We live in a home that is 120 years old and has a small, unlined fireplace that was originally used to burn coal. The previous owners used it to burn wood. It has no flue, so they installed glass doors and most of the heat goes up the chimney. The problems with our existing fireplace are:

(1) it is unlined so burning wood creates a danger of a fire in the chimney

(2) the glass doors allow too much cold air into the house

We considered a direct vent fireplace, but it requires us to:

(1) install a chimney liner

(2) view the fire through a window and

(3) gives little heat output.

A ventless fireplace seems to solve all these issues. We can

(1) use our existing fireplace without installing a liner

(2) do not have to view the fire through a window

(3) get heat output for the minimal amount of time we want to use it.

The fireplace is our living room which does not get much use, but it would be nice to have a fire on evenings when we have company. Also, sometimes our drafty house gets so cold that sitting in front of a fire sounds great.

Thoughts?