With natural gas becoming more and more available to homes across the country it`s easier than ever to convert your fireplace to burn gas. The old drafty wood fireplace often underused can become a easy to use gas burner. There are 2 ways to convert a fireplace to burn gas. The first way is to install a gas log set. Basically a gas log set is a combo of a burner base and a corresponding log set . High quality gas log sets we offer are manufactured by RH Peterson Real Fyre, Napoleon Fireplaces and Empire Comfort Systems. Gas Log sets offer ease of use and they can be operated with a remote control. Gas Log sets preserve the look of a traditional wood burning fireplace. Vented gas log sets do not offer great efficiency but they do look more like a wood burning fire than their vent free counterparts. Vent Free Log sets offer excellent efficiency as your fireplace damper can be closed while burning allowing almost 100 % of produced heat to be directed in the home. This does come at the cost of some realism. Vent free gas log sets will tend to have a bluer flame than a vented gas log set.
The other option to convert your fireplace to gas is a gas fireplace insert. A gas fireplace insert fits inside your existing fireplace and is basically a fireplace inside your existing fireplace. Much like a gas log set they are available in vented and vent free models. The more popular option is the direct vent gas fireplace insert. The benefit of installing a gas fireplace insert over a simple gas log set is heating. Often gas fireplace inserts can be used as a secondary heat source. Most gas inserts offer blowers to circulate heat into the home. Direct vent gas fireplace inserts pull combustion air from the exterior of the home , and exhaust its spent gasses to the exterior as well. This design incorporates a sealed glass front so none of the air from the home is lost and all of the exhaust if forced outside. Efficiency is good on the inserts and some are rated for heating of over 2,000 square feet. Thermostatic remote controls are typically standard or available as a add on.
Installation of gas fireplace inserts and gas log sets are fairly straight forward. A gas line will need to be run to the back of your existing fireplace. This should be done by a qualified plumber. From there gas logs sets are pretty simple to set up. The manufacturer`s directions should be followed in regard to log placement to the letter. It is not difficult but crucially important for the set to burn properly. If a vented gas log set is being used be sure to use a damper clamp ( often supplied) to lock the damper open. Gas fireplace insert installation is slightly more involved. After the gas has been run into the existing fireplace a liner kit must be installed into the chimney. Direct vent gas fireplace inserts often will use a co linear liner kit ( usually sold separately) . The co linear liner kits will consist of 2 aluminum chimney liners often both 3 inch diameter making them easy to install down a much larger flue designed for a open wood fireplace. One of the liners is used to supply air into the fireplace insert the other is for the exhaust. These connect to the outlet and inlet on the top of the insert. At the top of the chimney the liners will connect to a special terminal cap.
We offer many models of gas fireplace inserts and log sets from a number of top manufacturers. If you have any questions please feel free to email or call us. We are glad to help you with product selection , tech or honest advice about your project.