what to do with old gas fireplace.

N

Ndiddy

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my house was built around 1990 and looking at the neighbor's homes, most started out as regular fireplaces. sometime in the last 15, the previous owners changed it to a gas fireplace but this has not been used in at least 9 years.

we buy chimney balloons to block the flue in the winter but is there a better way to utilise this space?

would a stove be more appropriate? approx. cost to change from gas to a sealed up stove?

we don't really need the heat as its a small house, but we do love fires. otherwise, its more the fact that there is a gas connection that isn't used that bothers me.

any suggestions appreciated and thanks
 
Sealed up stove (A small one) would be my preference. It isn't bleeding heat when it's not on, and gives a large amount of heat when it is. I don't know the cost, but as you like fires, it might be justified.
I presume Gas Networks Ireland/Bord Gais can turn off the gas at the (outside) meter. I'd leave all piping in place in the event you sell the house.
 
Ndiddy said:
would a stove be more appropriate? approx. cost to change from gas to a sealed up stove?
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I did.

Costs considerations:
You'll need a registered gas installer to cap off your gas pipe. We were getting gas boiler replaced at the same time, and pipe was capped at the boiler so we could remove the pipe to fire.
You'll need to assess if your chimney flue needs to be lined before installing a stove. If you need a flue liner, it'll could add about 800 to the cost. Gas fires produce a huge amount of water and can crack the existing chimney liner.
What kind of stove do you want? A cassette / insert stove will probably sit into the existing fire place, but doing that will determine the size of stove. In our case I was ripping out the fire surround anyhow, so we went with a free standing stove and built a red brick fireplace surround to suit.
Then the actual stove itself. There's a huge variance in price.

The first one - getting gas disconnected, might cost about 150.
I'd go to a stove shop that does fitting, with a photo and measurement of your existing fireplace, and get some ideas and costs.

Of course another idea is to remove the gas fire, cap off the chimney completely, and use it for something else.
Google images for "disused fireplace ideas"
Who would have thought it's the perfect size for a wine rack....
 
Leo said:
You must have a very big fireplace! :D
Click to expand...

Or have a very small wine collection :D

Like RedOnion, I did this 23 years ago for about £500 and it was a great success but oddly enough about 20 years ago I worked out it was costing me about a £5 a day to run on top of the gas central heating and haven't used it since but it does make a nice dust collector in the sitting room :rolleyes:
 
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