Do You Have To Clean Chimney With Gas Logs

The vent free gas products alliance advises consumers to take special care in cleaning vent free fireplaces.

Do you have to clean chimney with gas logs.

It is fueled by gas and is often mistaken for wood because the fire looks very much like a wood burning fire and lets out about the same amount of heat. There will not be any soot or creosote in the chimney since you are not burning wood but you may find bird nests that need to be removed. Vent free gas log fires blue flame fires. Yellow flame often referred to as vented gas logs generate soot and carbon which is deposited in the chimney.

A vented gas log display is an alternative to a wood log fire. Natural gas is burnt with balanced or excess oxygen so the burn is complete and you should only produce carbon dioxide and water. To clean out the gas logs turn off the fireplace s pilot light place the logs onto paper outside the fireplace then vacuum up the soot. These deposits require chimney cleaning just like a real wood fireplace does.

Soot could form from natural gas combustion if the logs are out of place. No you don t need a masonry chimney but for your most efficient gas units you will need a venting system though it does not always require venting through your roof. The combustion of the gas around them still does leave behind a little soot which typically only needs cleaning on an annual basis. This buildup can be swept off with a soft bristle paint brush.

These logs are ceramic and painted to look like burning wood logs. Chimney sweeping is needed to be performed when the smoke cools and forms a resin. Don t forget to get your chimney swept annually. Vented gas logs generate some soot and carbon just like wood burning fires and can leave deposits in the chimney the same way.

Most homeowners are aware of the need for chimney cleaning and inspection if they own a wood burning stove or regularly use their fireplace but many don t realize that a gas heating appliance whether it is a furnace boiler or even a hot water heater also relies on the chimney for proper venting of the exhaust. Ventless gas logs are designed to achieve a clean smokeless flame so they don t require the use of a chimney and can be used with the damper closed. And soot from unburned evaporated carbon condensing out of the exhaust gasses. You will need run a gas line to the new fireplace location and in some cases electricity if you want ambient lighting and or a blower which costs additional time and money to.

Creosote from wood fires is the main reason so no cleaning from that standpoint isn t needed. Since they don t require a chimney 100 of the heat produced is circulated back into the room rather than escaping up the chimney. You might see soot build up from natural gas on the gas logs or the firebox. The alliance says it s important that users return the gas logs to the correct position over the burners as required by the manufacturer after cleaning a unit.