Gas Fireplaces How Does One Enter

[HeLiXe]

I bought my home a couple of years ago and it has a gas fireplace. There is no manual for it in the home and I have no idea what to do with it. I know how to attach the gas to it, but how does one get in the actual fireplace. The frogs know how to get in and I don't.

 

[lisab]

Lol, frogs?

OK I had one of these years ago. I didn't think I would like it much, but I soon realized it was lovely! Flip a switch and in 20 minutes the room is toasty, and no smoky smells.

If I remember correctly (), the glass was held in by Allen screws hidden beneath a flimsy flange all around the opening.

And now that I think of it, getting it back in was a major pain in the neck.

 

[HeLiXe]

Thanks Lisab . Yes all that is in there now is this wood looking thing, DUST (so much it looks like cotton), and some small burnt and dead frogs (I live on the lake). The part that let's out the exhaust is where i think the frogs come in from. The glass is surrounded by metal and there is a little flap on the bottom that can open, but I cannot figure how to maneuver around the openings to see screws. There is also an opening over the top without a flap..but you have to insert your hand upwards behind the tile.

Also thanks for the switch comment...I was wondering what the purpose of that erroneous switch was lol

 

[lisab]

Can you tell how the wood is fastened?

 

[HeLiXe]

OK I see some screws along the left and right sides of the metal the glass is attached to. The wood appears to be sitting on top of a metal stand inside the fireplace.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I just youtubed "gas fireplace" and there are lots of videos.

Any mass produced manufactured thing is almost always a variation on a basic design. Even if there's no video on the specific model you have, watch enough videos and the information to operate yours will emerge, piece by piece.

Also, google the exact one you have and the manual might actually be online!

 

[HeLiXe]

-_- Thanks zooby I totally did not even think about watching you tube ... i feel slightly more daft but thank you!

 

[Evo]

Helixe, if it hasn't been used in years, call your gas company, they may offer to send one of their people out to ceck it or recommend someone that can.

I had a gas fireplace, one could either be used to start a wood log fire or you could buy one of those fake log piles, the other came with the fake log pile.

Please do not use it unless you get it checked first.

 

[HeLiXe]

Thanks Evo. I think the one in this is a fake log pile and it is not one that runs from gas internally...meaning you have to attach a tank outside...which I have reservations about since so many crazy people are always in my backyard lol. I am interested in opening it because I would really like to clean it. I don't foresee using it until next winter. Getting it checked is a good idea but not sure who would do that.

 

[AlephZero]

Helixe, if it hasn't been used in years, call your gas company, they may offer to send one of their people out to ceck it or recommend someone that can.

Please do not use it unless you get it checked first.

Absolutely. In the UK, it's illegal for anybody (including the house owner) to do any work on gas appliances unless they are a registered gas fitter. This is what can happen when people don't bother about the risks...

That gas explosion (in Feb this year) took out two complete houses. Nobody killed, but two people were badly burned.

The national registration scheme makes it easy to find registered tradespeople, because they all advertise the fact that they are registered.

 

[Evo]

Thanks Evo. I think the one in this is a fake log pile and it is not one that runs from gas internally...meaning you have to attach a tank outside...which I have reservations about since so many crazy people are always in my backyard lol. I am interested in opening it because I would really like to clean it. I don't foresee using it until next winter. Getting it checked is a good idea but not sure who would do that.

Oh dear a rigged up propane tank thing worries me even more, mine were both connected to the home's gas line and the pipes into the fireplace were an extension off the main gas line. Which is why I suggested calling your gas company. I had no idea what "glass" object you were taking about since neither of mine had one.

BE VERY CAREFUL! AAAARRGH!

Edit: see Aleph's post. AAARRGH!

 

[AlephZero]

The silliest (but true) gas accident story I know was from a guy at work. He lived in a small old terrace house on a town street, and the garden in front of the house was completely surrounded by a 3 foot high brick wall. There had always been something strange about the garden, because there was a spot on the lawn where the grass refused to grow. He had re-turfed and re-seeded it several times, and dug out the soil and replaced it, but nothing worked.

One Sunday morning he was in a room at the back of the house when he heard a "whump" that sounded like a car accident in the road. Soon after that somebody rang his doorbell. There was a teenage kid at the door, white as a sheet and shaking. Eventually he calmed down enough to say "I was walking past your house when the garden exploded". The place where the grass never grew was now the center of a 6 foot deep crater with a small fire at the bottom of it.

The kid admitted throwing a cigarette end into the garden, and presumably ignited gas that had been trapped by the surrounding wall, and accumulated because of some freak in the weather conditions. The slow leak from a cracked underground pipe had been killing the grass for years, but there had never been a smell of leaking gas.

 

[HeLiXe]

Absolutely. In the UK, it's illegal for anybody (including the house owner) to do any work on gas appliances unless they are a registered gas fitter. This is what can happen when people don't bother about the risks...

That gas explosion (in Feb this year) took out two complete houses. Nobody killed, but two people were badly burned.

The national registration scheme makes it easy to find registered tradespeople, because they all advertise the fact that they are registered.

This is Horrible.

Oh dear a rigged up propane tank thing worries me even more, mine were both connected to the home's gas line and the pipes into the fireplace were an extension off the main gas line. Which is why I suggested calling your gas company. I had no idea what "glass" object you were taking about since neither of mine had one.

Yeah no gas lines in the house. The fireplace is enclosed and there is glass in the enclosure so you can see the action. The only action i see going on is dust accumulation and dead froggies, so I would like to clean it someday :) I am put off about using it which is why I haven't but I figure since it is here I can use it some cold winter night with one of my many love interests (Bradley and Dale, etc.)

Edit: see Aleph's post. AAARRGH!

Although Aleph's post was not funny ^^ this made me laugh