Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - With electrification coming to New York State, one fireplace store owner says demand is going up, especially for gas.
Keith Zaccarine of Countryside Stove and Chimney says it's been a busy time. "People are trying to get in gas fireplaces for new houses before they're pulling permits to try to get this stuff in before the madness starts," says Zaccarine. "People want to beat the deadlines, and everybody's worried about it, because they use our fireplaces and our stoves as a backup heat source when we do lose power. And we all know we lose power in Western New York, not all the time, but it happens. And the gas stove, the gas fireplace, it's not only a great things to sit around and enjoy, but it also functions as a backup heat source for everybody."
Zaccarine says there are worries about whether the state will ban the sale of gas appliances in the future. "The main focus people have is if they're starting with new construction, when is it going to switch over where there's no more gas allowed? Are they going to try to take my gas away from me? There's a lot of concern out there, and I know people aren't going to lose their gas, but people don't know that," explains Zaccarine.
Zaccarine says many customers buy fireplaces as an alternative heat source. "You can't sell a fireplace without somebody asking you, 'Will it work in a power failure? Is this going to be a backup heat source for me, other than it looking pretty, that's the second most popular thing people want to know is, will it work in a power failure?'" Zaccarine says everything he sells will work in a power failure and still generate heat.
He says there's one issue with electric fireplaces right now. "They're a 5,000 BTU heater. They're basically a glorified hair dryer. So electric has made leaps and bounds and how pretty it looks from the old days of just having a couple of logs and a little what we call a flicker flame inside of it, but Electric Fireplace is not going to heat up a room. It's not going to heat up a big, great room in a new construction house," notes Zaccarine.
Zaccarine says 80 percent of fireplace sales are gas, followed by wood pellet stoves.