GAS FIREPLACE
we are considering getting a gas/fuel flueless fireplace to put inside our existing fireplace (which is decorative now and has an old shallow firebox and hearth. we’ve heard they do not emit any smoke/gas and actually emit some heat. anyone have any experience with these ???
we are considering getting a gas/fuel flueless fireplace to put inside our existing fireplace (which is decorative now and has an old shallow firebox and hearth. we’ve heard they do not emit any smoke/gas and actually emit some heat. anyone have any experience with these ???
look, what are we arguing about? i’ve owned a 120 year old brownstone and i have done a lot of work on it. i don’t believe i am an idiot nor do i believe anyone else on this blog is an idiot, so i won’t engage in insults nor will i accept any.
these old fireplaces were originally used for burning coal. not they’ve been sealed. if you want to burn gas or wood, you need to hire a professional, get him to open up your flue, line it so you don’t get your chimney collapsing, and you don’t get a fire in your walls, and then close it up again. you also need a damper, so when you’re not running the log, you don’t lose heat in your house. come on people, this is fire you’re dealing with, don’t be cavalier about it.
the text below is from the site dave in bed stuy referred us all. so dave, if you have any tenants living in those houses, or houseguests, or family, they can DIE, okay? this isn’t an issue of your intellectual capabilities, man. this is an issue of death by CO asphyxiation. you don’t smell it, you don’t know it’s there, it will just kill you.
i’m really amazed that you would run these gas logs without proper venting. it’s ridiculously dangerous.
CHIMNEY REQUIREMENTS
These are VENTED GAS LOGS and must be installed only into a functioning, wood burning fireplace with a lined chimney. Minimum chimney size is 8″ round, but the chimney area must be suitably sized for the fireplace opening size. If your fireplace does not draft properly, suffers from sooting or smoking problems then it is not safe to install gas logs until these performance issues are remedied!
Your fireplace damper, if one exists, must be removed or permanently clamped open upon installation; therefore we recommend installation of glass fireplace doors to help prevent heat loss when the gas logs are not in operation. VENTED GAS LOGS are a decorative product that is not designed to provide substantial heat. Check local building codes for further details and requirements prior to purchase – installation of decorative gas logs are not approved in some communities.
They were generally coal burning fireplaces with shallow fireboxes, so if you want to reline the usually unlined flue and burn wood, you usually have to have the firebox enlarged.
What’s it cost to clear and use a chimney? I thought all the old brownstones originally had wood-burning fireplaces that were later retrofitted with gas and radiators and such. Most of those mantles everyone loves here are now referred to by RE agents as decorative, but didn’t they once have another purpose? Has anyone out there done this in their renovation/restoration?
We considered adding one of these no vent “fireplaces” to our house but without the smell of wood burning, it really loses the appeal to us.
But if you like the look, go for it. They seem easy enough to install.
Yeah, but, despite all the blather about the safety of gas “fireplaces,” they’re not real. No sound, no aroma, sterile and dull. Go for wood, baby. And a bearskin rug. I’m tellin you, it works.
natural gas does not produce levels of CO that are dangerous…end of discussion…let the poster decide for themselves…i have 4 houses with a total of 11 fireplaces of different sorts…i know what i’m talking about
I live in Bed-Stuy and use mine all the time.There is nothing like it especially this time of year the only bad thing about having a gas fireplace is that I find myself falling asleep in front of it all the time and getting nothing done.
Let’s keep this in the physics realm. Do you cook a turkey (or whatever) in an oven for 4 hours sometimes? Do you simmer a stew for three sometimes? Are you still alive?
If stoves produce dangerous levels of CO, they would be banned. So they do not.
Flueless fireplaces do exist, use gel fuel that does not produce dangerous levels of CO and do not need venting. Now, would I use one? Probably not since they do produce *some* products of combustion which may be bad (but not morbid.)
Uh huh, I guess that’s why the COMPANY THAT MAKES THEM states that you must have a vent that remains open at all times. I’ve always been told that the best way to heat my house is to use my gas stove as heater…..NOT!
Buddy, the only thing you are is dangerous.