# Can I Burn Real Wood in My Fire Place?



## Shamus (Apr 27, 2008)

My first impression is NO.

And it looks like someone has already tried.

If your at all interested in safety you first need to call someone that can look at what you have installed. Hands on is the only way anyone can tell what type of system you have. 

I believe yours is only designed for gas logs and starting a wood fire could burn down the whole building.


----------



## VIPlumber (Aug 2, 2010)

Absolutely not! With the gas setup you have there's not the correct amount of air supplied for complete combustion to take place. Not to mention the damage that would be done to any gas valves, ignitors, etc... And I wouldn't even want to think about what could happen if some of the gas piping somehow leaked.


----------



## limitdiy (Apr 26, 2009)

VIPlumber said:


> Absolutely not! With the gas setup you have there's not the correct amount of air supplied for complete combustion to take place. Not to mention the damage that would be done to any gas valves, ignitors, etc... And I wouldn't even want to think about what could happen if some of the gas piping somehow leaked.


for a real wood fireplace....does the chimney have to be completely open?

not just have a small circular hole like I have?

man this sucks...gas is too expensive.....


----------



## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

*IF *this is a fireplace that was converted to gas, you could remove all the gas logs *AND* the gas line, and burn wood. Do NOT burn wood with that gas line still in there. (My house has a regular fireplace converted to gas.)

On the other hand, if it was NOT designed to burn wood, your chimney & flue won't be adequate.


----------



## limitdiy (Apr 26, 2009)

DrHicks said:


> *IF *this is a fireplace that was converted to gas, you could remove all the gas logs *AND* the gas line, and burn wood. Do NOT burn wood with that gas line still in there. (My house has a regular fireplace converted to gas.)
> 
> On the other hand, if it was NOT designed to burn wood, your chimney & flue won't be adequate.


is the flue the circular hole?

does it run all the way to the top of the chimney? Is that what that circular thing is on top of the chimney outside is?

it could very well have been converted....
its a 2 story house that was built in 1991....

I found an folder in my house labeled fireplace....it has a thermo-rite (tempered glass fireplace enclosures) paper in it....it says full swing door installation guide....

but...there is the little panel next to the fireplace....with the gas line that can be turned on or off.....i'll upload a pic of that...


----------



## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

^ If your house was built in 1991, I seriously doubt that this was a wood-burning fireplace. 


Honestly, if it was my house I would just run the gas. In fact, we converted ours to a gasser. When it's all said & done, burning wood is a HUGE pain in the butt, unless you're really set up for it. Plus, you're not saving money on your heating bills.


----------



## tpolk (Nov 7, 2009)

thats a gas system insert with flue not intended for wood


----------



## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

It looks like you have a metal flu running all the way up. Wood-burning fireplaces traditionally have a much more open flu and chimney. There is an iron or maybe cast iron damper that runs the width of the chimney. 

You mention the cost of gas but the downfall of a traditional fireplace and chimney is that they draw more heated air out of the house than they actually provide for heating the space. They are a throwback to the days when people would burn a wood fire for comfort but they would typically let the fire die out in the evening and sleep in a colder, but ventilated room under lots of blankets. 

Your gas insert is still going to be cheaper to run for heat than an open flu wood fireplace. If you want to burn wood for heat you should look at wood stoves designed for modern heating needs.

PS sorry for the double post. Connection problems today.


----------



## firehawkmph (Dec 12, 2009)

Get a knowledgable person that knows zero clearance fireplaces out and have them take a look. They should be able to id the fireplace and tell you if it was originally built to burn wood. Contrary to some of the other posts above, there were a ton of zero clearance wood burning fireplaces installed in new houses in the nineties. We put them in just about every house we built, including my own. Some of the brand names were Superior, Majestic. Yours looks like one of them, but like I said before, get an expert out to look at it. If it turns out it is a woodburner, you could use your existing gasline to power a loglighter since it is already there. 
Mike Hawkins


----------



## Wildie (Jul 23, 2008)

Unless you have access to an unlimited supply of free wood, you will find that wood burning is more expensive than gas.
If your fireplace was converted to gas, it could be converted to an airtight wood-burning, air-tight fireplace. These inserts usually cost in excess of $1000 for the unit plus the labor cost.


----------



## Tizzer (Jul 24, 2010)

I'd do as already mentioned, keep it as is. This house was built around a gas fireplace and not wood. There are certain framing requirements when framing around fireplaces.
I've had both a free standing woodstove and a wood burning fireplace. As mentioned, the fireplace(unless fitted with an insert) just wastes heat and it needs to be lined with fire brick. I don't know what that gas one is lined with.

Wood is a chore even if you can supply your own. Splitting,keeping kindling around,keeping it covered from the elements,keeping the flue cleaned, etc,. etc.


----------



## Tscarborough (Mar 31, 2006)

I know zero clearance garbage, I mean "fireplaces", and that is a gas appliance. Do not burn wood in it.


----------



## Red Squirrel (Jun 29, 2009)

My house had a wood fireplace at one point, there is now an electric fireplace in it which I will probably convert to gas eventually. Electric is mostly just for show. One thing I noticed is all the ceilings had lot of black soot in corners and along the edges, even in the bedrooms. 

Wood burning is very dirty compared to a high efficiency gas appliance. I've thought about converting back to wood, as I find a wood fire is very comfortable and you can throw lot of stuff in there such as wood scraps - some places even give away wood palets that could be cut up etc... so it's nice for that. But it's very dirty. 

I'd stick with the gas fireplace, but it almost looks like someone tried to burn wood in there. I'd have to checked to make sure all is ok. That fireplace also looks like it was converted at one point. Gas fireplaces normally don't have that much brick to them, though it's always possible they built that for looks.


----------



## limitdiy (Apr 26, 2009)

Red Squirrel said:


> My house had a wood fireplace at one point, there is now an electric fireplace in it which I will probably convert to gas eventually. Electric is mostly just for show. One thing I noticed is all the ceilings had lot of black soot in corners and along the edges, even in the bedrooms.
> 
> Wood burning is very dirty compared to a high efficiency gas appliance. I've thought about converting back to wood, as I find a wood fire is very comfortable and you can throw lot of stuff in there such as wood scraps - some places even give away wood palets that could be cut up etc... so it's nice for that. But it's very dirty.
> 
> I'd stick with the gas fireplace, but it almost looks like someone tried to burn wood in there. I'd have to checked to make sure all is ok. That fireplace also looks like it was converted at one point. Gas fireplaces normally don't have that much brick to them, though it's always possible they built that for looks.


the entire house is brick all the way around...no siding...so maybe that's why they used brick there as well....I know the outside of the chimney is all brick....all the way up to the top...

thanks to everyone for all the info....you make me feel alot better about using gas....
I'll just stick with that I guess....


----------



## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

^ Remember to close the flue and doors when you're not using it.

By the way, you're not stuck with a "flame pattern" you don't like. You can buy replacement ceramic logs, etc., and arrange them in such a way that the fire looks *very* authentic.


----------



## Wildie (Jul 23, 2008)

Thats a wise decision!


----------



## firestarter (Nov 17, 2010)

i have looked at your photos and that looks to be a wood burning insert with a gas log set installed. yes i know the flue looks to small but even the new wood inserts have a small flue ,the inner flue is 8" and the outer can be 10" up to 12". i am not trying to bash anything that has been said but on either side on the front you should have a lever to open and close the outside air with what may look like a dryer vent on the outside of the house somewhere. and you should have a wall switch for a blower because it it a circulating unit, but they are right you must remove the log set including the gas line and fill the hole on the bottom refractory with fireplace mortar. now there should be a tag on the inside of the f.p. with the model # or serial # usually it is on the smoke shelf, if you can find that you can have a pro identify that as a wood insert and be sure to have a f.p. tech look at it and be sre to have the flue cleaned because i am sure from your photos there is a lot of cresote buildup .HAVE A PRO LOOK AT IT!


----------



## firestarter (Nov 17, 2010)

i am not one to complain but come on you can easily look at it and see it is a woodburner ,and those zreo clearance wood burners are still popular today and people only install log sets because of the looks and they don't want the mess from the ash or to bother with wood.


----------



## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

firestarter said:


> i am not one to complain but come on you can easily look at it and see it is a woodburner ,and those zreo clearance wood burners are still popular today and people only install log sets because of the looks and they don't want the mess from the ash or to bother with wood.


What makes it so easy to tell that it is a woodburner?


----------



## Tscarborough (Mar 31, 2006)

It is not the size of the flue it is the lack of a smoke chamber. That is a gas appliance, not a wood burning zero clearance fireplace.

The ID tag should be on the black metal to the left facing forward, as you stand in front of it.


----------



## operagost (Jan 8, 2010)

DrHicks said:


> Honestly, if it was my house I would just run the gas. In fact, we converted ours to a gasser. When it's all said & done, burning wood is a HUGE pain in the butt, unless you're really set up for it. Plus, you're not saving money on your heating bills.


Well, that depends on how you're getting your wood. That being said, a wood stove is a heck of a lot more efficient.


----------



## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

operagost said:


> Well, that depends on how you're getting your wood. That being said, a wood stove is a heck of a lot more efficient.


 Yes indeed. I used to heat our home with 2 wood-burning stoves. Multiplied times better for heating than a fireplace. 

People should realize that wood heat isn't for everybody. 

Open-air fireplaces usually increase your heat bill, because they're sucking warm air out of the house and up the chimney. Add to that the work and mess, and you're paying a high price for ambiance. When I heated our house with wood, I lived in a rural area with unlimited access to trees for firewood. I also had a crappy old banger of a pickup. And, of course, 25 years ago I had a much better back than I now have. It was great, at the time. But we now live in the middle of Omaha, and finding trees to harvest would be a problem.


----------



## operagost (Jan 8, 2010)

If fireplaces make your house colder, then why didn't our great-grandparents freeze to death, resulting in our nonexistence?


----------



## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

operagost said:


> If fireplaces make your house colder, then why didn't our great-grandparents freeze to death, resulting in our nonexistence?


Did I say fireplaces make a house colder?

I said they draw already heated air out of the house and up the chimney. You are aware, aren't you, that it takes oxygen/air for a fire to burn? Where do you suppose that air comes from, in an open fireplace?


----------



## operagost (Jan 8, 2010)

DrHicks said:


> Did I say fireplaces make a house colder?
> 
> I said they draw already heated air out of the house and up the chimney. You are aware, aren't you, that it takes oxygen/air for a fire to burn? Where do you suppose that air comes from, in an open fireplace?


You said they "increase your heating bill", which suggests that more heat is leaving the house than is being released into the house. Air is needed for the chemical reaction, but in many (most?) houses with oil or gas heat, this is also obtained from inside the house. This air is indeed replaced with outside air via leaks in the building envelope. People's houses certainly get warmer with a furnace or boiler, so I think the problem is twofold: 1) a fireplace is not very efficient, so it doesn't make up for the loss as well and 2) In homes with one heating zone, if the thermostat is in the room with the fireplace (or any other standalone heater) the central heat will be effectively disabled as the fireplace keeps that room above the set point. Meanwhile, cold air is still being pulled from the outside via leaks in the envelope in these rooms.


----------



## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

I am absolutely no expert, but the pictures look very similar to the wood-burning fireplace in my house (built 2002). However, where you have that flexible gas line connecting to the burners under your ceramic logs, I have iron pipe connecting to the gas-start for the fireplace. I wouldn't burn wood logs with that in there. 

Wood is a hassle though, we light ours maybe 2-3x a year. I've been thinking of converting it to gas logs so we can use it more often without buying wood, bringing it in, getting it to burn, cleaning up the ash, waiting for the fire to go out to close the flue (when I could just shut off the gas on a gas-log and be done with it).


----------



## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

operagost said:


> You said they "increase your heating bill", which suggests that more heat is leaving the house than is being released into the house. Air is needed for the chemical reaction, but in many (most?) houses with oil or gas heat, this is also obtained from inside the house. This air is indeed replaced with outside air via leaks in the building envelope. People's houses certainly get warmer with a furnace or boiler, so I think the problem is twofold: 1) *a fireplace is not very efficient,* so it doesn't make up for the loss as well and 2) In homes with one heating zone, if the thermostat is in the room with the fireplace (or any other standalone heater) the central heat will be effectively disabled as the fireplace keeps that room above the set point. Meanwhile, cold air is still being pulled from the outside via leaks in the envelope in these rooms.


Right. Unless a fireplace/insert is designed with an outside air intake, it pulls warm air out of the house and up the chimney. In fact, it does more than "use" the air necessary for a fire. It creates a draft that literally sucks warm air up and out of the chimney.


----------

