Help me learn and decide on a fuel type and insert, if any

[seashine]

I'm new (again) to considering a fireplace insert and trying to learn more to make the best decision.
I have a small 1940s house in Seattle, WA with a main living area above a daylight basement. Gas heat throughout the house, 1400 sq ft, total. The fireplace is in the living room on the main level above the always chilly finished daylight basement.
We've never used the fireplace. I'd like to be able to use the fireplace for "coziness," family bonding (my tween/teen kids still like to hang with their parents), supplemental heat during power outages (a couple per year usually, but never a big impact).
If I get a wood burning fireplace insert, what does that mean in terms of wood acquisition (where/how/cost), storage (where outdoors/indoors), and burning, safety, cleaning, prep for next use, end of season care/maintenance? I need a "how to use a fireplace insert" for a TOTAL beginner.
If I get a gas fireplace insert, what do I need to know in terms of safety/risks.
I received a quote from my nearest (most recommended, possibly most expensive) vendor in 2019 for a Valor G3 gas insert for $7115. That was too much to spend for ambiance/supplemental heat.
What advice would you offer to mean in terms of gas vs. wood insert....or to just skip, because I'm lucky enough to have reliable low-cost heat already?

 

[GG Woody]

The other day I read in these forums something along the lines of "Burning wood is a lifestyle"
It's true, I do it because I like to, and it's cozy, and to save money. I do have a very efficient gas furnace and heat pump backup.
The truth is there isn't much money to save, but I enjoy the work, the chainsaws, the cozy, and the self reliance.
If you go for wood you need to enjoy the wood/outdoors part of it as much as the cozy part of it. Burning wood is one of the best parts of fall, winter, and spring.
Gas... very little safety/risks if you get a good install.
If I were to consider gas I may also consider electric (I am a gas fitter)
If I were to choose a gas fireplace it would have to have the burning sand or colored beads, I just don't enjoy the fake burning log, I'd watch the fireplace channel before that!

 

[EbS-P]

Wood takes 2 years after it’s split and stacked to be able to burn. Where you get it and how much it costs that a local market. It’s expensive for a bonding time. Cost assuming everything goes perfectly I’m guessing it will cost 6-8k to be professionally installed. Then you really need a wood shed. And you will find a reason to buy a chain saw and all the PPE.

Is it cozy sure. Novelty has worn off for us and now it’s just a chore kids make fun of me for insisting we keep the stove going. I like it. Our heat pump is under sized and a cold spell could easily be 300$ electric bill. But I’m still not saving money because now I have two stoves for two fireplaces. Up side is the house is now 78 instead of 68 in the winter. We burn a little more than a full cord.

 

[GG Woody]

Wood takes 2 years after it’s split and stacked to be able to burn. Where you get it and how much it costs that a local market. It’s expensive for a bonding time. Cost assuming everything goes perfectly I’m guessing it will cost 6-8k to be professionally installed. Then you really need a wood shed. And you will find a reason to buy a chain saw and all the PPE.

Is it cozy sure. Novelty has worn off for us and now it’s just a chore kids make fun of me for insisting we keep the stove going. I like it. Our heat pump is under sized and a cold spell could easily be 300$ electric bill. But I’m still not saving money because now I have two stoves for two fireplaces. Up side is the house is now 78 instead of 68 in the winter. We burn a little more than a full cord.

78 is so much nicer than 68 on a cold day... 68 is nice on a hot summer day...

 

[stoveliker]

I agree with all of the above.

A few other things to note:
If you do a gas fireplace, do *not* use "ventless" -it's not ventless but vents the combusion products into your home. Water and CO2 - if everything is right. Or water and CO (poison!) if not. Not worth the risk imo.

If you do anything, do be sure to get smoke and CO detectors on each floor and in the hallway outside of bedrooms.

If you work for your wood (rather than buy it) you can get buy having a $200 chainsaw, and a $100 Fiskars splitting axe in equipment. That's what I have. And a wheelbarrow.
The wood storage cost can be minimal by putting 2x4s on cinderblocks, stacking on top (best to have 5 ft ones sticking up from the holes in the cinderblocks to make sure nothing rolls off the stacks), and have e.g. corrugated metal on top (held down by more cinder blocks). You want the wood off the ground and out of the rain. 2 year, but if you're only having fir, then having it split, stacked, covered before summer you may be fine in one year.

Safe burning has to do with a lot, but mostly with dry wood. Wet wood robs you of BTUs that are used to evaporate the water in the wood, and results in creosote deposition in your chimney which means a significant chimney fire risk.

An insert will have to have an insulated liner in your fireplace chimney; the cross section of the fireplace flue is too large for a chimney. The liner needs to be insulated because of code (=safety; you're unlikely to have 1" of space between the outside brick of your chimney and any combustible for an outside chimney, or 2" for an inside chimney), and because the insert will burn better if the chimney is kept nice and warm.
Do have your chimney cleaned and inspected before putting a liner in.

Chimney cleaning: I'd get a sooteater and clean a few times per winter in your first two winters. That'll show you how clean you burn and what is needed. Do get a spring-time chimney sweep out to clean and inspect.

Insert care: if you burn properly, not much will be needed other than scooping out the ashes every now and then (with fir that'll be very little). Windows blackening is often a sign of poor burning (unless you have a catalytic combustor insert, where it can be part of normal operation). In spring I clean out all the ashes; if it gets humid from air in the flue, ashes can become corrosive.

There is a "how to start a fire" thread by begreen somewhere here that shows with pics (in a stove, but an insert is the same) how to start burning.

Finally, if you go insert (rather than gas), what is your chimney height? Too tall and the fire will be too vigorous (overfiring) and too short and you'll have trouble burning. The chimney is the engine of a stove or insert; it needs to be right for the stove to perform with ease and little hand-holding.

What is the floor plan? (Heat won't spread to all corners of the home easily, so you need to size the heat output of the appliance to the volume that is likely to benefit from it, so you don't cook yourself out of the cozy room.) Others will be able to recommend sizing better than me based on this.