Coverting a gas fireplace back to wood & pellet??

[JustinCase]

Good morning all,


I am in the process of purchasing a house that has two fire places. One is on the main floor and one in the basement and are both are maintained within the same chimney. The fireplace on the main floor is on one side of the chimney system and the one in the basement is on the other side. The house was built in the late 70's and is approx. 2500 sq. ft. not including the basement and is two stories. The owners who have owned the house for the last 10-15 years or so converted both wood burning fireplaces to gas for convenience. I would love to convert the fire place in the basement to an insert for pellet/ multi fuel and the one on the main floor to wood. Can that be done or should they be the same fuel type? I am not sure if there are two different flues and very new to having a fireplace in general. Also if the fireplace on the main floor can be converted back to wood can the TV stay in place or would the heat damage the TV?

I attached a pic of the main floor fireplace.

Thanks,

Justin

 

[Grisu]

Welcome to the forum!

If the conversion was simply putting a gas line and a gas log in a otherwise full masonry fireplace you could have those pulled and plugged. I would certainly get someone qualified/licensed for that. You also need to figure out what kind of flue you have: Is it masonry with clay liner or a round steel pipe? Each fireplace needs also to be serviced by its own flue. Then it will not matter if one is a gas fireplace and the other is wood.

I suggest getting a certified sweep as part of the home inspection to take a look at your setup and to discuss options. Here you can search for one: http://www.csia.org/search or (broken link removed to http://nficertified.org/pages_consumers/consumers-1.cfm)

 

[begreen]

First thing to do is have a certified sweep come out and verify that they have separate flues and check the condition of the basement chimney. If yes, the basement flue will need a liner installed for either the pellet or wood insert.

The mantel (is that stone?) will shield the TV somewhat if it projects out further than the face of the unit. In general, heat is the enemy of electronics.