Should You Remodel To Make Your Wood Burning Fireplace Gas?

If you have a wood burning stove, you may consider remodeling the wood burning stove into a gas stove. As technology has advanced, gas fireplaces have become more prevalent and have many advantages over the wood burning fireplace. However, you will have to decide if the advantages of gas outweigh the advantages of wood burning to justify the expense of remodeling your fireplace.

You most likely have a central heating system even if you do have a fireplace. Modern homes do not need fireplaces to depend on heat during the cold months. However, many people still enjoy a fireplace in their home. You will want to understand the different types of fireplaces before deciding to renovate or change your existing fireplace.

The wood fireplace has is not as common as it once was. Wood is not as readily available either. If you have seen prices of wood at a grocery store, you may have thought of the term `burning money.' You can find wood cheaper if you look, but you will most likely have to purchase in bulk and store it at your house and if you live in a townhouse or condo, this may not be convenient.

Additionally, some places have limits on when you can and can't burn your wood in the fireplace. Air pollution is monitored very carefully in some cities and they don't want wood burned if the pollution is beyond a certain limit.

For these reasons and others, you may want to consider changing your fireplace from wood burning to gas burning. Natural gas fireplaces are much cleaner sources of heat than wood burning. The natural gas is already connected to your home so it could be fairly inexpensive to run a gas line to your fireplace area for the renovation. Additionally, you will not have to deal with the acquisition and storage of wood.

However, gas can get fairly expensive as an alternative fuel source. During the winter months when you want to use your fireplace and other people are heating their homes, the demand for natural gas increases. As the demand increases so does costs. Hence, the logistics of dealing with gas is much simpler than wood, but it can also be much more expensive too.

You may view a gas fireplace as safer too. A traditional wood burning fireplace has a fire that pops and throws sparks. Additionally, you normally have to let the fire burn until it uses up all of the fuel. With a gas fireplace, you can turn it on and off with a switch and it isn't spitting sparks out onto the carpet as a fire hazard.

Some of the first gas fireplaces looked more like a BBQ grill than a fireplace. However, today's gas fireplaces can be controlled with remote control and adjusted to look like crackling orange and yellow flames. The artificial logs often resemble natural split logs, complete with a satisfying glow of embers.

Lastly, wood fireplaces require a consistent maintenance to keep them in safe operating order. Gas fireplaces do not require nearly as much maintenance. Hence, gas fireplaces would be most useful for those who are not comfortable with maintenance or do not have the capacity to store excess wood on their property. Families with small children may also benefit from the instant on/instant off options offered by gas fireplace systems.

In summary, gas fireplaces are becoming more and more popular. You may want to change your wood burning fireplace to a gas fireplace. Some reasons you should consider is that gas burns cleaner, you don't have to deal with wood logistics and in some ways the gas fireplace is much safer.

What Should We Burn in Our Chiminea?

This is one of the most common questions new chiminea owners will ask. There are several types of woods that will work well with your chiminea but there are a few most to ensure a healthy chiminea in the long run.

Chimineas are typically smaller than a traditional log fire therefore you will have to buy already cut logs suitable in size or cut them to the correct size yourself.

A good sized chiminea log will be approximate 4 inch in diameter and 10-15 inches in length, but this will depend on the size of the opening to your chiminea.

Pellets such as them used in Pellet stoves or corn stoves, are not recommended to used, as they tend to burn very hot and leave a lot of ash if they are the standard grade pellets. Another one is pressured treated wood as they emit toxic gases when burnt. Look out for green tinted wood as this is a typical sign of treated wood.

Most Chiminea manufacturers suggest against burning charcoal.

There are several types of wood that many people like to burn:

Red Cedar is popular and has a nice aroma and keeps the mosquitoes away, the drawback is that red cedar wood will pop therefore you will need a spark arrestor on the neck and a screen to cover the mouth.

An excellent cooking wood is Mesquite, so if you have a grill chiminea, but this wood will burn very hot therefore use only a few pieces at a time.

Scrap lumber is a popular fuel for chimineas; drawback is they burn hot and fast but come in nice sizes of 2×4s, 2×6s and can easily split into small manageable sizes.

Avoid Green or wet wood cause it will cause a lot of smoke, which may your neighbours unless you invite them over.

Learn how to Prepare your Chiminea Fire.

Natural Gas Unit Conversions - Should I Talk to a Specialist?

A specialist can assist with the decision making process of unit conversions of natural gas. This person can inspect your vehicle and determine if the conversion can occur properly. Your existing vehicle might require too much work or it may not even be possible.

When you seek professional advice about your vehicle you can seek tips and tricks to natural gas unit conversions you might not have known before. If you think you can do the work yourself you can still seek advice to easier ways to perform the work. Some specialists can do the conversion for you or they can point you in the direction to a professional who can.

Specialists are good to seek advice from when you are considering unit conversions for natural gas with your vehicle because they can give you a ball park figure how much money it will cost you. This is usually a rough estimate but you can determine if the conversion is affordable for you.

One thing you don't want to do is begin natural gas unit conversions and find that your vehicle cannot be converted. This would be a lot of wasted time and might cost you a lot of money if you have already removed all of the existing fuel system parts.

Any type of conversions with natural gas units should be discussed with a specialist of natural gas and your vehicle type. You might find your vehicle cannot be converted or get a few super simple tips to make the conversion take place more easily without any specific issues.