Posted: 12/27/2009 8:30:46 PM EDT
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I have been looking into purchasing my first house. Although I would prefer a wood-burning fireplace, many of the newer houses I've seen have gas-log fireplaces. These are NOT wood-burning fireplaces with gas-log inserts, but just plain gas-log fireplaces. From what I have read there is vented and unvented gas-log fireplaces. If a house has a vented gas-log fireplace can it be converted to a pellet insert? Is there anything to look out for with all of these things?
Thanks! Taco |
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Don't bother with a gas fireplace of any type. They truly suck.
Sure, they produce some heat, at enormous expense. Sure, they look OK, but everybody knows they are fake. Why bother? Just the economics of it ought to make you cringe. First, it's not cheaper than a real fireplace. Then, the cost of gas is roughly 3 bucks per gallon. Plus, a gallon of propane (nat gas is eqiv in price/performance) has about 2/3 the energy of oil. In other words, you could not possibly find a more expensive "fire". Then there is the total lack of significant heat they provide. Sure, they get warm, barely. Gas leaks are common with them too. Non vented ones must have an oxygen deprivation sensor. Guess what happens when that sensor fails? You die, due to lack of oxygen, in addition to the pollutants you are putting into your air. Do yourself a favor and stay away from gas fireplaces. |
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Quoted:
Don't bother with a gas fireplace of any type. They truly suck. Sure, they produce some heat, at enormous expense. Sure, they look OK, but everybody knows they are fake. Why bother? Just the economics of it ought to make you cringe. First, it's not cheaper than a real fireplace. Then, the cost of gas is roughly 3 bucks per gallon. Plus, a gallon of propane (nat gas is eqiv in price/performance) has about 2/3 the energy of oil. In other words, you could not possibly find a more expensive "fire". Then there is the total lack of significant heat they provide. Sure, they get warm, barely. Gas leaks are common with them too. Non vented ones must have an oxygen deprivation sensor. Guess what happens when that sensor fails? You die, due to lack of oxygen, in addition to the pollutants you are putting into your air. Do yourself a favor and stay away from gas fireplaces. I'll have to disagree on this one. Many vented propane fireplaces are very inefficient. Efficiencies are often in the 70% which for gas is not good. On the bright side, there are also vented fireplaces with an 86% efficiency rating that vent with PCV pipe. So, most of the heat is going inside your house. I personally love gas fireplaces. Look great and no mess. The heat is also warm and comfy. Vent free fireplaces aren't bad too just make sure that you don't oversize them. If they are too big for the room they are in, then you can get moisture problems and other issues. They also should not be the sole source of heat for a house either. But for looks and for power free heat, they are great! I have one in my master bedroom that I like. Put it in earlier this year. It's a 10k BTU one and it's vent free. Adds a nice amount of heat to a fairly large bedroom with tall ceilings. It's also bedroom rated. I also put a CO detector near it. It's the kind with batteries as a backup and also plugs into the wall. Has a digital readout and I've never seen a single reading on it even with the fireplace running. Natural gas is normally quite a bit cheaper than propane. On the other hand, you can't store natural gas like you can store propane. It's also much cheaper to install than a wood fireplace and unless you discount your labor in cutting wood, wood fuel is gonna be close in price to propane. Gas may be expensive where you are now but it's not $3 per gallon here. More like $1.90 last I checked. Also, gas fireplaces rarely leak. Gas leaks can happen from any gas appliance but most of the time occur from an improperly installed appliance. As far as the OP's question on installing a pellet stove in place of a gas fireplace....I would give it a qualified maybe. Yes it can be done but you will have to run the vent and possibly fresh air piping. Many people install pellet stove piping straight outside the wall of their house just like the gas fireplace. It will work but if the power goes out while the pellet stove is running, you will probably get some smoke into the house. If you install an L shaped chimney out of the house and up the outside, you will find that if the power (and thus the stove) kicks off, the heat in the 3 ft "chimney" will draft long enough to draw most, if not all, of the smoke out of the stove. I have a pellet stove in my house and my wife and I really like it. But, I would install it with that L shaped chimney if you do install it in the house. I tried to post a pic of my gas fireplace but with my current crappy connection, I was unable to upload it. |
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1) So, most of the heat is going inside your house. 2) I also put a CO detector near it. It's the kind with batteries as a backup and also plugs into the wall. Has a digital readout and I've never seen a single reading on it even with the fireplace running. 3) Natural gas is normally quite a bit cheaper than propane. 4) wood fuel is gonna be close in price to propane. 5) Gas may be expensive where you are now but it's not $3 per gallon here. More like $1.90 last I checked. 1) That's true with the better ones. 2) That's because gas produces very little CO. They simply consume all the oxygen and produce small quantities of emissions. 3) Yes 4) No, wood, even at $200 per cord is 4 to 8 times cheaper per BTU. The problem come in when true fireplaces are used, rather than a wood burning stove with glass front. 5) National propane prices vary, but are expensive by BTU content, any way you slice it. I can't get propane for less that $2.65 per gal plus fees, no matter what I do. It's $3 bulk here. Looking at national prices, CT, for instance is $2.55 +- a few cents. OH is $2.10, The midwest is cheaper. The East coast is pushing $3 everywhere. |
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1) So, most of the heat is going inside your house. 2) I also put a CO detector near it. It's the kind with batteries as a backup and also plugs into the wall. Has a digital readout and I've never seen a single reading on it even with the fireplace running. 3) Natural gas is normally quite a bit cheaper than propane. 4) wood fuel is gonna be close in price to propane. 5) Gas may be expensive where you are now but it's not $3 per gallon here. More like $1.90 last I checked. 1) That's true with the better ones. 2) That's because gas produces very little CO. They simply consume all the oxygen and produce small quantities of emissions. My house has never run out of oxygen. And it's a new, very tight house. Your experiences? 3) Yes Earlier you said that they were nearly the same in price. Which is it? 4) No, wood, even at $200 per cord is 4 to 8 times cheaper per BTU. The problem come in when true fireplaces are used, rather than a wood burning stove with glass front. But no one was talking about wood stoves. The OP was talking about wood burning fireplaces. Wood burning fireplaces are not gonna be cheaper than gas unless you consider your labor free. 5) National propane prices vary, but are expensive by BTU content, any way you slice it. I can't get propane for less that $2.65 per gal plus fees, no matter what I do. It's $3 bulk here. Looking at national prices, CT, for instance is $2.55 +- a few cents. OH is $2.10, The midwest is cheaper. The East coast is pushing $3 everywhere. You must live in a high propane cost area. Hasn't ever been that price where I live. I like my gas fireplace and I plan to have 1-2 in any future houses that I live in. YMMV |
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Having owned homes with both types of fireplaces I'll take the gas every time.
By the time I bought, split and stacked wood for the winter I more than paid for the natural gas I use today. We have one in the family room and it is our main source of heat as there is only two of us and we spend the majority of our time in the family room. We set the central unit to 63 and it hardly ever comes on. It's been ten years since we went to gas and I still have to make the old joke of asking if anyone wants a fire and after the affirmative answers I just walk over and flip the switch. It was a lot harder with wood. 
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Never wanting modern things, or things to change.
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I just finished installing a gas insert in our family room in place of the 30 year old wood fireplace. It puts out way more heat than the fireplace ever did, and there's no drafts when it's not running. According to the brochure it's steady state efficiency is 72.9 and the AFUE is rating is 64.9. Contrast that to my 5 year old Bryant furnace with an AFUE of "up to" 80%. Heat n Glo FB-IN Gas Insert |
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I have a gas log insert in my regular fireplace. It was there when I bought the house. It is supposed to be unvented, but I crack the flue slightly. I like it because it is just me in the house, and the room with the fireplace is where I watch tv so I can lower the temp to the rest of the house and stay toasty in that room.
I paid $37 for 60lbs of propane a couple of weeks ago. That usually lasts me a month or more. |
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Thanks for the comments guys. However, my main focus was on whether I could install a pellet stove to replace a gas-log. Thanks. Taco That is not a question I could answer without seeing the whole set-up. I would contact several dealerslocal to you and have them come check it out and give their opinion. In some cases, you may. In others, you may not and/or it will cost a bunch. |