Being able to sit in front of a roaring fire on a cool autumn afternoon or snuggling with someone important on a cold winter night is the essence of a fireplace. If your home has a fireplace and you love being able to use it, but you dread the mess of wood, hate the hassle of storing wood inside, and despise the process of dumping cold ashes, perhaps you should consider converting your wood-burning fireplace to one that runs on gas, on your list of home improvements.
Although this process has been done for many years, logs and cinders now available are so realistic that distinguishing a wood-burning fire from a fire being run on gas is nearly impossible. For masonry and prefabricated fireplaces, using an insert for the conversion would actually enhance your enjoyment of a roaring fire. Along with the insert, the conversion process would require the gas logs, a cast iron or steel heat exchanger, and preferably a fan.
Although you would have a number of possibilities for converting a wood-burning fireplace to one that operates on gas, one option in particular seems to be the most popular. For instance, choosing gas logs that are installed inside a heat exchanger, as well as inserts sealed with glass on the front is an exceptional choice.
In addition, depending on the model most interested in, some gas fireplaces are designed with built-in fans so when a fire is burning, the fan would blow warm air out into the room. As a result, the new gas fireplace is more effective.
There are a vast number of benefits associated with converting a wood-burning fireplace to a gas fireplace. For instance, just imagine being all snuggled up on the couch when you decide you want to light a fire. Instead of getting up, you could simply point a remote control and within seconds, have the perfect fire. In fact, remote control operation would also allow you to control the level of fire and the speed of the fan without ever getting up. In addition, some gas fireplaces are designed with built-in thermostats for added convenience.
Because gas fireplaces are so energy efficient, you could actually burn a fire for less money than you paid before with your wood-burning fireplace. By converting your fireplace, your home would be heated better while the amount billed each month for utilities would decrease. You could even go with a sealed combustion direct vent system, which is designed to heat the home more efficiently than wood, but also cleaner.
With this, you would still have a hot fire but without smoke, which could be essential for anyone in the home with asthma, allergies, or other upper respiratory conditions. In addition, the lingering smoke smell throughout the house and on clothes would be eliminated.
One of the main reasons for converting your wood-burning fireplace to a gas fireplace has to do with safety. Sadly, many people have lost homes from fire as a direct link to burning logs rolling out of the firebox and onto the floor, or popping embers that end up on carpeting. With a gas fireplace, risk of fire is dramatically reduced. However, to ensure your new gas fireplace looks a real burning unit, you could purchase special rocks or material that is placed in the bottom of the firebox. As the fire burns and becomes hot, these rocks and/or material heat up and glow, creating the appearance of real glowing embers.
Remember that the process of converting a fireplace to gas is something you could accomplish on your own. If you decide to make the changes on your own, the only assistance needed would be for a professional to connect the gas line.
Obviously, this step would not be something the novice person should even try. Once your new gas fireplace is complete, as much as 99% of air pollutants associated with a wood-burning fireplace would be eliminated, meaning you can now enjoy a much cleaner and healthier fire.
