The age old question came up today while I was at lunch with a few workmates. They were talking about different forms of heating, and we got into a debate about weather a fireplace or a heater of some kind was best for heating your home. We are all certified heating and air conditioning specialists. I thought I should mention that part. But anyway, it was shocking to see that as certified heating and air conditioning specialists, we couldn’t really come up with a definitive answer to that question! Of course fireplaces have their perks as well as heaters. It all depended really on what type of heating you have with your heater to decide if a fireplace is better or not. When it comes to central heating, a fireplace may be a bit better in terms of energy use. However when it comes to actual whole home heating, the central heating system wins hands down. But when you want to compare a fireplace to say something like a space heater…then the fireplace would win out and be the best method of heating. A fireplace can achieve whole room heating, but not whole home heating. So really, we decided by the end of our lunch that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. Fireplaces and heaters both have their benefits. End of story. We paid our bill and headed back to the heating and air conditioning company where we work. Funny enough, I had a job when I got back to repair a fireplace! How ironic was that?