Q&A Chimney Heights

Question:

Dear Sirs: I am buying a home that has a fireplace with a gas starter. I'm assuming that I can use gas logs. Is this correct? Also, as part of the sale, I asked the seller to have a certified chimney sweep clean and inspect the chimney. The seller did and the chimney sweep came back after the cleaning and said that the chimney was 6 inches short. The previous owners have been burning wood for the past few years. If the chimney is really 6 inches short, will that have any safety implications on me installing a gas log system?



Answer:

If the fireplace drafts well with wood and does not dump smoke into the house, then the draft is probably OK. There are many factor besides chimney height which affect draft. The sweep may be referring to the chimney not being 2 feet higher than any point within 10 feel on a level plane, which is the standard for chimney height. In my experience, this small shortfall will not usually make a difference in the draft strength.