Smoke with gas logs after installation?

[Durango Jim]

We just had new vented gas logs installed this evening in our house in a non-prefab wood fireplace. A professional installed it and said that the smell from the gas would disappear. However after we had it on for 15 minutes or so and left it on for about 4 hours it smoked a great deal and basically our house filled with smoke. We opened up a couple of windows and this seemed to help and the amount of smoke has decreased but we were wondering if this was normal for brand new logs (is there some sort of coating that burns off the logs at first?) or is there a problem here that will persist? Any info is appreciated.

[Jim Elbrecht]

What, exactly is a non-prefab wood fireplace? Is this a fireplace, designed for wood burning that has been in use in your house, or some wooden structure built to look like a fireplace?

If you smell *gas*-- get out of the house. Turn off the gas at the back of the fireplace and outside. Call the gas company from a neighbor's house. Your phone can trigger an explosion from a gas leak. If you are smelling something more like dust & oil, then I'd give it another day, but I wouldn't leave it alone for several hours after use. [just in case some piece of hot combustibl;e is smoldering away in a wall cavity]

My Desa Stove- unvented, cast iron- had a note in the directions that said to run it for several hours with the windows open. I didn't notice any smell, but I was still a pipe smoker at the time.

Jim

[John Galbreath]

You should have no smell with VENTED gas logs. ALL the bi-products from combustion should be vented through the chimney, just like with a wood fire. If your fireplace smoked with wood, it will also smoke with vented gas logs. Gas logs are not a cure for a smoking problem.

Even if there are oils from the manufacturing process, they would go out the chimney.

Was the damper open, just like when burning a wood fire? You should not use your gas logs until you cure the fireplace smoking problem.

[Grumpy OM]

I learned many years ago to hold a lighted newspaper up the flue to get the column of air moving upward before lighting the fire. Haven't had smoking since then. Grumpy