On-demand heat for Atikokan nights that hit minus 21.

Installed gas fireplaces here typically run $6,000 to $15,000 CAD. A direct-vent insert going into an existing masonry firebox near an already-piped gas line sits toward the low end. A new built-in unit for a renovation or addition—especially one that needs a fresh gas line run from the street or a new through-wall vent—lands toward the top. Because Atikokan is a small, spread-out town, homes farther from the Enbridge Gas main sometimes need a propane tank set instead of a gas hookup, which adds to the budget.

Yes, and it's a common upgrade for owners of older masonry fireplaces who are tired of splitting sugar maple or yellow birch every fall. A gas insert usually slides into the existing firebox with a stainless liner run through the current chimney, generally landing in the $6,000-$9,500 CAD range depending on whether you're tying into Enbridge Gas or setting a propane tank. If your old wood appliance was ever flagged during a home insurance WETT inspection, converting to gas removes that issue from the file entirely.

It depends on your address. Enbridge Gas serves the built-up core of town, and homes on that grid can tie a fireplace into an existing gas line fairly simply. Atikokan is small and spread out, though, and properties farther out—including camps and rural lots toward Quetico Provincial Park—usually sit outside the distribution main and run on propane instead. Either fuel works fine for a gas fireplace; a local dealer will confirm which one applies to your property before quoting.

Most will, and that matters in a remote northern Ontario town where storms and line issues can knock out power for hours at a time. Units with intermittent pilot ignition run on battery backup that kicks in automatically when the grid drops. Some models, including several from Valor, skip the battery altogether because the pilot's thermocouple generates its own current. If backup heat during an outage is a priority—and at -21.2°C average lows, it should be—ask your dealer which ignition system is on any unit you're considering.

A gas fireplace is a built-in unit framed into a wall, the common choice for new construction or a full renovation. A gas insert fits inside an existing masonry firebox, which suits older Atikokan homes that already have a working chimney from years of burning maple or oak. A gas stove is freestanding on a hearth pad, similar in footprint to a wood stove but running on a gas line or propane tank instead of cordwood. For most existing houses in town, an insert is the least disruptive route.

Yes. You'll need a building permit through the municipal building department, and the gas line work has to be done in line with the CSA B365 installation code by a licensed gas fitter. Most local dealers who work in Atikokan handle both the permit application and the final inspection as part of the job, so you're not coordinating the building department and the gas fitter separately.

Direct-vent units pull combustion air from outside and exhaust it back outside through sealed venting, and that's the standard most dealers install in this climate—it keeps combustion byproducts out of a tightly sealed, well-insulated house built for -21.2°C winters. Vent-free units are legal in Ontario but carry strict room-sizing limits and add moisture and combustion gases to the room. For a home running the fireplace for hours at a stretch through a long winter, direct-vent is the more practical and safer everyday choice.

Plan on an annual check, ideally in late summer or early fall before the first hard freeze rather than mid-winter when technicians are booked solid across the region. A tech checks the burner, pilot assembly, gas connections, and venting, and cleans the glass. It's a lighter job than a wood chimney sweep, but skipping it on a unit that runs daily through Atikokan's long cold season is how an ignition problem shows up on the coldest night in January.

Wood has real advantages here: the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources issues free cutting permits for up to 10 cubic metres a household each year, and species like sugar maple, red oak, and yellow birch burn hot and are genuinely abundant in this part of northwestern Ontario. Wood also keeps working without electricity, which matters given how remote Atikokan is. Gas wins on convenience—no splitting, no stacking, and heat that starts at the flip of a switch—and it's the lower-maintenance choice for a main living space. Plenty of households here run gas day to day and keep a WETT-inspected wood stove or insert elsewhere in the house for backup during a long outage.

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.

Open fireplaces suck—literally. As the fire burns, it consumes air your furnace already paid to heat and pulls it out through the chimney, so the house is actually colder after the fire goes out than before you lit it. An insert fixes this: it seals the chimney, puts fixed glass across the front, and turns that hole in your house into a real heat source.

If it was installed more than 15 years ago, probably. Older gas fireplaces keep a standing pilot light burning all the time, and that little flame can cost a couple hundred dollars a year. Newer models use pilot-on-demand ignition—the pilot lights only when you use the fireplace and goes out when you turn it off.