Our older home (1936) has a brick fireplace that is the central focus of the house. We had wood fires in it for the first several years we lived here, but in recent years have not. We wanted to be able to have the ambiance of a fire any time we wanted, and to be able to turn it off and not worry about it when we went upstairs to our TV room/bedroom. Also did not want to clean put the ashes any more. This does it very well. It fills a niche for people like us who just want the comforting ambiance of a fairly believable fire on demand without the mess and the safety issues. Would not use it as a major heat source, although it does put out some warmth, and we have not tried it on high.