What's the mechanical difference between a natural gas and a propane fireplace?
Fairview is propane and wood country — large wooded lots, tanks instead of mains, and a lot of steady stove and insert demand. So a gas fireplace here is jetted for LP: smaller burner and pilot orifices and a regulator set for propane's higher energy and pressure, unlike the wider jetting a natural-gas unit on a city main would carry.
Why the fuel here is almost always LP
Out on Fairview's rural lots toward Cane Creek and Garren Creek, there's no utility main to tap — propane from a tank does the work. Propane holds about two and a half times the energy per cubic foot of natural gas and runs at higher pressure, so the LP setup uses smaller orifices and a purpose-built regulator, and because propane is heavier than air, its piping is installed and leak-tested for a gas that settles low rather than rising. The tank we coordinate with your supplier; the regulator and hookup are our licensed gas work.
That's a genuinely different fuel train than an Asheville gas-main install, even though the firebox is the same casting.
Wood is a chimney job, gas is a fuel job
Wood heat is popular on these wooded lots, and creosote buildup is the leading cause of chimney fires without a fall sweep — a maintenance issue on the wood side. Gas, by contrast, burns clean when it's jetted right, with no creosote to sweep. If you're weighing a wood-to-gas conversion, every one needs the licensed LP line — that's the part a showroom or mason can't legally do.
Call (828) 545-0525 for a free assessment 15 minutes east of the showroom.
Fireplace help in Fairview
We install and service fireplaces throughout Fairview and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes east from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- What is an orifice, and why are natural gas and propane orifices different?
- What does a natural gas to propane conversion kit actually change?
- Why do natural gas and propane flames look different?
- What gas pressure does a fireplace need — what is manifold pressure?
- Does high elevation affect how a gas fireplace burns or how much heat it makes?