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Gas fire logs!! Who's got 'em?? Whadda ya think??

redgtxdi

redgtxdi

Diamond Member
So I heard something on the radio the other day about California wanting folks to switch from wood burning to gas whenever possible.

Well, my home came w/ a fireplace that has the gas capped, waiting for a gas log, but never used it. I guess I always had an ignorant presumption that gas is a finite resource (fart jokes aside) and that wood burning (duraflame logs) would be best??

I'm lookin' at Home Depot & they've got a cheap single-burner for $169. My fireplace is just a small "tract home" brick fireplace so probably fine, but I dunno if a double burner version is better per se, or just burns up more gas faster???

TIA for any advice.
 
Gas is alot less work than wood. Lot less smoke.

Anyone have a comparison on the costs of buying firewood vs gas?
 
Well considering how renewable wood is compared to gas that unless you live in a very populated area just keep the wood burning since while gas may not pollute as much when being burned it costs more, as in not free like wood can be, and it does pollute in order to make it available to homes.
 
It is not a fair comparison, and it also depends on the wood price vs. gas price in your area.

Here in my area NG price is the same as LP Btu for Btu, therefore it doesn't make sense to go for NG for many people in rural area because setup fees is cheaper with LP.

As for wood, it is very inexpensive as an energy source here because wood is abundance (about $100-$120 a cord) if you can convert every bit of stored energy and transfer it to heat. However, wood burning fireplace are not very efficient, because an open fireplace only transfer 10-15% of the wood energy to heat and create draft (negative pressure zone) in the house further reduce the efficiency.

Wood fireplace insert with adequate draft control bring the efficiency of wood burning stove up to 40% as indicated by pro wood burning manufacture/sales people, but in real world the efficiency is somewhere around 25-30% efficiency.

Gas fire insert efficiency can be up to 80%, however it is not so due to aesthetic reason. People are condition to have the wood burning colour of yellow/orange therefore they mess with the flame reduce it to at best 65% energy efficiency (50% in real practice).

Older gas boiler/heater are around 65-75% efficiency, late 80s up to 2007 boilers are around 75-85% efficiency, and as of January 1 2008 all boilers/heaters must be at least 90% efficiency (it is not uncommon to have 97% efficiency boilers). In real practice gas boilers also depends greatly on ductwork, draft control, condition of filter, and the gas fitter/plumber calibration of the heating unit.

Another factor in the comparison is that wood burning fireplace/stove generally aren't consuming energy during off duty cycles (at night or when you are not home), therefore it greatly skewered energy consumption comparisons.

IMHO, get an up to date gas boiler if you have ducting for it, or convert to heatpump if you have $, and install programmable thermostat to control the energy consumption.
 
Our old house had a wood burning fireplace, but it was also retro-fitted for gas, which we hardly ever used, except to get the wood burning. I cannot give you a price comparison, for back then, wood was free. We now have a gas ONLY fireplace, dual sided with 2 blowers, take a note OP, get at least 1 blower, with your log set. You may also have noticed on the Home Despots web site that not all log sets are created equal. Some look better, and perform better than others. I do not know how much it costs in gas to run, however it's got to be far less than firing up the whole house furnace, when all you want to do is heat up just that one room.
 
Originally posted by: Newbian
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa


Natural Gas vs. Firewood Cost Survey
Click to expand...

Read some of the comments and you will realize that was not a decent comparison.
Click to expand...

Here Ya Go!


Comparing Firewood To Other Heating Methods -- Pro wood sales people, that base the energy @ 100% with no loss.

Natural Gas Prices -- Official Engergy Statistics from the US Government.


Below are the numbers I extrapolated from the links above:

NG price range from $12.9-20.19 @ 1000 cu/ft, average $16.55 for 1000 cu/ft

Cord of wood ratio to 1000 cu/ft NG range from 1:14.7-30.7, or an average of 1:22.7

$16.55 NG average * 22.7 cord of wood average = $375.69 NG gas vs. your 'local per cord wood price'

If everything is created equally then it is much cheaper to use wood, however in the real world where fireplace/stove are at 10-40% efficiency indicated that the true ratio would be alot less.

If draft and duckwork are not a factor then:

Boiler/furnace at 90% efficiency vs. wood fireplace at 10% efficiency = $41.74 in NG per cord of wood.

Boiler/furnace at 90% efficiency vs. wood fireplace insert/stove at 30% efficiency = $125.23 in NG per cord of wood.

Gas insert at 50% efficiency vs. wood fireplace at 10% efficiency = $150.28 in NG per cord of wood.

Gas insert at 50% efficiency vs. wood fireplace insert at 30% efficiency = $225.41 in NG per cord of wood.

 
No boilers or ducting or anything here. It's So Cal, so we dip waaaay down into the ridiculously low 40's sometimes and sometimes even..........gasp.........the 30's!!!!!!!! (insert horror movie music here)

😀

This would be more about convenience than anything else.

Only other consideration would be that if I don't keep the fireplace constantly clean and the forced air heater comes on, the pressure it creates inside the house can sometimes cause the smoke to be pulled out of the fireplace which is a little displeasing. If I close the glass doors on the front that usually contains it, but kinda' lessens the neatness of an open fire.

A gas log would mean no more ashes, cleaning fireplace, leave the doors open all the time, film amateur porn with wife in front of said fireplace, etc. etc.

😉
 
Originally posted by: ironwing
Gas makes for friendly neighbors. Wood burning in a neighborhood earns a frowny face.
Click to expand...

are you kidding? Nothing beats the smell of smokey smoke coming out of the neighborhood chimneys on a cool, crisp November evening.
 
wtf burning wood pollutes more then gas? since when? Cutting down trees for wood is not exactly good as it takes down lot of forests that take 100+ years to grow to a mature level, but the burning itself is probably way cleaner as it's all natural.
 
Wood fireplaces have the romantic/cozy feeling too them, but they're a lot of work to clean and expensive to keep stocked. Gas fireplaces are da' shizzle! Mine can be turned on with my universal remote 🙂 Click-it's on and it takes about 10 minutes to get nice and warm.
 
Originally posted by: redgtxdi
No boilers or ducting or anything here. It's So Cal, so we dip waaaay down into the ridiculously low 40's sometimes and sometimes even..........gasp.........the 30's!!!!!!!! (insert horror movie music here)

😀

This would be more about convenience than anything else.

Only other consideration would be that if I don't keep the fireplace constantly clean and the forced air heater comes on, the pressure it creates inside the house can sometimes cause the smoke to be pulled out of the fireplace which is a little displeasing. If I close the glass doors on the front that usually contains it, but kinda' lessens the neatness of an open fire.

A gas log would mean no more ashes, cleaning fireplace, leave the doors open all the time, film amateur porn with wife in front of said fireplace, etc. etc.

😉
Click to expand...
It sound like you have an oil/NG/LP furnace that doesn't have adequate fresh air supply, therefore it create a negative pressure zone in your house that create back draft in the flue/chimney (there is CO if C is present).

Check your duckwork air/vent and make sure that they are open & not block. Make sure that the damper/s are open and correctly adjust. Get a gas company to check/test to make sure that the house furnace have adequate ventilation.

 
Originally posted by: Homerboy
Originally posted by: ironwing
Gas makes for friendly neighbors. Wood burning in a neighborhood earns a frowny face.
Click to expand...

are you kidding? Nothing beats the smell of smokey smoke coming out of the neighborhood chimneys on a cool, crisp November evening.
Click to expand...

Nothing sucks like a bunch inconsiderate jackasses pumping tons of foul smelling smoke out their chimneys in complete disregard for the people who live around them.
 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
wtf burning wood pollutes more then gas? since when? Cutting down trees for wood is not exactly good as it takes down lot of forests that take 100+ years to grow to a mature level, but the burning itself is probably way cleaner as it's all natural.
Click to expand...

It depends where you get the wood from since most places grow the wood just for that or use excess wood that would normally be tossed out.

It's much better in that way then using something that took thousands of years to produce and is not renewable.

Just another reason they are building wood power plants again.
 
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