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Diversifying Your Fireplace Using Gas Logs

The inconvenience of maintenance of wood fireplaces and loss of heat is gradually compelling people to go for alternative fuel options such as gas logs which offer immense operational ease and cleanliness.

There are basically two types of fireplace gas logs currently available in the market, vented and ventless gas logs.

Vented gas logs allow the hazardous gaseous emissions generated during the burn to go out side through the vents.

Vented gas log fireplaces offer the aesthetic beauty and charm of the traditional wood burning fireplace. Although vented gas logs look like a wood fire, the heat generated by them is slightly lower than that from the wood in the same fireplace. The reason for this is that the gas logs are made from a dense refractory material that emits heat only after it warms up.

You do not have to clear the mess created by the wood fire such as ash, dust and wood chips. Moreover you do not have to fear running out of the wood in the cold winter day when you may not feel like going out. Vented gas logs produce a yellow flame which is just as attractive and natural as the flame given out by the wood fire.

The downside of these natural looking flames is that they are not as heat efficient as the typical blue gas flame. The yellow flames contain carbon and you have to clean the chimney. The gas logs also emit a little smoke and possibly carbon monoxide as is done by the wood fire. So you must keep your damper open when you use vented gas logs.

Moreover since the vented gas logs produce soot, you should not use blowers. They may blow the soot into your house.

It must be remembered that gas logs are not a solution for chimney problems. If a chimney is damaged, dirty or does not draw sufficient air to burn the wood, it will not properly burn the gas logs as well.

You should get your chimney professionally checked and cleaned before installing gas logs.

If, you do not have a chimney, you can use a top venting pipe to vent the fireplace. If that is not possible, you can consider direct venting. For that you need a two-layer pipe running through a hole in the wall behind the unit. While the outer pipe draws in air, the other takes the waste to the outside.

It is also recommended that you should install gas logs only in an operable wood burning fireplace. If your wood fireplace does not draw the air well, quite possibly it will not work with gas logs as well.

The other type of fireplace runs with ventless gas logs also called unvented, non-vented or vent free gas logs. Ventless gas logs are used by those who want to add to their heating system.

Ventless gas logs usually do not look as attractive as vented gas logs, but they generate more heat. They give a clean burn and you can run a fireplace even with the damper fully closed. You get all the heat into your room as there is no vent to let it go out.

Ventless gas logs produce a maximum of 40,000 BTU heat. All vent less gas logs have oxygen depletion sensors—ODS—that shut off the gas logs as soon as the oxygen level in the room falls to 18%. The normal oxygen level in a room remains at 21%.

You have to position the placement of logs as per the instructions contained in the owners’ manual and this arrangement should not be changed. Most ventless logs have pins and groves to ensure proper positioning. The flame should not come in contact with the logs as it may cause soot.