My freestanding electric fireplaces uses a combination of an LED light source with rotating mirrors to create the effect of flickering flames. Freestanding types of electric fireplaces need to be deeper than other types of fireplaces to cater for the larger components and space required to create the flames.

Taking a closer look inside a freestanding fireplace you’ll find the two main components that create the flames effects:

• The light source.
• The rotisserie-style rod with reflective blades.

In my fireplace, the light source is an LED strip. In some older models of electric fireplace, you may find a traditional halogen bulb instead of LEDs.

The LED’s are located directly below the plastic back panel that can be found behind the fireplace door. This allows the LEDs to provide light to both the plastic logs located at the front of the fireplace, and to the rotating blades at the back.

When turning on the power button to my electric fireplace, the lights automatically come on, and the fake logs are lit up.

The blades on the rod also start rotating when the lights are turned on, which creates the effect of the flicking flames on the plastic screen located just behind the logs.

Light from the LED’s reflects back off the blades and onto the screen. As the blades rotate, the light moves up the screen to resemble the effect of a real flame.

The video below shows how the flames are created from inside of my electric fireplace.

The blades themselves are a mix of differently shaped and angled pieces of reflective metal. The variety in the design of the blades provides a more realistic flame effect for the viewer.

My freestanding electric fireplace also has a dial to control the brightness of the flames.

By turning the dial to the right, the brightness of the LEDs increases, which in turn increases the overall brightness of both the logs and the flames.

The flames on an electric fireplace don’t generate any heat, and so the flames are cold to the touch. The heat is instead generated by a standalone heating component located elsewhere in an electric fireplace.