Conversion of wood burning fireplace back from gas

[Buda]

I had looked around and found one other string about this subject and it had been closed for discussion so I hope you don't mind if I open up a new thread.

I am in the process of purchasing a home that has two fireplaces, one in the basement and one in the living room. They both use the same chimney system for the lack of better terms. At one time both of these fireplaces were wood burning and were converted to gas for convenience. What I would like to know is how hard would it be to put them back to wood burning? I would think a liner was put in for the gas fireplace conversion (??) or if they just put a gas line in and converted it that way. I was also thinking if possible could the basement fireplace be converted to a pellet insert? I would like this feature since the basement would receive extra heat on a consistent basis and it would radiate up to the next level of the house with a lot less effort than burning wood.

So I guess what I am looking to find out before any sort of chimney inspection would be:

• Is it worth doing the work first of all. Natural gas is the source of heating which is cheaper than propane but it is still a cost.

• How hard is it to convert a fireplace back from gas to the original purpose.

• Can a pellet insert be installed in a lower fireplace and not mess with the fireplace above that.

• What is the typical cost for conversions.

• What do I need to look for when doing this?

• How far back does the gas line need to be taken for it to be safe after it is capped?

Thanks,

Justin

 

[bholler]

Well we need more info and some pics to be able to really give you any info. Are there gas inserts or gas log sets? It they are inserts then yes there was probably a liner put in for them and yes they can add some heat. If they are gas log sets there was probably no liner put in for them and they will not really provide much of any usable heat. What type of fireplaces are they? Masonry or prefab? Do they have separate flues?

 

[Buda]

Well we need more info and some pics to be able to really give you any info. Are there gas inserts or gas log sets? It they are inserts then yes there was probably a liner put in for them and yes they can add some heat. If they are gas log sets there was probably no liner put in for them and they will not really provide much of any usable heat. What type of fireplaces are they? Masonry or prefab? Do they have separate flues?

No pictures yet. I know some of this will be basic information. They are just log sets with no inserts. The fire place is masonry but I am not exactly sure if they use the same flue. The fireplace in the basement is on one side of of the masonry and the one on the main floor is on the other side. At the top of the chimney there are two separate openings so I would assume that would mean two separate flues.

Thanks for the help and information!

Justin

 

[bholler]

Well i would say it would probably not be an issue to either convert back to wood burning or a pellet insert from what you say but you need to have it inspected before using it for wood.

 

[Buda]

Well i would say it would probably not be an issue to either convert back to wood burning or a pellet insert from what you say but you need to have it inspected before using it for wood.

Bholler,
Thank you very much for the insight on the fireplaces. It is very much appreciated. As soon as we are in the house we will be getting everything inspected for the conversion.

 

[begreen]

As a requirement for purchase you might want to include a chimney/fireplace inspection by a certified sweep. There are multiple possible scenarios here that we can't tell from remote analysis.