Ortal: Wilderness 34"

The Authentic Log Fire

The fire looks like wood—the heat stays in the room.

Who it’s for

An open fireplace pulls air your furnace already paid to heat straight up the chimney, so you’re warm on the couch while the rest of the house gets colder. The common fix—a gas log set—looks right but sends most of its heat up the same flue. You need a sealed fire that keeps the heat in the room without losing the look of burning logs. If you have a wood-burning fireplace you’ve stopped using and you want it back as a heater that still reads as a real hearth fire, the Ortal Wilderness 34 is that insert. A log set gives you the ambiance; this gives you the ambiance and the warmth.

Quick facts

• Heating capacity: approx. 900–1,750 sq ft
• Efficiency: 84%
• Fuel: natural gas or propane
• Controls: handheld remote with thermostat; app and wall switch control optional

What makes it special

The Wilderness burner is a fire built on detailed ceramic logs, so the flames climb through and around the wood the way a hearth fire does instead of rising in an even, appliance-like row. From across the room, it’s the fire you remember from burning wood—without the hauling, tending, or sweeping.

At 84% efficiency, most of the gas you pay for becomes heat in your room, not heat up the chimney. And because the insert seals the old flue, the draft that leaked warm air out of the house even when the fire was cold is gone for good.

Possible downsides

• Two log styles only—dark brown or chopped wood; the driftwood look offered on other Ortal Wilderness models isn’t available here.
• Logs are the only media—there is no stone or glass media option for this model.

If you want your fireplace back as a heater without giving up the look of a wood fire, the Wilderness 34 is the right decision. Game nights, holidays, and ordinary Tuesday evenings migrate to the room with the fire.

The look is yours to set: classic or sleek fronts in black, brushed chrome, antique bronze, antique steel, or burnished copper—plus an arched option—surrounds in five sizes, interior panels from black reflective glass to red or tan brick in herringbone or horizontal patterns, and log sets in dark brown or chopped wood.