There is nothing quite as romantic as an evening spent in front of a wood-burning fireplace, but boy do I hate the maintenance that goes with it. I’m Lou Manfredini, Ace’s “Helpful Hardware Man” and I’m here to talk to you about another way to use your fireplace, with gas logs.
The upkeep of wood-burning fireplaces is intense and can dissuade you from using your fireplace all together. Plus, you run the risk of encountering issues with drafting which can make your whole house smoky. With gas logs, there is none of this to worry about.
Gas logs can be installed very quickly and look quite realistic. And the upkeep is so much simpler! No more cleaning out the debris after every fire or lugging in chopped wood on cold days. Now, you’ll still have to have your chimney cleaned every 3-4 years, but that’s much less than the annual cleaning that I recommend for wood-burning fireplaces. You also might have to look at having a gas line moved, which would increase your cost to install. But in my opinion, it is absolutely worth it. Another bonus, gas logs turn on with the flick of a switch, or in some models, the click of a remote control. Talk about instant romance!
Hi folks, this is Lou Manfredini, Ace’s “Helpful Hardware Man” and I’ve got some tips for one of the most complained about household issues: pilot lights. Hopefully we are all moving to a world without pilot lights, but for those of us living in older homes, it’s not something we can get rid of just yet.
The biggest thing when dealing with pilot lights is to make sure that you have a good sensing device, called a thermocouple, which can sense when the light is on. These need to be changed every 5-6 years and need to be cleaned on a regular basis. If you are having a hard time keeping your pilot light on, 9 out of 10 times, you just need to check your thermocouple.
If your pilot light that is attached to your heater or furnace is going out, it could be from wind that is coming through the chimney and literally blowing it out. A way to stop this from happening is to use a mechanical damper, which opens and closes when needed.
Finally, if you have an electronic ignition, you might want to check that your flame sensor is working properly. This is a piece of metal that is shaped similar to a large paperclip. When the gas turns on it ignites and senses when the flame is on.
Pilot Lights go out for several reasons, but with winter coming quickly many of you will find that over the cooling season, the Pilot Light on your Gas Furnace has either gone out naturally, or you shut it off after the last time your heater was used, and it has to be relit in order to get the burners putting some heat into your home!
While the use of standing pilot lights is truly on the way out of use and most of the newer systems use a solid state electronic ignition model, there are still several units that are less than 10 years old, that use the older gas pilot light method of firing off the burners. ...Read more about Lighting your own Pilot Light
Gas Logs can not only add a great aesthetic improvement to your old fireplace, they also help save energy and heat quite a large in your home! Since 1998, they are also the most popular Fireplace Accessory you will find on both the web and many local hardware stores!
Having worked for an HVAC company for several years and sold many sets of Gas logs on the Internet, I wanted to share the popular questions I used to hear from buyers.
You should not be surprised to know that almost everyone had the same questions! What size should I buy, and should I get vented or vent free gas logs. ...Read more about What Size Gas Logs should I Choose?
Installing your own Gas Logs
Before installing your own gas logs, there are many things you must be aware of. It is not something you can just dive into with knowing and reading directions. Gas logs are a replica of real logs built into a fireplace to make a nice fire without the hassle of getting your own wood and sparking your own fire. It is nearly impossible to tell the difference between gas logs and real logs burning in your fire place. Gas logs are designed so that people will not notice the difference in burning gas logs and actual logs in your fireplace. Real fires in your home are really nice and relaxing, but there are many factors that make a gas fireplace more convenient. With gas logs, you can adjust the amount of gas to be released which will in turn produce more or less fire. These like-real gas logs will save you the work of cutting your own wood each time you want to start a fire. Also, it will keep you from having to worry about keeping your fire going. It is a constant burn going at all times when you use gas logs. So after a long day, you can kick back and relax in front of the fire and not worry about all the hassle.
When installing your own gas logs, there are many things you must be aware of. First, you must have your chimney swept by a certified chimney sweep company. Afterward, you will need to make sure you get the right size gas logs to suit your fireplace. You do not want to get logs that are too big because then the smoke will vent out into the room which carries poisonous gases in it. Installing gas logs on your own can be very dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. There are many directions you must follow to hook everything up the right way. In the end you must make sure you are doing everything correctly because you do not want to put your self or other household members in danger due to harmful fumes that may be coming into your home. If you are not aware of how to install gas logs, it is definitely best that you do research and make yourself knowledgeable of this topic before you start to do it.
