A sweeps view of Gas Logs
There are a few other professionals out there speaking their mind about
the gas invasion of the purehearted woodman's land. The following is a clip
from CPM... Chimney Professionals Magazine....
From: [email protected] (Bill Kline) Subject: Re: gas
I have written a brochure titled "The Case Against Gas Logs"
which I hand out to people, and I copied from April 95 SNEWS an article
reviewing Dave Pomeroy's view of unvented logs on one side, and my letter
to the editor in response to that article on the other side. Between the
two, I have been able to persuade several people to stay with wood.
The Case Against Gas Logs
For the last year or two, the hottest thing on the market for your fireplace
has been gas logs. Gas log manufacturers have been having a heyday, with
claims of convenience, economy, and cleanliness topping the ad strategy.
And homeowners have been flocking to dealers' showrooms and taking some
home. I'd like to help sort out some of the facts from the fiction about
gas logs, and suggest some better options for your consideration.
One claim that is typical is "Deluxe"(brand name) Gas Logs burn
clean eliminating pollutants produced from wood fires, and eliminates unnecessary
chimney cleaning. The facts are that the pollution produced by gas logs
may be more serious than that of wood fires. Most of the pollution from
wood fires is temporary it settles out, or the rain washes it out of the
air. The pollution from gas logs is mostly carbon dioxide (CO2), which seems
harmless enough. But when you consider that our atmosphere has an estimated
9 billion tons too much CO2 in it (ever hear of the greenhouse effect?),
then you can begin to be concerned about excess CO2 pollution. The other
pollutants include trace amounts of Sulfur and Chlorine and whatever else
is in the air in your house. And the part about unnecessary chimney cleanings?
No ethical chimney sweep will sell you an unnecessary chimney cleaning.
But no competent chimney sweep will tell you that if you have gas logs,
your chimney won't ever need cleaning. If your logs have a realistic yellow
flame as a result of a pan burner, they burn dirty, and make a nasty, sooty
mess of your chimney (and produce lots of Carbon MONoxide (CO)). And remember
those trace amounts of Sulfur and Chlorine? They condense in the soot, and
the summer moisture mixes with them to form acids in your chimney which
can eat away your mortar and flue tiles.
So, one main objection to gas logs is their significant contribution of
CO2 to the already overloaded atmosphere. The EPA has recently stated that
our best hope of reversing the greenhouse effect is to convert 15 million
old wood stoves to new EPA Certified clean burning stoves, and switch another
15 million homes from heating with gas and oil to new tech wood stoves,
and then plant the trees to fuel 30 million wood stoves every year. This
would reduce CO2 by 1/2 billion tons annually.
Another ad claim is, (brand name) gas logs eliminate the high cost of wood.
This is true, to be sure. But what they didn't mention was the higher cost
of gas. A typical leading brand's 24 inch gas log set consumes 90,000 BTUs
per hour. (A 2,000 sq. ft. home in the Greenville, SC area can be heated
by a 90,000 BTU gas furnace running a few minutes each hour!) The 18 inch
set burns 75,000 BTU/H. Some of the "high efficiency" units are
as low as 45,000 BTU/H. Some of these have heat extractors that blow a little
heat out. But basically all you get for your gas money is a realistic fire.
According to a study by the University of Wyoming, as the temperature outside
approaches 40¡, the efficiency of an open fireplace approaches 0%.
As the temperature drops below 40¡, the efficiency drops below 0%.
While you may feel warm in the room with the fire because of radiant heat,
the fireplace is taking more heat up the chimney than it produces. The main
thing your gas logs heat is the greenhouse effect. This constitutes a tragic
waste of a limited natural resource for no benefit except the joy of watching
it burn. And one more thing, included with gas logs is a little clamp that
the law requires be installed on your damper to prevent it from closing
all the way. So, not only is it wasting your fuel dollars when the logs
are burning, but also when they are NOT burning!
If you want the convenience and aesthetics of gas logs, but don't want to
waste all that fuel, consider one of the new vented gas log inserts now
on the market. Most of these burn a maximum of 20,000 to 30,000 BTU/H, and
are from 75 to 80% efficient. So you can have your nice gas fire, burn a
fraction of the gas, and contribute significantly to heating your house.
The initial investment is more than gas logs, but the gas bills are forever
much less, as is the resulting CO2 and CO pollution.
There are some unvented gas appliances on the market. Some are very efficient,
claiming efficiencies as high as 99%. However, there are some downsides
to unvented gas appliances. The main thing is that "unvented"
is a misnomer, they are just vented into your living space instead of directly
to the outside. This requires that you always keep a window open in the
room with the heater. The safety instructions with each such unit generally
call for 1 sq. in. window opening per 1,000 BTU input (so much for 99% efficiency!)
Because burning gas produces large quantities of water vapor, unvented gas
heaters also tend to darken ceilings, curtains, etc. with mildew. The Oxygen
Depletion Sensor shuts the burner off before it starts producing CO, but
what becomes of the 1%? What other pollutants are being dumped into your
living space?
Unvented gas appliances are not recommended for people over 65 years old,
or people with respiratory problems. If they are not good for those people,
what makes them desirable for younger, healthier people? With all the bad
news we've been hearing about indoor air quality and Sick Building Syndrome,
do we really want to add gas combustion by-products to the mix? I suspect
that 15 or 20 years from now we'll learn that people who breathe that stuff
will have a higher incidence of some serious disease than people who don't.
My advice: stay away from the unvented gas appliances unless you want to
keep a window open when burning, and repaint your ceilings every spring.
And stay away from them if anyone in your house tends to have respiratory
difficulties. And stay away from them if you don't want to be a medical
science guinea pig!
In closing, let me suggest you consider this question: Perhaps our generation
of Americans is affluent enough that we can afford to waste gas, a limited
fossil fuel. But can our grandchildren afford for us to waste it??
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