Switch from Ventless gas logs

[joatmon]

I recently purchased a house with ventless gas logs, and have quickly learned that they put off very little heat and stink up the whole house. I'd like to find a way to install a real fireplace, preferable wood burning, and preferably some type of wood stove insert. The problem is, there is no chimney and no masonry surround. I spoke with a local fireplace shop and they told me I'd be looking at around $7k, which is way out of my budget.

Any recommendations or guidance would be appreciated. Below is a picture of the current setup. I'm okay not having a masonry fireplace, I can just box in the chimney with wood and trim to match the surrounding shelves. I was hoping I could find a solution that would cost closer to 700, not 7000.

Thanks

 

[Bootstrap]

No, definitely no way to do anything for $700.
You could install a wood stove elsewhere in the house and install stainless steel triple wall chimney piping. Even then, your looking in the couple thousand dollar range done right.

 

[joatmon]

Understood, but $2k is still a lot better than $7k. Any guidance on what type of insert and/or chimney? I definitely want to keep it in the same location as its a focal point in the house. The fireplace shop told me the chimney piping is typically 14" in diameter, and I'll need to build the wood surround around it with at least 2" clearance. Does that sound correct? They also talked about "hybrid" wood stoves, classic wood stoves, etc. I'm thoroughly confused on what my options are.

Thanks in advance

 

[StihlKicking]

Even if you already had a masonry fireplace it would be difficult to install a wood insert/stove for $700.


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[xman23]

So what do you want, fireplace, insert in a fireplace, woodstove. And a few other options vented gas stove, vented gas fireplace. How about a pellet stove. Some of these have the same installation cost and some are much cheaper. Equally there is a big difference in your cost and work operating each of them. Non of these for $700. Maybe the electric radiant heater as seen on TV.

I would't run a non vented stove. I wonder why they are not banned.

 

[joatmon]

I'm wanting the least expensive option to have a wood burning fireplace with some level of efficiency higher than a traditional fireplace. I don't have to have something thats 80% efficient. I'd like it to go in the area that my ventless logs are now. Probably no pellets, typical firewood would be best.

After more research, I see that the fireplace store was pointing me toward a zero-clearance high efficiency (86%) epa certified unit. While that seems nice, I'm looking for a less expensive alternative if that exist.

 

[weatherguy]

you could rip that out and make a hearth for a woodstove in that space, not sure what that would cost though.

 

[xman23]

If you’re doing this with the goal of heating the house you should be considering something other than a fireplace, Generally speaking an open fireplace will remove more heat than they produce. Yes you will feel radiant heat in front of it, but the uncontrolled air flow burns wood quickly and sends all the house heat up the chimney. The cheep zero clearance fireplaces are what builders put in to say the house has a fireplace. This may be the reason you have those un vented gas logs. Most of what I have seen are made for very small fires. You will notice they have a very small firebox. Some will have a blower and glass doors. But the glass will break if you run them hot with the doors closed.

So if it’s a wood fire from time to time and the sound of popping wood, the cheep 0 clearance fireplace could be OK. That said they may make higher end versions of those fireplaces. You get what you pay for.