Ventless Fireplace

2,749 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by 75AG
jskin261
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Anyone know if you can put a gas ventless fireplace into a spray foam house?
doubledog
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Two simple formulas

CH4 + 2O2 ---> CO2 + 2H2O (OK)

CH4 + 3/2O2 ---> CO + 2H2O (very bad)

Starve a natural gas flame of just 1/2 mole of O2 and you will produce CO (carbon monoxide)

(You can write similar equations for any alcohol, or for that mater any hydrocarbon)
tvoiles
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Gas cooktops are ventless, open flame in view, it is not impossible. You just need to have proper ratio control and/or lots of excess air.
cslifer
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Did some looking myself about this a while back. Found that there are people that will tell you it is ok, but the general consensus is that it is a bad idea.
AggiePhil
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AG
Our house came with a ventless fireplace. General pain in the butt but it does a good job of heating. We turn it off completely during the off season because the exposed 3" flame freaks my wife out. I'd suggest a traditional wood burning fireplace plumbed for gas if you can afford it. If not, there are other vented and ventless options.
75AG
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AG
We have a ventless. Initial odor from ceramic logs was problematic until it dissipated. We also have carbon monoxide monitors and they have never gone off.
stallion6
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AG
Agree with others. Not a preferred solution. I am building a home and looked at vent less. The fireplace contractors recommended I reconsider since I have spray foam insulation.
Prune Tracy
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Someone recently bumped this thread from the HI board. Good info.

https://texags.com/forums/61/topics/2701676
ReelDeal
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AG
I also looked at ventless in a new spray foam house. After researching, I went with a comfortbilt HP22 pellet stove. It is 85% effiicient with a dedicated 2" fresh air intake and a forced draft flue pipe of 3". Wood burning in a foamed house presents a few hurdles if you don't have your fresh air exact. In the pellet stove scenario, it doesn't really matter since it has an induced draft motor like a furnace.
Nutmegger
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AG
75AG said:

We have a ventless. Initial odor from ceramic logs was problematic until it dissipated. We also have carbon monoxide monitors and they have never gone off.
At what level do yours trigger? Most alarms and detectors only go off if levels are greater than 70ppm. Unfortunately this really only alerts you of imminent lethal danger to healthy adults, while low levels of CO go undetected, resulting in both short and long term negative health effects to children, elderly, pregnant women, and the respiratory & cardiovascular systems in general.

However, I'm assuming since you stated 'monitor', rather than alarm/detector, that yours does have capability for low-level monitoring. We actually just bought a house with a ventless fireplace (never had one before), so I will have to test the CO levels once we install an air quality monitor. I'm interested to see just how much the levels increase during fireplace use.
75AG
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AG
Our's will go off at 30ppm.
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