Want to get the fireplace going.

[russelly]

First time poster here, but I have a slew of questions to ask. Hopefully the pictures I post in this thread will show up as well.

We moved into our house in Jan. 07 and the fireplace was built to burn wood, but it looked like it was converted to gas. No big deal, who wants to haul in firewood anyways? We burned the gas fireplace for a couple times and quit after seeing the gas bills come in. We gave up on gas, but in the back of my mind I wanted to burn wood and made it a long term goal.

Last weekend I cleaned it out for the first time. The previous owner laid lava rock and sand in the bottom and it was a mess, but I we got it cleaned out. in the bottom there was a steel pipe with holes. There were some brass fittings connecting the steel pipe to the gas service into the firebox. I called up the local sweep and asked how much an inspection was and told them I wanted to keep the gas burning ability, but also burn wood. The lady asked some questions and informed me that the steel pipe is a log lighter and not a retrofit for gas.

So I am planning to have the fireplace and flue inspected before I start throwing logs in. Attached are some pictures of the fireplace and the chimney. I have a couple concerns and a question.

Concerns:
1. Will the brass fittings stand the heat from a wood fire in the fireplace or do those need to be a different material?
2. Refer to the picture for the chimney cap, but has it been retrofitted so I won't be able to burn wood?

Questions:
1. Two buddies have given me different advice on fires. One recommends building a good hot fire and then letting it burn down before I add more wood. The other recommends keep the fire hot and stoked and not letting it die down until I am ready to put it out. Is either way wrong?

Let me know if you have any answers or comments or questions for me.

Russell

 

[thechimneysweep]

That's not a log lighter in pic #1, it is a burner pan for a set of gas logs. The supply tubing is aluminum. If you're going to burn wood in this fireplace, you'll need to remove everything, including the brass el at the introduction point, replacing it with a black iron pipe cap. Make sure you locate the shutoff for this line and close it.

The cap is a Vacu Stack draft inducer, and is suitable for a wood fire. I'm not sure what that arched thing (mesh?) is standing up behind the cap, and can't imagine what its purpose might be. On second look, it appears it might totally surround the cap, acting as a spark or critter guard? If that's the case, you can achieve the same result with a less-unsightly cylinder of mesh on the inside of the cap.

 

[billb3]

ditto chimneysweep. either/or.


We had a fireplace screen exactly like that back when I was just a little fart.
We constantly loaded a log or two at a time, never letting it get too far down to just coals. Never so much flame to hit the damper.


You'll use a bit less wood with an insert, but you probably know that.

 

[russelly]

Thanks for the input. I will get the chimney sweep out and figure out how to plug the gas line going in.

The mesh is a critter guard from what I can tell.

Russell

 

[Scrounger]

Hi Russell,

We had the same deal as you, gas lines, etc. I removed everything and converted back to a wood burning fireplace instead of gas. We tried heating up our house with some logs in our fireplace. On and off over a winter. It was worthless. The room the fireplace is in was nice and toasty but the rest of the house was freezing cold. I would feed that baby and it was just roaring. Sounded like a jet the draft was so much. I couldn't keep fireplace grates in it. They would turn cherry red and warp and droop. Turned the damper down and smoke would spill into the room. As I said it was worthless. Got an insert and never looked back. The insert was just for once in a while burning, maybe to help with heat costs. Well after getting it hooked up and burning, I'm now a 24/7 burner and the furnace almost never comes on. All last winter our heat bills were 15 to 17 dollars a month. There is an initial cost but you recover that in a couple years at most. Just my 'comments'.

Luke