As I am sure you already know, wood-burning fireplaces send a majority of their heat up and out the chimney. So now you are looking for a change? Maybe to maximize the heat in those freezing rooms at the flick of a switch? Well this article will layout the steps and important points to examine before making the switch from a wood-burning fireplace to a gas model.
Typically, if you are looking to do this than you have a wood-burning fireplace that is a masonry built unit. As such a wide category of fireplaces, wood-burning units that are transitioned are the older style as mentioned above.
To calm and relieve your worries early-on in this article, we wanted to let you know that there are inserts that will fit into every fireplace. So the least of your worries is the actual unit which you are to put in place. It is just a matter of knowing the sizing and style in which you want. An easy call to one of our team or a simple internet search for fireplace gas inserts will let you peruse the best on the market.
Now, what are going to be your biggest problems? Lets keep exploring the job.
Firstly, to get gas to your new insert is what can cause problems and increase costs. A gas line must be brought into the unit from either the furnace or gas line. Often which ever is closest. If you don't have gas run into your home, well, that is another issue.
The gas line brought in will have to be drilled through the masonry work into the back of the insert, so costs here will depend on length of gas line materials used and time spent.
The second issue most often faced is the liner fitting. The liner is now a required piece to the insert installation and is dropped in from the chimney. To ensure that this goes smoothly, we very strongly encourage you to get a chimney clean so no time is spent trying to get the liner down the chimney.
If the liner and gas line are not difficult to install then you got your self an easy transition to heat at the flip of a switch. As always, pricing is difficult to generalize as everyone of these jobs is very different from the next with potential issues at any point!
We hope this helped answer some of your questions. If you have anything left unanswered, please let us know!
TFG