Converted gas fireplace back to wood

[northwinds]

There's a chance that we're going to be moving this next summer, which is going to throw
my wood burning and firewood stacks into major turmoil. The new house has a gas fireplace on the
main level. The owner says that when he moved into the house 9 years ago, there was a gas stub
line only, and that it was used as a wood burning fireplace. The owner says that he put in the gas
fireplace and then vented it up the original chimney. He claims that all I have to do is pull out the gas
fireplace to make it woodburning again. Comments? There's also a woodburning furnace in an outbuilding
that I'll have to show you guys sometime. Very unique installation.

I'm looking for ideas about how to heat the place with wood. It's a walkout basement with a finished
family room, and two bedrooms on the lower level. Nice access to the yard through sliding glass doors
into the family room. Beneath the gas fireplace in the lower level, there is an alcove roughly the shape
of the gas fireplace upstairs. There is a chase that matches up to these features upstairs. I believe if
you put a chimney through the ceiling above the alcove, you would end up in that chase. All of this happened
rather quickly this week. I've only got a couple of photos to share.

My kids are going to be on the main level, but my wife and I will be in the downstairs bedroom, so there is going
to be a need to heat both levels. I've been spoiled by natural gas, but this is in the country, so we'll be on propane
heat, and I've got to figure out a way to heat with wood to avoid the horrors of propane. There's electric baseboard
downstairs also.

I've got my Isle Royale at my present home with a walkout basement installation. I'm also wondering whether
there is a way I can move the stove and chimney to the new house in a cost effective way that puts the current house
into it's original condition prior to the woodstove install. I guess that's enough complex issues for the moment.
I've got six months to figure out what to do.

Ideally, if there's a way to move my Isle Royale stove into that lower level alcove and send the chimney up through
the chase--separate flu from the vented gas stove... Nothing is set in stone. I'm very open to ideas and suggestions.

 

[jtp10181]

What I see in the pictures is a prefab wood fireplace with a gas log in it. You can easily remove the gas log and then burn wood. It will not be efficient at all. If you want to heat with wood you would have to do a wood insert or remove the entire things and install a built in EPA approved unit. We did 3 jobs last month were we removed an old wood unit like that and put in a new one with all new stone hearth and mantle. You would be looking at around $10k for a project like that. A wood insert would come in around half that, but not as big of a firebox.

 

[northwinds]

I was hoping you were around jtp. What do you think about the feasibility/cost of moving the isle royale installation over to the new
house with the chimney going up the chase and installation of the stove in the lower level?

 

[SolarAndWood]

Whats the deal with the wood furnace in the outbuilding? If it heats the house, can't the fireplace just be a fireplace?

 

[northwinds]

Whats the deal with the wood furnace in the outbuilding? If it heats the house, can't the fireplace just be a fireplace?

The wood furnace is in a shop that the owner restores old cars in. It's a couple hundred feet from the house. It's stuffed
into a tiny room of the shop with wood piled all around it and against it. The blower motor doesn't work on it, so he's using
just its radiant heat for the shop. It doesn't look too code friendly for a building with cars in it.

The property also has a great fire pit. What it doesn't currently have is a way to heat the house.

I'd really like to avoid spending 5 to 10 grand on a fireplace that may not provide heat to the lower finished level. I didn't realize
that it was a prefab woodfireplace with a gas log. I was hoping that maybe a stove could be installed in there economically,
but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I'm pretty sure my Isle Royale or a similar new stove could heat the whole house if I could find a place for suitable install
in the lower level. This is a finished walkout basement--different from what exists in many parts of the country and
very similar to what I have currently.

Finding a place to install the isle royale in my current house was a pain in the butt also. I'm used to a wood heating
stove which doesn't require electricity to run.

 

[jtp10181]

Sure you could move it, you would save the cost of the stove and pipe, which is most of the expense. I would be concerned with whats left behind in the old house (holes).

If you are able to heat the house well with the IR, we could always do a gas insert in that prefab, or you could remove the gas logs and just use it for "fun" wood fires to sit around and enjoy.

Hmmm, in your OP I just saw mention of an alcove in the basement, and running a new flue to next to the existing fireplace? Have you seen this alcove? In the outdoor shot the chase for the main floor fireplace appears to be cantilevered out and the siding just ends before ground level. Unless I am seeing stone on the chase below the first floor? Picture is too blurred to tell. Is not likely there is room in the chase for another flue, usually they are just big enough for the fireplace in them. It could be a little wider though and maybe something could be snuck next to it.

 

[northwinds]

Sure you could move it, you would save the cost of the stove and pipe, which is most of the expense. I would be concerned with whats left behind in the old house (holes).

If you are able to heat the house well with the IR, we could always do a gas insert in that prefab, or you could remove the gas logs and just use it for "fun" wood fires to sit around and enjoy.

Hmmm, in your OP I just saw mention of an alcove in the basement, and running a new flue to next to the existing fireplace? Have you seen this alcove? In the outdoor shot the chase for the main floor fireplace appears to be cantilevered out and the siding just ends before ground level. Unless I am seeing stone on the chase below the first floor? Picture is too blurred to tell. Is not likely there is room in the chase for another flue, usually they are just big enough for the fireplace in them. It could be a little wider though and maybe something could be snuck next to it.

Two issues, I guess from your post. Are you saying that what he's got now isn't safe to use as a gas fireplace? We would need to go gas
insert or take the gas logs out? Or is it that the gas set up now is totally inefficient? An efficient gas insert doesn't do much for me.
It's too much like staring at a gas furnace.

Second, and probably deserving of a different thread title, is it feasible for professionals, such as your company, to remove the Isle
Royale and chimney to my new place and for me to have the holes patched? I know the hole in the lower level family room can be
patched. There would be an invisible hole (unseen behind the drywall box going up into the attic) that would be covered up , and
then the roof would have to be patched. I have a bunch of extra shingles in the garage from the original construction. Would it be
cost-effective or should I just be looking at a new stove? I'm not sure the stove is going to add significant resale value to my
present house. There's already a prefab Majestic wood burning fireplace in my present house on the main level. Lots of similarities.

The idea in my OP to go up through the chase from the lower level won't work. The alcove is not actually below the chimney but to
the right of it. If we don't re-do the fireplace upstairs, I'm going to have to find a place downstairs that works for going straight up
through the main level and then to the roof. There may be a couple of options. I would probably have to come in to your business with
some photos.

Last question, and I think I already know the answer. If we went with the big epa-efficient re-do of the upstairs fireplace for
10,000, would it heat the lower level family room and bedrooms?

 

[jtp10181]

Its possibly safe, probably not installed fully correctly. Damper should be locked fully open 100% of the time, most of the time this is not done. This is a huge heat loss potential even when not in use. And when you do use it... well its a giant hole and a giant flue with a draft going up it. That air it sucks up the flue comes from somewhere. If you are comparing the flame of an efficient gas insert to that of a furnace I would have to say you are very wrong. Now maybe you are just metaphorically comparing to a furnace, in which case it makes sense.

It could be removed and re-installed at a different location, the labor charges should easily come in at less than the cost just a new stove, not to mention a new chimney. Some chimney components might get damaged but most should be salvageable. You would also have the option of removing just the stove, and leaving the chimney. The new homeowners could get their own stove to attach, or even do a gas stove.

Its hard to move heat downstairs from what I have seen. I sent you a PM back on this question earlier.

 

[northwinds]

Thanks for getting back to me. I'll have to stop in at your business after the holidays and discuss things in more detail.
I'm leaning towards removing the gas log and converting it to a fun wood burning fireplace. Then having you guys move
my stove and chimney and installing it in the new place. I'll know a lot more about the certainty of the move after the holidays.