Steady heat for Shediac winters that settle near -13.9°C.

Expect $6,000 to $15,000 CAD for a typical installation. The lower end covers a direct-vent insert going into a home that's already on the Liberty Utilities (Gas NB) line near downtown or along Route 15, where the gas fitter just needs to run a branch line and set the venting. The upper end covers new construction or a full remodel that needs a fresh gas run from the meter, wall or roof venting, and a built-in unit rather than an insert. Homes relying on propane instead of piped gas should budget for a tank set or line hookup on top of the fireplace install itself.

It depends on your street. Liberty Utilities, marketed locally as Gas NB, serves the corridor running through central Shediac and out toward Moncton along Route 15, so a good number of in-town homes and businesses have access to piped gas. Properties further out toward Cap-Pelé, Scoudouc, or the cottage roads closer to the water are more likely to sit outside that footprint and run on propane instead. Both fuels work in the same gas fireplace models; your dealer just configures the orifice and regulator for whichever one reaches your house.

Yes, and it's a common request in Shediac's older homes, many of which still have a masonry firebox built decades ago for burning sugar maple or yellow birch. A gas insert typically slides into that existing opening with a liner run up the current chimney, and the job usually lands between $6,000 and $10,000 depending on whether a new gas line has to be run to the fireplace location. If your current setup is an older wood stove that's been flagged during a home sale or insurance review, converting to gas resolves that in the same project rather than needing a separate WETT inspection down the road.

You'll need a permit through the municipal building department, and the installation itself has to meet CSA B149 gas code, with the actual gas connection completed by a licensed gas fitter. Most local hearth dealers who work in Shediac handle both the permit application and the final inspection as part of the installation quote, so you're not coordinating the building department and a separate gas contractor on your own.

Most will, and that matters here—Northumberland Strait winter storms knock out NB Power service in Shediac a few times most winters, sometimes for a day or more. Fireplaces with intermittent pilot ignition run on a AA battery backup that kicks in automatically when the power drops. A few brands, including Valor, skip the battery altogether because their pilot's thermocouple generates its own current. If outage resilience matters to you, ask your dealer which ignition system is on any model before you commit.

Direct-vent units draw combustion air from outside and exhaust it back outside through sealed pipe, and that's what most local dealers install and what New Brunswick installers generally favour for full-time use. Vent-free models burn into the room and are legal in limited applications, but they carry strict square-footage and ventilation rules, and they add humidity—a real consideration in older Shediac homes near the water that already deal with dampness off the Strait. For a primary heat source running daily through a five-month winter, direct-vent is the more common and more comfortable choice.

A gas fireplace is a built-in unit framed into a wall, the standard choice for new construction or a full remodel. A gas insert fits into an existing masonry firebox, which suits many of Shediac's older homes that were originally built with a wood-burning fireplace for sugar maple or red maple cordwood. A gas stove is freestanding on a hearth pad, similar in footprint to a wood stove but running off a gas line or propane tank instead. For a house that already has a chimney chase, an insert is usually the least disruptive and least expensive of the three.

Plan on an annual check, ideally in September or October before the first real cold snap rather than mid-winter when technicians are booked solid. A service visit covers the burner, pilot assembly, gas connections, and venting, and includes cleaning the glass—a much lighter job than a wood chimney sweep, but worth doing every year on a unit running daily through a Maritime winter. Expect roughly $150-$250 CAD for a standard visit from a local technician.

Wood still has deep roots here—sugar maple, yellow birch, and white spruce are common in Westmorland woodlots, and a household cutting permit through New Brunswick Natural Resources runs about $6.10 per cubic metre, roughly $85 for a full annual allotment of up to 14 cubic metres. That makes wood hard to beat on raw fuel cost, and it keeps working without electricity during a storm-driven NB Power outage. Gas wins on convenience: no splitting, stacking, or loading, and it fires with a switch or remote. Pellet stoves, using regional brands like Groupe Savoie or Shaw Resources at roughly $400-$575 CAD a ton, land in between: cleaner and more automated than wood, but still dependent on electricity for the auger and blower. A lot of Shediac homeowners run gas in the main living space for daily comfort and keep a wood stove or insert as backup for extended outages.

Most modern gas fireplaces can—turn it on and off from the couch with a remote, or set a room temperature and let the fireplace hold the comfort zone for you. If low maintenance matters to your family, this is the feature set that makes gas the convenience pick over wood and pellet.

Because a fireplace is an iceberg—there's more behind the wall than in front of it. A low quote often covers only the unit; the full scope includes vent pipe, gas line or electrical, framing, and the tile or stone that has to come off and go back on. Make every bidder price the whole job. If a dealer can't speak to the full scope with confidence, that's your signal to keep looking.

Four cover most of the market: screen-front traditional (mesh front, open feel, fits craftsman homes), traditional door set (the classic look you grew up with), modern linear (wide, low, the statement piece for entertaining), and clean face contemporary (no trim—your tile or stone runs right to the fire's edge). Walk in knowing those four terms and you're ahead of most buyers.

Two ways, and they're both big. Looks: modern gas fireplaces are realistic enough that it's hard to believe they aren't burning wood. Cost: old units burn a standing pilot year-round (roughly $200 a year), while new ones use pilot-on-demand ignition and modern burners. Add remote controls and thermostat operation, and the day-to-day experience isn't close.