Gas Log Installation Seattle, WA

Gas log installation means setting a vented gas log set into a fireplace you already have. Your masonry or factory-built wood fireplace stays exactly as it is; we add a burner, a grate, ceramic logs and the controls, connect the set to an existing gas stub, and leave you with a fire that lights at the turn of a key or the press of a button. It is the simplest way to go from a firebox you rarely use to one you use every rainy evening.

This is the right page if you already have a gas line at or near the fireplace and want an open, realistic-looking log fire without rebuilding anything. If you want a sealed, glass-fronted unit that puts real heat into the room, that is a gas fireplace insert, a different product with a different price point and a liner requirement. If you need new gas piping run to the hearth, that work is covered under gas fireplace conversion and is done by a licensed gas fitter before the logs go in.

James Chimney Sweep has served the Puget Sound for more than 25 years. We are CSIA certified and licensed, bonded and insured in Washington, so the same technician who checks that your chimney can safely vent the logs is the one who sets and tests them.

Timing & Safety

When gas log installation is the right call, and when it is not

Gas logs are a strong choice when:

• The chimney and damper are sound, or can be made sound with a cleaning or modest repair.
• A gas line already reaches the fireplace area.
• You want an open-hearth look and are not relying on the fireplace to heat the house.
• You want to stop dealing with firewood, smoke and ash.

Consider a different route when:

• Your main goal is heat. A vented log set loses most of its warmth up the flue; a gas fireplace insert with a liner is the heating product.
• The flue is cracked, the smoke chamber is failing or the chimney is unlined. Those problems must be corrected first, because a gas appliance still needs a safe chimney to exhaust through.
• There is no gas at the hearth. Running a line is gas fireplace conversion work and comes before any log set.
• Your factory-built fireplace's listing does not permit gas logs. We will check the label rather than guess.

Safety considerations

Gas logs are safe when they are listed, sized, placed and vented correctly. Most of the problems we see come from skipping one of those steps.

• The damper must stay open with vented logs. We install a permanent clamp or stop. Closing the damper on a vented set sends carbon monoxide into the room.
• Log placement is not decorative. Logs that sit in the flame path produce soot, smell and carbon monoxide. We set them exactly as the manufacturer's diagram shows and explain why they should not be rearranged.
• Carbon monoxide alarms. Every home with a gas appliance should have working CO alarms near sleeping areas and on the fireplace level.
• Gas lines and valves are only serviced by a qualified technician. Do not attempt to connect, move or tighten gas fittings yourself.
• If you ever smell gas, leave the house and call the gas utility or 911 from outside. Do not operate switches or light anything.
• NFPA 211 recommends an annual chimney inspection even for gas-burning fireplaces. Gas exhaust is wet and can deteriorate mortar and flue tile over time.

Seattle & Puget Sound conditions

Puget Sound weather shapes this work in two ways. First, our long wet season means a lot of Seattle and Tacoma fireplaces have flues with moisture damage, spalled tile or a damper rusted partly shut from years of rain coming down an uncapped chimney, so the chimney inspection before a log set is not a formality. Second, our homes tend to be tightly weatherized, which is one reason we steer most customers toward vented logs with a good chimney cap rather than vent-free sets that dump moisture and combustion byproducts into an already humid house. A properly capped flue also keeps moss, leaves and nesting birds from blocking the path your gas exhaust needs.