Fireplace Safety at BLMH - Part I

Our fireplaces are prefabricated gas burning fireplaces. They were not designed for burning of anything except natural gas with the ceramic logs and inserts provided in them.

NOTHING should be burned in your fireplace at BLMH except the gas flames of the ceramic logs. Burning anything in a BLMH gas burning fireplace, such as wood, paper, sticks, trash or a "flame" log is extremely dangerous and hazardous. Such burning can result in injury and death, and destruction of the entire building by a disastrous fire.

The prefabricated gas fireplace in your unit is constructed of light gauge sheet metal. It is designed for the lower temperature of a natural gas fire. It has a metal firebox. It does not have a brick hearth or a smoke chamber in the chimney. Your entire fireplace, from hearth to chimney to stack on the roof, is constructed of light gauge sheet metal, which is lightly insulated for the heat of a natural gas fire. The mantles are decorative stone or brick, and not designed to contain the heat and flames of a wood burning fire.

Burning anything besides gas as intended can easily result in overheating the firebox and flue and allow flames to escape into the walls and ceiling, where it can rapidly spread and consume the building. Wood burning in a BLMH gas fireplace can also eject embers and flammable creosote into the flue and onto the roof.

The past year in Wheaton, I have been told there have been five fireplace or chimney fires. None have been at BLMH. Let's keep it that way! See Note 2 and Note 3.

Natural gas fireplaces normally emit water vapor and carbon dioxide gas; that's it! If the air-fuel mixture is incorrect, it is possible the incomplete combustion will result in carbon monoxide gas. This should travel harmlessly up the chimney. Wood-burning fireplaces, or ones which use a fuel other than natural gas, do emit all kinds of particulates, gases and embers. Smoke can be obnoxious.

Our rules prohibit "Noxious or offensive activities." Smoke flowing from a chimney and down to a neighbor's unit could be offensive. It is useful for owners to remember that four neighbors share an entrance, and there is minimal separation between units. Smoke can travel down the slope of roofs and into your neighbor's kitchen. It is not uncommon for owners to have kitchen windows open when baking or cooking in winter. On mild days, we use our balcony. (See section IV-J of our rules and regulations, which is in your Welcome Packet.)

Included in the post is a video of a true wood burning fireplace. It is included here for comparison to yours. The wood-burning fireplace has an extended stone hearth and mantle, to contain any hot embers and absorb the intense heat of a wood fire. Compare this to the fireplace in your unit and you will see that your fireplace is a "light duty" one designed for low temperature gas flame. Your fireplace cannot properly contain embers, it cannot properly protect the building and structure from the heat of a wood burning fire.

The wood-burning fireplace has a straight chimney. The video shows what it looks like from the inside of the hearth, looking up, Your chimney is metal and it bends and turns. Your fireplace and chimney is only designed to emit heat, water vapor and hot gases.

From time to time, a few owners would like to convert a gas burning fireplace to a wood burning one. To do so properly is very costly, and may not be accomplished safely in our buildings. It would require replacement of the prefabricated gas unit, installation of a new hearth, mantle, flue and chimney. The entire installation from mantle to chimney exit, must meet all codes for wood burning. A proper metal flue, for example, must be a high performance, high temperature one rated 650C or "HT" which means it is designed to operate of temperatures up to 1200F! The chimney exit, above the roof, may need to be elevated and supported, and equipped with a special top.

Proper installation requires a special high temperature flue and that requires modification of the wooden supports all the way up to the roof and through it, and possible modification of the roof, to accommodate the exit of the flue to the new chimney and cap.

Obviously, much of this work must occur in the space between the walls, and if you live on the first floor, that means passing that new high temperature chimney through the walls of the unit above you. There are also issues of weight on the structure of the building. Our buildings were never designed for the possible weight of wood burning fireplaces.

Storage of the wood fuel would also create a problem. Our rules have limitations of what can be placed on owner patios and balconies. An owner of a wood-burning fireplace may use an burning log substitute for wood, such as "duraflame" but who is to assure that is exactly what is being done? There is also no proper way to store the wood and dispose of the hot ashes of a wood fire.

An owner may decide to skirt the rules by storing fireplace wood in the closet on the owner's patio and out of view. Unfortunately, wood can harbor all kinds of destructive pests, from termites to carpenter ants to emerald ash borers. These critters can then spread to our wooden structures and can even be carried inside with the firewood, to destroy the building from both inside and out. Emerald ash borers can migrate to our dozens of ash trees, infesting them and resulting in their costly destruction. Your fees pay for removal of diseased and dying trees and stumps.

From time to time, owners sometimes approach the board for approval to convert their gas burning fireplace to wood. At BLMH we do not have an acceptable procedure to do this and there is no such approval at this time.

CAUTION and WARNING - This video is a wood burning fireplace. It is posted to point out the differences between a wood-burning and our light duty natural gas fireplaces. NEVER BURN WOOD OR OTHER MATERIALS IN YOUR FIREPLACE. INJURY OR DEATH MAY RESULT!





Comments, Corrections, Omissions, References

Comment
This post was prepared November 17, but was delayed while I edited a video of a typical gas burning fireplace at BLMH. Because of a serious fire in a nearby condominium association, I decided to post it early and without that video.

Note 1. Each home is required by Illinois Law to have at least one working Carbon Monoxide detector. The reasons for having one is a matter of safety, and is for the unit owner's protection.


Note 2. I'll be posting an edited video of a BLMH gas fireplace in a few days. The difference between it and a "wood-burning" fireplace will be readily apparent. 


Note 3. A fire occurred in the Knolls on November 23. It allegedly  began as a "chimney fire" but the fire department is officially stating, at this time that "cause is not determined." The building residents were removed and the building is posted as "unsafe" until repairs are completed. A fire can have devastating personal consequences. 
Here is a press release; the highlights are mine:

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Fire Department Responds to Building Fire 11-23-10

WHEATON, Ill. – At approximately 8:15 p.m. on November 23, 2010, the Wheaton Fire Department was dispatched to a reported structure fire in the condominium building at 835 E. Farnham Lane. Upon arrival, fire crews identified a fire in the attic area of the building with some extension between floors and in the walls. The fire was brought under control within 30 minutes. Several condominium units were occupied at the time of the fire and all residents evacuated safely. The incident did not result in any injuries.

Investigators from the Wheaton Fire Department along with the DuPage Fire Investigation Task Force conducted a fire investigation. The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time and damage estimates have yet to be determined. The City of Wheaton Building Department was called to the scene and the building was posted unsafe for occupancy due to the damage. The Wheaton Fire Department was also assisted on the scene by the Wheaton Police Department and fire departments from Carol Stream, West Chicago, Lombard, Glen Ellyn, Hanover Park, Warrenville, Winfield, and Glenside Fire Protection District along with Ducomm Public Safety Communications. The building was turned back over to condominium association representatives after the fire.

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