Duraflame Electric Log Set Review: a simple way to wake up a dead fireplace and heat a room

I picked up this Duraflame electric log set because my existing fireplace was basically dead weight. No more gas line, and I’m not interested in dealing with real wood, ashes, and chimney cleaning. I just wanted something that looks decent, throws some heat, and doesn’t turn into a maintenance project. This one kept popping up with good reviews, so I went for it and used it daily for a few weeks in my living room.

My setup: older house, drafty-ish living room that’s a bit under 400 sq ft, with the main thermostat in a hallway that never really reflects how cold the living room feels. Central heat works, but it cooks the rest of the house if I crank it up enough to feel cozy on the couch. So I was looking for a supplement heater, not something to replace the furnace, plus a way to make the fireplace look less sad.

Right away, what stood out is how plug-and-play this thing is. I literally unboxed it, set it in the firebox, plugged it into a nearby outlet, hit the power button, and that was it. No assembly, no screws, no brackets, no weird setup. For anyone who hates instructions or DIY, this is about as simple as it gets. The remote already had batteries in the box, which is a small thing but nice.

Overall first impression: it looks pretty good, it heats better than a cheap space heater, and it’s not perfect. The flames are obviously fake up close, and the fan has a bit of noise, but for the price and the effort involved, it actually made the room feel warmer and way less depressing. If you’ve got a dead fireplace doing nothing, this is a pretty solid way to give it a job again.

In terms of value, you have to think about what you’re paying for: it’s basically a space heater with nicer clothes. You can get a basic space heater for a lot less, but it’ll look like a space heater sitting in front of your fireplace, and you won’t get the fireplace vibe. With this Duraflame unit, you’re paying extra for the log design, ember bed, and flame projection, plus the fact that it’s shaped to sit neatly in a hearth.

As a heater alone, it’s actually pretty efficient for what it is. The infrared tech and 1,000 sq ft rating make it more useful than those tiny 200–400 sq ft heaters that barely warm your ankles. If you use it as a supplemental heater and turn down your central thermostat a few degrees, it can realistically shave a bit off your heating bill, especially if you spend most of your time in one room. Several reviewers mentioned doing exactly that and seeing some savings, and I can see how that adds up over a winter.

Compared to cheaper electric log sets without infrared, you’re mainly paying extra for stronger, more comfortable heat and a known brand. Some people said they trust Duraflame but suspect cheaper units might be similar. That’s fair. I’d say if you only care about the flame look and don’t really need the heat, you could probably go cheaper. But if you actually want this to pull double duty as a serious room heater, the extra cost for the infrared model feels justified.

Overall, I’d rate the value as good but not mind-blowing. You’re not getting luxury realism, but you are getting a solid heater that looks decent in a dead fireplace, is easy to live with, and should last you several seasons. If you’ve got an unused fireplace and you’re already thinking of buying a space heater, this is a pretty logical way to spend a bit more and get both function and looks in one unit.

Design-wise, it’s pretty straightforward: black metal grate, molded faux logs, and a glowing ember bed. From a few feet away, especially behind a fireplace screen or glass doors, it looks good enough. It doesn’t scream “cheap plastic toy” when you’re sitting on the couch. Up close, yeah, you can tell it’s not real wood and the flame pattern is clearly artificial, but I didn’t buy it to fool anyone standing right in front of it.

The flames are projected onto the back of your fireplace and have a rolling effect. It’s not super realistic like high-end electric fireplaces that have fancy multi-color flames and more complex patterns. Here, the flame effect is decent but basic. One thing I noticed and that matches some reviews: the brightness tends to go up and down across the whole log pile instead of having random flickers in different spots like a real fire. So it gives a nice glow, but if you stare at it, it’s obviously a repeating pattern.

There are a few flame brightness settings you can toggle with the remote. I mostly stick to one of the higher ones because the lower settings start looking a bit too dim, especially in a room that’s not fully dark. At night with the room lights off, it looks pretty cozy. During the day, the flame effect is more background and less noticeable, but that’s expected with any electric fire.

In terms of layout, I like that the heater is tucked at the back and blows the hot air out the front, so it doesn’t ruin the look from the front. The cord comes out the side/back, so yes, you’ll have a cable coming out of your fireplace unless you’ve got an outlet inside the firebox. It’s not pretty, but it’s reality. I just ran the cord along the edge of the hearth and stopped caring after a day. Overall, the design is practical and decent-looking, but not some super realistic showpiece. It’s more about warmth + “good enough” ambiance.

From a comfort point of view, this thing hits a nice middle ground. The type of heat is pleasant. It doesn’t blast your face like a tiny desktop heater, and it doesn’t dry the air like some cheaper units I’ve tried. Sitting about 8–10 feet away on the couch, you just gradually realize the room feels warmer and more comfortable. No hot/cold pockets, just an overall temperature bump that makes hanging out in that room nicer.

One thing I really appreciated is being able to run the flames without heat. On mild evenings when it’s not really cold but I want that cozy feeling, I just use the flame mode. It gives a bit of psychological comfort: the room feels more inviting even if the temperature hasn’t really changed. When it is cold, I turn on the heat and it keeps the chill off without cooking me out of the room. I never felt like I was roasting in front of it, even after a few hours.

The sound profile is okay for comfort. The fan noise becomes background pretty quickly. If you’re very sensitive to noise when reading or napping, you’ll notice it at first, but for me it faded into the background like a white noise machine. I sometimes even liked it for that reason. There’s no mechanical clicking or weird rattles on my unit, which is good. Just the steady hum of the fan and the visual of the flames.

In day-to-day use, the biggest comfort factor is just not having to mess with anything. No logs, no ash, no smoke smell, no worrying about a gas line. I walk into the room, hit the remote, and in a minute or two the flames are going and the heater kicks in. That low friction is what made me use it a lot more than I expected. So from a comfort and convenience angle, it’s honestly pretty strong, even if the fire isn’t perfectly realistic.

Out of the box, the build quality feels decent. The grate is metal, the logs and ember bed are plastic/resin, and the housing for the heater feels like standard metal and plastic you’d see on a mid-range space heater. Nothing fancy, but it doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall apart if you move it around a couple times a year. I’ve nudged it in and out of the fireplace a few times to clean behind it or plug other things in, and nothing creaks or feels loose.

The more interesting part is what long-term users report. A lot of people mention running this unit daily for multiple winters without it dying, which gives me more confidence than the usual “used it for a week and it’s great” type reviews. There’s one review where they ran theirs in Minnesota for about six years, several hours a day for half the year. When it started shutting off, it turned out the intake was clogged with dust and pet hair, and once they vacuumed it, it went right back to normal. That lines up with what the safety shutoff should do when blocked.

Maintenance is pretty basic: every few weeks, especially if you have pets, give the intake and surrounding area a quick vacuum. That’s about it. No filters to replace, no bulbs to swap, nothing complicated. The flame effect is LED-based, so it should last a long time without dimming or burning out quickly. The unit also has overheat protection, which is good from both a safety and longevity standpoint.

It comes with a 1-year limited warranty. That’s pretty standard for this type of heater. Personally, I’d say if it survives your first full winter without issues and you keep it reasonably clean, it will probably go for several years. It doesn’t feel fragile, and the internal design seems simple enough that there’s not a lot to fail. Not bulletproof, but for the price, the durability and reliability seem pretty solid.

Performance is where this thing actually impressed me for the price. Duraflame claims it can provide supplemental heat for up to 1,000 sq ft. In real life, I’d say it comfortably handles a 300–500 sq ft room as a solid supplement. In my roughly 400 sq ft living room, it takes the edge off the cold in about 15–20 minutes and makes the room feel genuinely cozy after 30–40 minutes. It’s not going to turn a freezing house into a sauna by itself, but as a zone heater it does the job well.

The infrared heat is a nice touch. The air doesn’t feel dried out like with some cheap ceramic space heaters I’ve used before. I have sensitive skin in winter, and I didn’t notice extra dryness or static shocks when this was running a few hours each night. The heat feels more like gentle, even warmth instead of one blasting hot spot. I’ve used it on nights in the 30s–40s (F) without turning on the furnace, and the living room stayed comfortable while the rest of the house stayed cooler, which I actually prefer.

Noise-wise, there is a fan, and you’ll hear it. It’s a low whooshing sound, not a high-pitched whine. Watching TV with it on is fine; I never had to turn the volume up much more. If you want total silence, this will bother you a bit, but then again, most space heaters have some level of fan noise. The flame effect itself is quiet on this model (no built-in crackle), so if you want sound, you’ll need to play a fireplace sound from a speaker or smart device like some people do.

In terms of behavior over time, I ran it several evenings a week for a few hours and didn’t have any shutdown issues. Some long-time users mentioned it can auto-shutoff if the intake vent gets clogged with dust and pet hair, which is actually a safety feature doing its job. I checked mine after a couple weeks and gave it a quick pass with the vacuum, and that’s now just part of the routine. Overall, heating performance is solid for a plug-in unit, and the noise level is acceptable for everyday use.

Out of the box, the Duraflame log set is basically one complete unit: a black metal grate with faux logs attached, an ember bed, and the heater element built into the back. In the box you get the log set itself, a remote control, two AAA batteries, and a basic manual. No extra parts, no tools. The whole thing weighs around 13–14 pounds, so it’s light enough to move by yourself but doesn’t feel like a flimsy toy.

The unit is made for existing fireplaces. The dimensions are about 20.5" wide, 8.7" deep, and 12.6" tall. That means it fits nicely in a standard wood-burning or gas fireplace opening. If you’ve got a tiny coal fireplace or a very narrow firebox, you’ll want to measure first, but for most modern fireplaces it should slide in fine. If it’s a bit too big like one reviewer mentioned, you can still just park it right in front of the opening and it still looks okay, especially with glass doors or a screen.

Function-wise, you’ve got two main things: the flame effect and the heater. You can run flames with or without heat, which is actually useful. I’ve had it on flame-only mode in the evening just for background ambiance when it’s not cold enough to justify heating. Then on colder nights I flip on the heat and let it run a few hours while watching TV. The controls are on the side of the unit plus on the remote, so you don’t have to crawl into the hearth every time.

In practice, the way I think of it is: it’s a space heater disguised as a log set. If you just expect a nice-looking heater with some fake fire visuals, you’ll be happy. If you’re expecting it to perfectly mimic a real wood fire, you’ll probably roll your eyes a bit at the flames but still enjoy the warmth and the glow. It’s functional first, decorative second, and that’s honestly how I ended up using it most of the time.