything on the floor. If the flame and the heater cannot be separated, you are looking at a space heater with a picture on it, and in this climate you will use it about nine weeks a year.
Before you buy
What to actually look at
A plug-in electric fireplace on a normal household circuit tops out at 1500 watts, which is roughly 5,100 BTU. Treat that as supplemental heat for something near 400 square feet and you will be happy with it. Anyone promising to heat a great room off one outlet is selling you something.
Judge the flame in a bright room, not in a dark showroom corner. Cheap units look convincing in the dark and look like a screensaver at two in the afternoon. The good ones hold up in daylight, which is when you will actually be looking at it.
If you want real heating capacity rather than atmosphere, that is a hardwired unit on its own circuit. Worth talking to an electrician before you buy rather than after.
- Power draw1500W ceiling on a 120V outlet
- CoverageAbout 400 sq ft, supplemental
- HardwiredMore heat, dedicated circuit
- FlameJudge it in a lit room
- ControlsRemote minimum, app and timer better
- DepthRecessed needs the wall cavity
Retrofit
Putting one into an old firebox
Fitting an electric insert into a masonry fireplace you no longer use is the most common electric job in the Valley, and it is straightforward. The insert goes into the opening, plugs in, and the damper stays shut. Nothing goes up the chimney because nothing is burning.
Seal the flue while you are at it. An open damper on a chimney nobody uses leaks conditioned air all summer, and that costs more over a year than the fireplace costs to run.
One note if your house is in central Phoenix rather than out here. The county runs a program that pays up to $2,000 toward converting a wood-burning fireplace to a gas log set, but it is narrow. The boundary runs roughly 16th Street to 67th Avenue between Dunlap and Camelback, the house needs active Southwest Gas service, and it is one per household. Mesa, Scottsdale and the rest of the East Valley fall outside it. Worth a look at maricopa.gov if you are inside that box. It will not apply to most people reading this.
Common questions
Before you come in
Do electric fireplaces need a chimney?
No. Nothing burns, so there is nothing to vent. That is why they can go on an interior wall, in a condo, or in a room with nothing above it.
Can I run one in summer?
Yes, and most people do. The flame runs with the heater switched off and draws about as much power as a few light bulbs.
Will one heat my house?
No, and no honest dealer will tell you otherwise. A plug-in unit is supplemental heat for roughly 400 square feet. Hardwired models on a dedicated circuit do more.
Are they affected by No Burn Days?
No. The county restriction applies to burning. An electric fireplace is not burning anything, so it can run on any day of the year.
Can I put one in my existing brick fireplace?
Usually yes, and it is the job we do most often. Bring us the width, height and depth of the opening and we will tell you what fits.
Do I need a permit?
For a plug-in unit, typically not. Recessed and hardwired installs can be different, and some HOAs have their own rules. Ask before you cut into the wall.
Tell us what you are after
Ask us about it
Send a photo of the wall, the patio or the cooler on the roof and we can tell you what fits before you drive out. No pressure and no sales call rota — you get an answer from the people behind the counter.
- We answerDuring store hours, by whichever way you got in touch
- We stockMost of what we sell, so you can take it home the same day
- We installOur own crew, across Mesa and the East Valley
They are all on the floor in Mesa.
Flame quality is impossible to judge from a photograph. Come and look at them lit. East Main between Ellsworth and Crismon.