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smithfly114
Premium Member
join:2008-01-14

smithfly114 to Camelot One

Premium Member

to Camelot One

Re: Fireplace - From Gas to Wood?

said by Camelot One:

You can use gas logs in a wood rated firebox/flu, but it is not safe to burn wood in a gas only rated firebox/flu. So the first step would be to find out what you have. If it is newer, there should be a label inside the firebox, usually just inside the door on the top. If in doubt, have a professional look at it.

Here in Austin, the most popular setup with anything built in the last 20 years is a wood rated prefab firebox/flu combo, with a gas igniter. (the igniter tube itself is just a tube with holes that sits under the grate) You can remove the igniter tube and use the gas pipe to run gas logs, and a lot of people have them installed for ease of use. As long as the box/flu is rated for wood, you can switch back to burning wood, and either not using gas at all, or using it with the igniter tube.

Keep in mind, those saw dust/duraflame type logs are much worse for the flu than real wood. The particles tend to stick and clog on their way up, creating a greater risk of a flu fire.

In any event, get a chimney sweep out to do a cleaning before you light a fire. Something as simple as a bird nest that was built over the summer (very common) could lead to burning your house down. And any decent chimney sweep should be able to tell you what you have, even without a label.

This is the answer.
In my home (new construction) our fireplace is a gas/faux log ONLY fireplace. The box, chimney etc are not built to withstand a real fire.
This is what you need to determine first.