Find the Right Hearth for Every Franklin County Home.

All four fuel types work well here, which is a bit unusual—Franklin County's milder winters (average low around 24°F, a moderate heating season overall) mean the choice comes down more to preference than necessity. Wood is well-supported by the region's dense hardwoods—oak, hickory, walnut, and maple—which burn long and hot and are widely available from local suppliers. Gas is a strong convenience option in towns like Benton and West Frankfort where service is established—instant heat with no wood handling. Pellet stoves are a solid middle ground, and regional brands like Indeck Energy Services, Lignetics, and Somerset Pellet Fuel keep fuel reliably in stock. Electric fireplaces do more real heating lift here than they would in a harsher climate like Fargo or Duluth, since the shoulder-season demand is lower. Many Franklin County homes end up with a primary wood or gas unit and a secondary electric or pellet unit for specific rooms.

In most cases, yes. New wood stoves, wood inserts, gas fireplaces, gas inserts, gas stoves, and pellet stoves typically require a building permit through your city (Benton, West Frankfort, Sesser, and the other incorporated towns each handle their own permitting) or through the county for unincorporated areas. Gas installations also need a separate gas line permit and a licensed installer for the gas connection itself. New wood-burning appliances sold today are EPA-certified units, which simplifies the approval process compared to older uncertified stoves. Electric fireplaces generally don't require a permit unless you're doing a built-in installation with new wiring. Most local hearth retailers handle the permitting paperwork as part of the installation, so you typically aren't filing it yourself.

No—Franklin County has no air-quality non-attainment designation and no wood-burning curtailment program, unlike some western basin communities that see winter inversions trap smoke close to the ground. That means you can run a wood stove or insert through the season without checking a daily burn advisory. It's still worth choosing an EPA-certified unit for efficiency and lower particulate output, and seasoning your oak, hickory, walnut, or maple firewood for at least six to twelve months before burning it—green hardwood burns dirtier and less efficiently regardless of local regulations.

Many hearth retailers in this part of southern Illinois carry at least two or three fuel types, and a smaller number stock all four with working showroom displays. If you're not sure which fuel fits your home, a multi-fuel dealer is worth visiting first—they can walk you through the trade-offs between, say, a wood insert burning local oak versus a pellet stove running on Lignetics or Indeck Energy Services pellets, in the context of your specific house and budget. Single-fuel specialists (often wood-focused, given the region's hardwood supply) tend to have deeper expertise in that one category. Check each retailer's listed fuel coverage on this hub before making the drive.

Oak and hickory are the workhorses here—dense, high-BTU hardwoods that are widely available from local firewood suppliers and hold a fire well through a Franklin County night. Walnut and maple are also common and burn cleaner and slightly faster, good for daytime or supplemental fires. Whatever species you're running, plan on six to twelve months of seasoning time (oak can take longer, sometimes over a year, given its density)—a moisture meter reading under 20% is the target before it goes in the stove. A local hearth retailer or firewood supplier can usually tell you what's already seasoned and ready to burn versus what needs more time on the rack.

Ranges vary by fuel and by how much venting or gas line work is involved. Wood stove or insert installation: roughly $3,500–$8,000 for a typical retrofit, more for new chimney construction. Gas fireplace, insert, or stove: roughly $4,000–$10,000 depending on whether existing gas service is in place or a new line needs to be run. Pellet stove or insert: roughly $4,000–$7,000 installed. Electric fireplace: $200–$3,000 for the unit itself, with $300–$1,000 in labor for anything beyond a plug-and-play wall-mount. For specifics tied to your fuel and your town, see the county + fuel pages linked above.

For an average home—covering the fireplace, the vent pipe, and basic installation—a budget between $3,900 and $5,500 gives you a lot of options across wood, gas, and pellet. By the time you add finish work, gas line, and electrical, the average complete installation lands between $5,000 and $12,000 all-in. In a remodel or new build, a good rule is to put about 2.5% of the total project cost toward the fireplace.

If you're putting a fire in your house on purpose, it's best to work with an expert. Unless you're genuinely experienced in framing, gas line, vent pipe, and the national code on clearances to combustibles, have a professional do it—and ideally the same company that sells you the fireplace, so warranty, service, and liability all live under one roof.

Match the fuel to your life, not the other way around. Wood: lowest fuel cost and total power-outage independence, but you're hauling and stacking. Gas: press a button, set a thermostat, no maintenance to speak of. Pellet: wood economics with automatic feeding, in exchange for weekly cleaning and a need for electricity. Electric: plugs in anywhere with honest supplemental heat. Nobody regrets the fuel that fits how they actually live.

Yes—by creating a comfort zone. A furnace heats every square foot of the house just to warm the one room you're in; a gas fireplace on low burns roughly a sixth of the gas a typical furnace does. Set the furnace around 55–60 degrees as a baseline, then heat the rooms your family actually uses. Families who heat this way commonly save $20–$60 a month.