Electric Stoves

Electric stoves are stoves that produce heating energy by consuming electric energy as normal electric heaters, but additionally have a visualisation of burning flames or glowing coals and heating is typically optional. Electric stoves are still the most convenient, easy to operate, and least maintenance required source of heating for your house. Especially, they're highly appreciated in places where you can't install a wood stove or other kind of stove that requires any ventilation system, for rental properties, and for apartments.

There're three main types of electric stoves: electric fireplaces, electric stand-alone stoves, and electric logs. Electric fireplaces are more sophisticated units; they can be installed into existing openings of old fireplaces. They look similar to wood or gas models and there would be typically a choice of having a mantel and a firebox or having just a firebox that would fit into a custom-built mantel. Stand-alone electric stoves are made to repeat designs of wood and gas stoves as well; they're most convenient units as they don't require any installation hassle and can be set up anywhere and instantly ready to go. Electric logs are usually used to convert a wood fireplace into an electric fireplace. You just place them inside, plug the cord in, and the job is done. Electric logs can have different designs mimicking burning flames or glowing coals or some other burning effects.

Most of the units, whether it's an electric fireplace, electric stove, or electric logs, would have optional or standard heater. The type of a heater used in an electric stove can vary, depending on the model of a stove; it can be either a convection heater that steadily heats air around, a fan-heater that takes in cool air and blows it through a heating element, or a radiant heater that produces direct heat to the space around. Convection heaters are a popular choice for electric stoves as they're safe and can be left unattended for a long time.

There're several brands of electric stoves available on the Stoves Only website, but the most popular one is Dimplex, which is an undisputed leader in manufacturing electric stoves and fireplaces. You can find also such brands as Lancaster, Vermont Castings, and Vernon.

There're several benefits of using electric stoves. First of all, they're most convenient type of heating source: you don't need to worry about fire wood, pellets, or anything else related to fuel for burning – as long as you keep it plugged in, it's always ready to go. An installation process is much easier comparing to any other type of stoves, there is no need for ventilation or chimneys, temperature regulation is either completely automatic or just a turn of a knob, and maintenance is next to nothing. Electric stoves are very efficient, giving almost 100% of heat output (for comparison, gas stoves produce 80% of heat output and wood stoves produce only 60%). Unlike other types of fireplaces or stoves, you can enjoy watching realistic dancing flames even during hot summer nights as you don't have to use a heater. Visual effects mimicking fire have advanced so much in the recent years, that it can be hard to tell for sure which one is a real fire and which one is just a skilful imitation.

There are a few downsides of electric stoves that you should know and consider as well. Electric stoves depend on power supply and unlike wood or coal stoves, if you have a power outage, you won't be able to heat your house. Electric stoves are not normally used for heating big places, like workshops and such as it's not cost-efficient. But rather than that, electric stoves can be a perfect source of heat or a nice interior feature for your house or apartment.

You can see current listings for Electric Stoves here: