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.
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
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.
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
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