I too had a brick wall behind my wood burning stove and it also had brick on each side of it.
Changing a wood burning stove to a fireplace.
Covert to a pellet stove.
A gas fireplace can provide unparalleled convenience and the pleasure of a warm fire on a cold day but many people believe nothing compares to the ambiance created by burning wood.
To sum it up i felt a wood burning stove insert had the most positives out of all of my options and i thought about this for a solid year.
The good news for homeowners who have a gas fueled fireplace but who would prefer a wood burning fireplace is that converting from gas to wood fuel may be an option.
But there are different approached to converting and a few things to consider first like the cleanliness and quality of the existing fireplace.
According to the stove industry alliance an open fireplace is the wrong way to burn wood.
Convert to a wood burning stove insert what i did so why did i opt for option 5.
There are also other considerations that need to taken into account when looking to have a wood stove installed in a fireplace.
Some changes include having ventless gas logs or having a professional attach a gas line.
All you need is an electric fireplace insert which is a stove that fits into the fire box of your old wood burning fireplace.
Wood burning fireplaces can be converted to gas fireplaces.
You can make the conversion by simply adding a gas log set or by installing a self contained gas insert unit with its own chimney.
Not only does it release up to 10 times the amount of harmful emissions as a stove but burning wood on an open fire is far less efficient.
Conventional masonry wood burning fireplaces are ideal for converting to gas because they already have the look of a traditional fireplace and all you have to do is install the gas burning guts inside the firebox.
Stoves need air to be able to work.
If you are putting a wood burner in a traditional fireplace make sure you check the air permeability of the room.
Several reasons and i will discuss them all below.
Convert to a gas fireplace.
It sat back in a brick surrounded alcove in my family room with an 8 vent pipe running up the brick wall behind the stove and into the ceiling up to the 2nd floor then out the top of the chimney.