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Convert wood burning fireplace insert to Gas only

13 years ago

Kind of an odd question, but we are building a home and we have 2 wood burning insert fireplaces that we plan to put a gas log set in. The problem is because they are "wood burning" they have to meet all the codes for a wood burning fireplace and we can't get the ducting out of the house (ie only 2 30Â° offsets etc). I never plan to use it as a wood burner, but I need to permanently convert it to a "gas only" fireplace before the inspector will pass it. Anyone have any idea of how you could convert it to "gas only"? They are the Heatilator I80 and I100 fireplaces. http://www.heatilator.com/products/fireplaces/woodFireplaceDetail.asp?f=MLI80

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Comment (1)

macv
13 years ago
A fireplace "insert" is intended to fit into a pre-existing masonry fireplace. I assume you mean a metal factory built "zero clearance" wood burning fireplace for new construction

The wood burning fireplace "duct" you mention is a chimney whether it is masonry or metal. You can add gas to the firebox or put a gas log kit in it but the chimney must still be designed for a wood burning fireplace and sized for the fire box opening (unless you want to pay for it to be tested by UL).

You need to either try harder to get the chimney offsets to work or use a metal factory built gas fireplace already tested by UL with a B-vent through the roof.

Factory built gas fireplaces are made in two types: Direct vent and B-vent.

The Direct Vent unit has a double-walled metal vent pipe that can terminate on an outside wall or through the roof. It is a closed system so the fireplace gets combustion air from outside through the outer wall of the vent and the firebox has a fixed glass enclosures.

The B-vent unit has a single-walled vent that can only terminate through the roof. The fireplace takes combustion air from the room so it can be open to the room. Many of the units have folding glass doors. Carefully read the instruction for installing the vent. Consider an optional outside air supply duct to the firebox.
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Now hold on guys. Yes, caution is absolutely required here. However, I have a builder grade fireplace that looks very similar to the OP's unit. Mine is designed for either wood or gas. My unit has the same cheesy thin metal like stuff. If you look at the other pics on flicker, you will see that the unit has a full above roof chase and what appears to be a spark cap. I believe my unit has one of those huge 14" flues which is common for these units. This one doesn't seem to be that large, which makes me wonder if it is indeed a wood burner. The top of the front of the unit also has something that looks like sheet metal extending down into the firebox that is different from mine and that makes me think of gas. Remember, these are open fireplaces and don't really generate dramatic heat. My cheesy back fake bricks never got damaged in any way. So, two points: the 'fireplace' may indeed be designed for wood and you will need to check further; AND you aren't going to heat much with this thing either.
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If you aim for a serious amount of heat, you need to get a direct vent insert. These cost at least $2K. They are energy efficient in that most of the heat does not go up the chimney like the typical gas logs that look nice but do not give out real heat. And stay away from unvented systems which are a safey hazard and outlawed in many places. Do a search of direct vent on this forum to find out more.
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It was a bit pricey - but in my opinion totally worth it. I think it was 500-800 for all the install work (they need to do it, this is not a diy project) and 3500 for the actual unit. The different fronts were different prices but all the ones we considered were in the same general range. Oh, and I wanted to mention that our chimney breast was covered all the way up tot he ceiling in faux 70's stone. So we ended up framing in the whole thing and dry-walling. That did give us some extra room for the insert. There are just certain measurements in terms of the studs that you need to make sure are correct. We are also planning on installing a mantel. We bought a wooden one from construction junction but it isn't going to work out. That cast iron front sticks out about an inch from the wall. Just fyi. We did find a stale Victorian one on craigslist that sticks out from the wall. But if you are considering wood, you may need to go custom. The fireplace installers did have resources for mantels that would fit these models though.
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