Built a new house - came with a weak Lennox LP fireplace

We moved in to our new house last October. It came with a Lennox LP fireplace which barely puts out any heat. It has a blower, but that does little to send heat out in to the room. My wife and I are looking at replacing it with either a wood stove (KozyHeat, Napoleon, or FPX) or a more effective LP unit. Dollar for dollar... are we better off going with wood or LP?

I was under the impression that LP was not going to put out the same heat as a quality wood unit. I certainly like the idea of not chopping/cutting wood, but I don't like the idea of paying $600 month to fill the LP tank (last year was $500/month in the winter and we didn't even use the fireplace... just the furnace).

Basically, we're looking for a better way to heat our great room and rooms furthest away from the furnace. It costs $500/month to run the furnace in the winter. Can we get something that costs about the same to operate but heats the home more effectively?

Thanks!

Maybe you should look into a pellet stove if you don't like chopping/cutting wood.

Using "zone heat" will be more effective than running the whole central system, but wood or pellet heat would probably be more economical in your area.

Which is more important to you - convenience and comfort or efficiency and economics?

Gas will be more convenient and comfortable with simple thermostat operation, but if you don't mind a little more effort, wood or wood pellets will do a great job at a lower cost per BTU.

By the way, the time is running out for the federal tax credit on wood and pellet stove installations.

Thanks for the reply. We went with a KozyHeat Z42. It gets installed next week.