Can I take out a gas fire and use the existing fireplace as a 'real' fire?

[Jackyjill6]

The house I live in has a gas flame fire within a 'victorian style' cast iron fireplace. I am wondering if I can just get the gas pipe capped, and then be able to use it occasionally as a real fire, without spending mega bucks.

You need to get the chimney checked.

Was it previously a proper fireol/chimney? If so it should be fairly straight forward to open it up again

Ask a chimney sweep. You may need the chimney lining and/or the fireplace itself may need work to ensure it can cope with real flames.

P.s. you'll also need to make sure gas pipes are capped off properly obviously!

Probably more than just checked. A chimney that has just been used as a gas fire flue for decades is unlikely to be in good condition for an actual flame fire. Some work may be needed. You may have a better experience getting it converted to take a wood burning stove - would that appeal?

Flue probably won’t need lining, but should be swept, & it may be currently blocked above the gas fire

Getting a wood burner will be more costly and require more work than changing to an open fire. Though to be fair wood burners are much better. We've had our open fires replaced because they throw out so little heat, eat wood like mad and also smoke more.

We do have an occasional open fire, using original flue. Agree it eats wood but actually gives too much heat, even with spark guard in front - have to keep door open. (Fairly small room though, 13’ square)

It doesn’t generally smoke either, unless wind conditions are very weird.

A good initial way to check if your chimney is in reasonable repair isn't to light a smoke bomb in the fireplace and look to see I find smoke comes out antpywhere other than the chimney pot. We did this when we removed an old gas fire, but the smoke went into the loft. We knew we couldn't use it as a working fireplace without extensive repair work.

So the consensus is to ask a chimney sweep?

We did exactly this, OP. We inherited a ‘natural look’ gas fire with fake coals which was housed within a very large metal log-burner-style stove with little doors you can close at the front.

The gas fitter immediately condemned the gas fire bit so we took it all out and safely disconnected/disposed of all the pipework. We had the chimney properly inspected and lined with a metal liner, then bought a fire basket and now use the stove as a real fire. It’s great in winter.

But we’re in a very old house and the chimney had previously been the kitchen chimney, so we know it had been used for a real fire before - probably for a couple of hundred years.

I'm pretty sure it would have been used in the past for a real fire. I'm not sure whether I'd need to replace the fireplace though, the bit where the gas 'coals' go is fairly small

Yes, chimney sweep would be able to tell you. Just ask one. You'll probably have to have the gas fire taken out to find out what state the chimney is in. My in laws had to recently.

"...the bit where the gas 'coals' go is fairly small..."

How small, I have an open fire and the firebasket is only 14in across at the front and 12in at the back, it still kicks out a lot of heat when in use.

HildaTablet. Did you take the gas fire out yourself, or would I need a qualified gas person?

That's about the same size as yours so that bit sounds OK Haberpop

I think you will need a corgi registered person to do the gas fire.
When we were renovating our house I remember the builder who was removing the hideous 70 s gas fire lighting incense to see if the smoke was drawn up the chimney.

You definitely need the gas fire taken out professionally. You don’t want to light a real fire near any gas fittings that haven’t been properly dealt with as you might cause a massive fire.

Jacky iirc the gas-fitter disconnected everything safely and took away the pipe work. We were then able to lift out the fire part as I remember. It was just sitting inside the stove and only connected to anything by the pipe. But yes, definitely we had to be sure it was all signed off by the gas fitter.

Thank you!