Are Electric Fireplaces Noisy?

Electric fireplaces imitate the look of a real fire by producing realistic flame effects and providing supplementary heat from an additional heater inside the unit.

Electric fireplaces can use rotating light components and blowers to generate the flames and heat respectively. With all of these mechanical parts can electric fireplaces be noisy?

Depending on the components used inside an electric fireplace some can be noisy while others can operate very quietly. Electric fireplaces that use infrared heaters are typically quieter.

We’ve explained why some electric fireplaces can be noisier than others in more detail below, as well as what type of electric fireplace you should be looking for if you want the quietest operation.

Are Electric Fireplaces Noisy?

Electric fireplaces are different to other types of fireplace such as wood burning and gas because there’s no real flame.

As a result, electric fireplaces need to artificially create a fireplace experience using a combination of different mechanical and electrical components in order to generate both the flame effects and heat.

Electric Fireplace Stove — Our electric fireplace stove – both the heat and flames are produced artificially

Inside an electric fireplace you’ll typically find a number of mechanical components that are operating and moving in order to be able to create the look of the flames and be able to produce heat.

Depending on what components are used inside an electric to produce the flame effects and heat some may be noisier during operation than others.

See more about what’s inside an electric fireplace in another one of our articles here.

We’ve explained below kind of components are typically used inside electric fireplaces for both the flames and the heat, and which components can make more noise than others.

Flame Effects

The flame effects in an electric fireplace are commonly created using a combination of rotating mirrors and lights.

They use an arrangement of lights and a rotisserie style bar of strategically placed mirrors in order to project the look of flames onto a screen.

A certain amount of space is required within an electric fireplace in order for the flame effects to be created in this way, which is why you’ll find that the majority of electric fireplaces aren’t super thin.

Our electric fireplace stove uses this method to create the flame effects.

Electric Fireplace Flames — The component used to create the flame effects. The mirrors rotate and reflect light onto a screen

Our electric fireplace stove allows us to have the flames operating without the heat. We find that the noises created from the components inside the electric fireplace that are producing the flames aren’t too loud.

The video below shows our electric fireplace in operation and gives you an indication of the amount of noise you can expect from an electric fireplace that utilizes these sorts of components.

Heater

To create a more realistic fireplace experience, electric fireplaces also typically have a heater installed to allow the user to be able to feel the heat while also enjoying the flames.

Electric fireplaces commonly use one of two types of heater to produce the heat:

Infrared heating
Fan forced heating

Infrared heaters can typically be found on the more expensive models of electric fireplace, and use infrared light from a quartz bulb in order to produce heat.

Electric fireplaces that utilize infrared heaters create little or no noise during operation because there are no moving parts.

For more information about infrared electric fireplaces we have a complete guide to them here.

For electric fireplaces that use fan forced heaters to generate the heat, the amount of noise created can be quite different.

In a fan forced heater a blower forces air over a heating element and hot air is blown out into the room. Our electric fireplace stove uses this type of heating arrangement and it can be found used in many different types of electric fireplace.

Electric Fireplace Heater Blower — The heater components inside our fan forced electric fireplace

Electric fireplaces that utilize fan forced heating can produce a lot more noise compared to electric fireplaces that use infrared heaters.

The video below shows the fan forced heater inside our electric fireplace in operation, and will give you can idea of the amount of noise you can expect from an electric fireplace that uses this form of heating.

In summary:

The use of rotating mirrors and lights to create the flame effects is common across all types of electric fireplace, but typically doesn’t make too much noise to be noticeable because the mirrors rotate quite slowly.

Electric fireplaces are commonly found with either an infrared heater or fan heater. Fan forced heaters can make much more noise compared to infrared heaters because of the increased number of moving parts. The speed at which the blowers rotate inside a fan heater creates the increased noise.

What Is The Quietest Electric Fireplace?

As the majority of electric fireplaces create the flames effects using light and rotating mirrors, and make little amounts of noise in doing so, the quietest electric fireplaces will be influenced by the type of heater used.

If you’re looking to get the quietest electric fireplace possible then you’ll want to look at getting an electric fireplace that uses an infrared heater rather than fan forced heater.

An electric fireplace that uses an infrared heater will have far fewer moving mechanical parts compared to an electric fireplace that uses a blower and heating element setup, and can be much quieter as a result.

See our electric fireplace buying guides below and look for ones with infrared heaters in each category to have the quietest electric fireplace.

Why Is My Electric Fireplace So Noisy?

Depending on the components used inside an electric fireplace it may be noisy as part of its normal operation.

If your electric fireplace uses a blower for the heater then it can make much more noise compared to an electric fireplace that has an infrared heater (that has no moving parts).

Check out our complete guide to the most common electric fireplace problems and their solutions if your electric fireplace is being more noisy than usual.