I need some help figuring out the type of fireplace I have. We recently moved into a house built in 1998 in North Texas. Unfortunately, the house was flipped before we bought it, so I don't know what's originally there vs. what was added. The fireplace in my living room is open, with no glass or any visible barriers. It has a manual damper and appears to have a metal box lined with firebrick, which is about a quarter to a half inch thick. The chimney is also metal and only extends as a big pipe in the attic before it exits the roof. There's a gas line that runs into the fireplace, coming from the wall and up into the attic, tapping off the main gas supply. I can't see any valves besides the key valve next to the fireplace. The gas line goes into a burner assembly, but the flow seems weak. I suspect it might just be a log lighter set up retrofitted into a wood-burning fireplace, but I want to be sure before I start messing with it. If it is a log lighter, should I switch to a proper one?
1 Answer
Check if there's an ash cleanout or a makeup air vent. If those are missing, your fireplace might just be a semi-decorative gas log fireplace. Fun fact: modern gas log fireplaces can actually cool down your house by pulling cold air in and blowing a lot of heat up the chimney!
Those that circulate air around the box seem to work better!