I have a majestic mbu36 model gas fireplace. My question is, how hard would this be to convert over to a wood burning firplace, and whom would I call to do this task?
converting gas to wood burning
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The gas fire place was never designed to burn wood I don't know of any conversions that would allow wood to be burnt in a gas fireplace the heat range is the killer
wood heat requires much hotter tolerances of material construction. You only path of burning wood would require complete removal of the gss unit and installation of a wood fireplace you can't retrofit a gas to wood plus many gas units are vented using Aluminum vents again Alumium will never withstand the heat or corrosiveness of creosote and acids given off in wood burning
wood heat requires much hotter tolerances of material construction. You only path of burning wood would require complete removal of the gss unit and installation of a wood fireplace you can't retrofit a gas to wood plus many gas units are vented using Aluminum vents again Alumium will never withstand the heat or corrosiveness of creosote and acids given off in wood burning
I googled that fireplace and I think it might actually be a wood unit. CFK might just have gas logs in it?
Does it have a sealed glass door or bifold doors you can open? Do you turn the fireplace on with a switch or the little knob inside the firebox?
Does it have a sealed glass door or bifold doors you can open? Do you turn the fireplace on with a switch or the little knob inside the firebox?
I do not have glas doors, it's a metal chain like curtain. I don't know anything about fireplaces but it looks like a woodburning, just with gas. I have a full chimney if that makes ant since. Some one told me to look up the flue to see if It goes all the way up or not, what I saw was .......I don't know, about an 8" pipe that goes all the way up? Their is a gas shut off valve in the wall I have to turn on and of like a water faucet, The on and of switch itself is on the steel rack that the gas logs sit on.jtp10181 said:
Here's' what I would do, find a local certified sweep (someone else knows the web sites). See if he would have the ability to remove your gas logs, might want to look for a sweep that can do it all. Otherwise you would have to find a hearth store that could remove the log set. Then have a chimney sweep clean and inspect the chimney and fireplace to make sure it is safe to burn wood in it.
One big thing to look for is the damper... make sure it is still there. In some areas it is required to remove it when installing gas logs. If it is totally gone you would not be able to burn wood without repairing it somehow. There should be a round plate that can swivel back and forth using a rod hanging down or a handle in the front. It might be locked open right now because of the gas logs.
One big thing to look for is the damper... make sure it is still there. In some areas it is required to remove it when installing gas logs. If it is totally gone you would not be able to burn wood without repairing it somehow. There should be a round plate that can swivel back and forth using a rod hanging down or a handle in the front. It might be locked open right now because of the gas logs.
No Problem... we just did this for a customer last month. We took the logs out anyway... he had to have a sweep come inspect the chimney. Make sure the sweep knows it was setup for gas logs previously so he knows what kinds of damage to look for when inspecting.
Also just FYI this Majestic unit will not really heat your house. The fire you burn will generate a small amount of radiant heat into the room it is in, but it will also draw a lot of air out of the house up the chimney. This causes cold air to leak in through windows / doors/ etc... This kind of "open" wood fireplace is more for decoration than for heating. If you want to get some doors for it find a Majestic dealer or a "Design Specialties" dealer.
Also just FYI this Majestic unit will not really heat your house. The fire you burn will generate a small amount of radiant heat into the room it is in, but it will also draw a lot of air out of the house up the chimney. This causes cold air to leak in through windows / doors/ etc... This kind of "open" wood fireplace is more for decoration than for heating. If you want to get some doors for it find a Majestic dealer or a "Design Specialties" dealer.
Well as per your advise I called a chimney inspector, he said I am all set up to burn wood in my fireplace. I need to either call a plumber to disconect the gas line, or he said I as the home owner can do it myself. Is it very hard to do? Just looking at it, it looks very simple, but I don't know if there is something special that needs to be done since it's dealing with gas.
There should be a shut off valve, usually in the basement, on the gas line that runs to the fireplace. Make sure that valve is shut off before doing anything else.
Once it is shut off, you can use a pipe wrench to unscrew the sections of pipe. You will probably have to start at the fireplace and work back. It might be necessary to have two wrenches in order to hold one piece of pipe firm while you unscrew another (for instance, you dont' want to unscrew the valve on the "upstream" side of the gas line).
If you haven't used a pipe wrench before, they're specially designed to grab and turn pipes. If you look at the wrench, it is adjustable, and the head of it will have a little bit of play to it. The teeth will have a slight angle to them. This is to allow the wrench to grip the pipe tightly. As you pull the handle, the play in the head will clamp the teeth down to grip the pipe. Look at the angle of the teeth to determine witch direction they will grab. If they're going the wrong way, flip the wrench over in your hand. That should reverse the direction that the teeth grab.
Once you remove the sections of pipe running to the fireplace, pick up a pipe cap (or plug depending on what you need) at the hardware store and cap off the pipe. You don't want to rely on the valve alone. The hardware store will probably have pipe in "black" and "galvanized". The "black pipe" is for gas. Your gas line will probably be 1/2" pipe. You can take a tape measure and measure the inside diameter of the pipe to determine the size to be sure. You will also need to pick up some teflon tape or some pipe thread compound (pipe dope). Make sure the one you get is rated for gas. There is teflon tape out there that is only rated for water. Wrap the tape clockwise around the threads of the pipe so that when you screw the cap on it does not unwind the tape. To avoid confusion, a pipe cap has female threads that screw on over the end of a piece of pipe. A pipe plug has male threads that screw into a valve or coupler.
In the end, as long as your valve is shut off, and the gas line is capped tightly, you'll be good to go.
Hope this helps.
-SF
Once it is shut off, you can use a pipe wrench to unscrew the sections of pipe. You will probably have to start at the fireplace and work back. It might be necessary to have two wrenches in order to hold one piece of pipe firm while you unscrew another (for instance, you dont' want to unscrew the valve on the "upstream" side of the gas line).
If you haven't used a pipe wrench before, they're specially designed to grab and turn pipes. If you look at the wrench, it is adjustable, and the head of it will have a little bit of play to it. The teeth will have a slight angle to them. This is to allow the wrench to grip the pipe tightly. As you pull the handle, the play in the head will clamp the teeth down to grip the pipe. Look at the angle of the teeth to determine witch direction they will grab. If they're going the wrong way, flip the wrench over in your hand. That should reverse the direction that the teeth grab.
Once you remove the sections of pipe running to the fireplace, pick up a pipe cap (or plug depending on what you need) at the hardware store and cap off the pipe. You don't want to rely on the valve alone. The hardware store will probably have pipe in "black" and "galvanized". The "black pipe" is for gas. Your gas line will probably be 1/2" pipe. You can take a tape measure and measure the inside diameter of the pipe to determine the size to be sure. You will also need to pick up some teflon tape or some pipe thread compound (pipe dope). Make sure the one you get is rated for gas. There is teflon tape out there that is only rated for water. Wrap the tape clockwise around the threads of the pipe so that when you screw the cap on it does not unwind the tape. To avoid confusion, a pipe cap has female threads that screw on over the end of a piece of pipe. A pipe plug has male threads that screw into a valve or coupler.
In the end, as long as your valve is shut off, and the gas line is capped tightly, you'll be good to go.
Hope this helps.
-SF
The inspector said it is a wood burning fireplace just with gas logs. So yes, I will use it as is.swestall said:
I'm not sure if someone said this before: you can get a lot more heat from the unit and less heat loss from the house by installing a set of glass doors. There are some really nice ones out there that will give you good radiance into the room when the fire is going (not to mention keeping popping embers in there) and when the fire burns out, they will keep the heat from going up the chimney while the damper is still open.
Sounds like you were lucky that the unit is a fire unit. Happy Burning and Best wishes for a great 08!
Sounds like you were lucky that the unit is a fire unit. Happy Burning and Best wishes for a great 08!
Thanks for the advise, guess i'm going glass door shopping! Oh and F.Y.I, I'm just going to have a plumber come out and cut off the gas, he is only going to charge me $100. At least it will give me a piece of mind that it is done right. Thanks for all your advise!
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