Dimplex's Slim Linear has the lowest single decibel figure we found for an electric fireplace on a maker's own page: its US specification table lists "Decibels" as 36 for the 36, 42, 50 and 60 inch sizes. Dimplex names no heat setting, distance or test for that number, so it does not tell you whether the heater was running. Costway caps three models at ≤35 dB, but a cap of 35 is a ceiling, not a reading, and only one of the three is tied to a setting: the 28.5 inch FP10049US, at "≤35db" on its 1,500 W top speed, in a Costway representative's answer on the product page.
Few fireplace makers print anything at all. We read the US product pages and manuals of Dimplex, Napoleon, Touchstone, Amantii, Modern Flames, SimpliFire, Real Flame, PuraFlame and Twin Star Home, which sells ClassicFlame and Duraflame electric fireplaces, and Dimplex is the only one that prints a decibel level, in a row most shoppers never open. The other numbers here come from two budget sellers' own stores, Costway and R.W.FLAME, written as single values, upper limits or approximations. We rank only within each kind, and spend the rest of the page on what the manuals say makes the sound: the heater fan, how long it keeps blowing once the heat is off, and the small motor that turns behind many flame effects.
Our picks are listed above, with full specifications for each.
Single values, ceilings and approximations
Every figure on this page is in plain decibels, and none comes with a measuring distance, but the makers write them in three ways that do not line up:
- Single values. Dimplex's "Decibels" row runs from 36 for the Slim Linear to 55 for the Ignite XL. R.W.FLAME's C3 page says 35 dB in its description and 38dB in its specifications. Costway's FP11229US recessed fireplace promises "40dB low-noise operation".
- Upper limits. Costway writes "≤35dB" for the FP10530US, "≤ 35 dB" for the 13 inch FP10389US and "≤ 37 dB" for the 27 inch FP10560US. R.W.FLAME says its 44 inch corner fireplace runs "under 40 dB" and its 63 inch mantel "below 43 decibels".
- Approximations. A Costway representative puts the 18 inch FP10831 insert at "approximately 45 dB" heating and "approximately 28 dB" without heat, and another Costway answer puts the FP11078US insert at "approximately 45-50 dB".
A ceiling of 35 says the fireplace stays at or under 35 under conditions Costway does not give. Dimplex's 36 is one number from a test Dimplex does not describe. With no distance on either, a Costway ceiling and a Dimplex value are two kinds of decibel rating we never rank against each other, which is why the picks above carry their kind of figure beside the number.
The FP10049US is the exception worth singling out. A shopper on its page asked what the decibel rating is at the highest speed, and the Costway representative replied that the heater has two gears, 750 W and 1500 W, and that the rating at the highest is "≤35db". Apart from Costway's heat-on and heat-off pair for the FP10831, no figure here says what the fireplace was doing, and Dimplex's own FAQ calls a soft hum normal "when the heater or fan is running", so a figure with no setting named may or may not include the heater.
Dimplex's decibel row, series by series
Dimplex puts the figure at the very end of each US product page's specification list, behind a "Show More Specifications" button, as a bare number with no unit letter. We opened the pages for 85 Dimplex electric fireplace models on October 13, 2026, and 39 of them carry the row:
- 36: Slim Linear 36, 42, 50 and 60 inch, a 1,500 W fan-forced heater with a coil wire element.
- 42: the Nova plug-in fireboxes, 23 to 33 inches, for existing fireplace openings.
- 47: Winslow 35, 42 and 48 inch, for a wall or a tabletop stand.
- 49: Sierra 48, 60 and 72 inch.
- 50: Prism 34, the Optimyst Aura 30 and the Optimyst Mapleton water vapor stove.
- 55: Ignite XL, Ignite Evolve, Ignite Ultra, the 50 and 74 inch Prism and the Optimyst Linear 46, 66 and 86.
The Revillusion fireboxes and log sets, Ignite Bold, Ignite Quest, the Vital series, the BF fireboxes and the Optimyst Pro Box, Cassette, Revive and e-MatriX pages have no Decibels row at all. Neither the Slim Linear's three-part specification sheet nor its sell sheet repeats the 36, so the product page is the only Dimplex document we found with the number, and Dimplex gives no reason for the 19-point spread between its quietest and loudest models.
The heater fan, and how long it runs after the heat is off
Where these makers name the heater type, it is fan-forced, and most of what their documents say about noise concerns the fan. Dimplex's FAQ calls a soft hum normal "when the heater or fan is running", and says a loud or unusual sound may mean "the grill may need cleaning or a motor may need to be replaced". Napoleon's Astound manual goes further, in its safety list: "It is normal for your electric appliance to produce noise, especially when installed in a quiet space such as a bedroom."
What no decibel figure covers is how long the fan keeps going once you switch the heat off. The manuals give these times:
- Dimplex Nova: "the fan will continue on for 2 minutes before turning off".
- Dimplex Ignite XL: "a 2-minute cool down period before the fan shuts off completely".
- Amantii Symmetry Lumina: the fan starts 5 seconds before the heating coil and stops 30 seconds after it.
- Costway FP10530US: 30 seconds of cool air after the heater turns off.
- Touchstone Sideline Elite Pro: 10 seconds of cool air before the heater turns on, and 10 after it turns off.
- Modern Flames Orion V2: 8 to 10 seconds after the heater turns off.
- Real Flame and R.W.FLAME: Real Flame says the fan "may still run" after the heater is off, and the manual linked from R.W.FLAME's C3 page says the fans blow "after the appliance turns off", with no time from either.
Fan speed matters as much as fan time. Napoleon's BOOST mode runs the Astound's heater at full power "with increased blower speed", while ECO "runs at half heat". The Comfort$aver heater in Dimplex's Ignite XL adjusts "the fan speed and heater wattage" to the room, keeps the fan and heater running at a low level once the set point is reached, and only switches off, then back on now and then, if the room gets much warmer. Costway's 18 inch FP10831 has no blower speed setting at all, and every time its heat is switched on, the manual says the heater and fan are "forced to heat up for 3 minutes" whatever the room temperature.
Flicker rods and rotisseries behind the flames
Many electric flames are light thrown onto a turning rod, and the manuals treat that rod's noise as a fault to fix rather than a feature to rate. No maker gives it a figure.
- Dimplex Nova: the service manual's noise table lists "Excessive noise when flames are on", caused by a "Flicker rod is hitting or rubbing against internal component" or a "Defective flicker motor".
- SimpliFire Triton: a "Grinding or rubbing noise (when heater is off)" comes from the "Rotisserie hitting or rubbing against internal components"; SimpliFire says to check the rod is straight and spinning freely, and to "apply grease to contact point" if the bracket is the source.
- Amantii: its FAQ says a squeak is "due to the flicker rod coming in contact with the rod end bushing", and that the area needs re-greasing.
- Costway: the FP10530US manual lists a "Flame motor defective" and a flame rod knocked out of place in transit, and the FP10831 manual says "The blower motor and the flame motor" come pre-lubricated.
The Ignite XL's manual shows a flicker motor in its diagrams as well. Modern Flames describes a different approach: it draws the Orion V2's flames with "Next-Generation LCD Technology", and its manual mentions fan motors but no flame motor. For a fireplace running its flames without heat, the only number anyone gives is Costway's answer for the FP10831, about 28 dB.
Flames with the heat off
Dimplex's FAQ says "most electric fireplaces let you run the flame effect without heat", and the pages or manuals of all six picks say their flames can run alone. Only Costway puts a number on what that saves, about 45 dB heating against about 28 dB without for the FP10831, and it does so in a representative's answer rather than the product listing.
A fireplace with no heater at all is no promise of a lower printed number. Tangkula's 36 inch flame-only fireplace, the FP11282US-36, has no heater, and its page still says "At just 40dB, this fireplace runs quietly", with no more detail than the heaters get.
Some makers tie the heat to the flames rather than the other way round. Modern Flames says the Orion's "heater only works when the flame is on", and Costway's FP10530US manual says "Flame effect must be on for heater to turn on". If you want the heat out of the picture for good, several let you lock it off. The Orion V2's micro switch, behind an access panel, "will disable the heater and fan", and the Ignite XL's hardware disconnect on the control board does the same, while the Nova's touch panel and the Napoleon Astound, which then shows "LOC", disable the heater function.
Crackle speakers and beeps
Some of the sound is put there on purpose. Touchstone's Sideline Elite Pro has "a built-in crackle speaker with adjustable volume". The Orion V2's Normal Mode plays "a continuous, looped fire-crackling sound", Starry Night adds wind and Stormy Night adds "intermittent thunder effects". SimpliFire's Triton offers "two crackling fire sounds (or no sound)", and R.W.FLAME lists sound modes for its C4 and C6 models but not the C3. Touchstone, Modern Flames and SimpliFire each describe an off setting, from Touchstone's crackle button to the Orion's S0. The Nova confirms each heat change with "1 short beep", and its manual describes no way to silence it.
Napoleon's Astound pages and manual have no figure, only the note above that some noise is normal. Touchstone's Sideline Elite Pro page and manual offer neither a figure nor a claim of quiet. Amantii says its Symmetry Lumina has "A quieter heater fan, with a reduction of 4 decibels", without saying quieter than what, and its sell sheet calls the fireplace "the most quiet fireplace in industry". Modern Flames promises "quiet operation" from the Orion V2's PTC heater. SimpliFire's Triton warranty excludes noise from "Minor expansion, contraction, or movement of certain parts", which it calls normal. Real Flame's 49 inch insert page and manual say nothing about noise beyond the fan that may keep running. PuraFlame calls its 16 inch log heater "almost silent", and none of the 39 products in its US store carries a figure. Twin Star Home's descriptions of its ClassicFlame and Duraflame fireplaces, stoves and log sets make no noise claim either way.
Where one maker's own numbers disagree
Two of the budget sellers contradict themselves on a single page. R.W.FLAME's C3 is 35 dB in the description, 38dB in the specification list and 35 to 38 dB in the FAQ, so we rank it on 38. Costway's 26 inch FP11078US insert promises "≤40dB quiet operation" in its feature list, while a Costway representative on the same page answers that it "operates at a noise level of approximately 45-50 dB". We left the FP11078US out of the picks for that reason. Neither seller describes how its figures were measured, so we read each one as that seller's own claim about its own fireplace.
How we chose
We read the US product pages, specification tables, Q&A answers signed by the seller, and manuals for each fireplace on October 13, 2026. For Dimplex we opened the full specification list for each of the 85 models we found; for Costway we read 46 pages in its fireplace category, and for R.W.FLAME, PuraFlame and Twin Star Home the description of every fireplace in their US stores. We kept single values, ceilings and approximations apart, ranked only within each kind, took the higher figure wherever a page gives two, and chose the picks to cover the three ways an electric fireplace goes in: on or in a wall, inside an existing fireplace, and standing free. Prices are the makers' own on October 13, 2026; Dimplex shows none, and Modern Flames, SimpliFire and Napoleon show only a starting price.
We did not measure any of these electric fireplaces ourselves: the decibel figures are Dimplex's, Costway's, R.W.FLAME's and Tangkula's own, copied from their US product pages and Q&A answers on October 13, 2026, and every fan, motor and sound detail is quoted from the makers' manuals, FAQs and spec sheets.
