Need advice quick ---- old farmhouse fireplace, put in gasline stub or not?

[FarmHouse]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to make a decision before I leave for a trip this Sunday. I'm having gas stubs installed throughout my basement for range, WH, furnace, garage....and possibly chimney. I have an old chimney that's completely unlined. Originally I thought I wanted to put a wood stove insert in there after talking to a local chimney guy, he recommended redoing the fireplace first because of it's odd shape (personally I like the white field stone). Fast-froward 6 months and I'm thinking that maybe I want to put a wood furnace in the basement in addition to the regular gas one. The wood furnace can reuse the chimney from the old oil furnace (once it's lined).

So now I have a empty, unlined fireplace. I need to tell the plumber whether to bring in a gas stub through the chimney in the basement and up through the ash box (sp?). He said this is how he would do it for gas logs, but not a gas insert. Honestly, I didn't know there was a difference. According to him, for the gas log insert they run the line outside the house and enter from the back of the chimney. So basically I need to make a decision quick.

I'm mainly going to use the fireplace for secondary heat or as a backup. I guess my question is should I go with simply gas logs, gas insert, or neither? And for gas logs or insert, what are the liner requirements for vented/non-vented?

Thanks!

 

[DAKSY]

Why not have the plumber leave a tee with a plug in it just below the fireplace, just in case.
That way if you decide in the future to put an insert (efficient space heater) or a vented gas
log (inefficient fuel waster), you'll be that much better off.
As far as venting goes, most of the better gas inserts are Direct Vent (DV)
& use a co-linear liner for intake air & exhaust by products.
There are some natural draft (B-Vent) units out there, but without knowing
how that fireplace will draft, one of those may not be advisable.
There are those here who will extol the virtues of house-vented (aka Vent-free)
appliances whether inserts or gas logs, but I am not one of them & they've been outlawed in 5 or 6 states & Canada.
As far as your plumber telling you that gas line is run differently for gas logs or gas inserts,
I say he's full of doo-doo (unless there's a building code in your area that he knows about & I don't!)...
Gas line is just that. GAS LINE.

 

[FarmHouse]

Why not have the plumber leave a tee with a plug in it just below the fireplace, just in case.
That way if you decide in the future to put an insert (efficient space heater) or a vented gas
log (inefficient fuel waster), you'll be that much better off.
As far as venting goes, most of the better gas inserts are Direct Vent (DV)
& use a co-linear liner for intake air & exhaust by products.
There are some natural draft (B-Vent) units out there, but without knowing
how that fireplace will draft, one of those may not be advisable.
There are those here who will extol the virtues of house-vented (aka Vent-free)
appliances whether inserts or gas logs, but I am not one of them & they've been outlawed in 5 or 6 states & Canada.
As far as your plumber telling you that gas line is run differently for gas logs or gas inserts,
I say he's full of doo-doo (unless there's a building code in your area that he knows about & I don't!)...
Gas line is just that. GAS LINE.

Thanks for the layman explanation. I may in fact have him leave a stub next to the chimney downstairs and keep my options open.

Thanks!