Why does my gas fireplace burn differently after being converted between natural gas and propane?
Sylva mixes hard-used WCU-area rentals with historic Dillsboro homes, and its fuel is mixed too — gas in parts of town, propane out in the county — so a landlord's relocated fireplace can end up on the wrong fuel. A natural-gas unit on propane soots and roars; a propane unit on gas burns weak. The orifice, pilot, and regulator have to match the fuel, not the fitting.
Rentals and old cottages get the least attention
Student and rental housing near Cullowhee gets heavy use but inconsistent maintenance, and Dillsboro's 19th-century cottages carry older masonry chimneys. A fireplace shuffled between properties rarely gets re-jetted when the fuel changes — and the difference is real: propane carries well over twice the energy per cubic foot of natural gas and meters at higher pressure through a smaller orifice. Put natural gas through that small jet and the flame starves; put propane through a natural-gas jet and it over-fires and soots. Tuckasegee-valley moisture rusts dampers, but the sooting is a fuel-setup problem, not a chimney one.
Licensed conversion, permitted with Jackson County
Re-jetting a hearth appliance between fuels is a manufacturer procedure that ends at a manometer, and the gas side is licensed work in North Carolina. We permit the job with Jackson County and pressure-test the line. We're 50 minutes west, so we'll size up the whole system in one visit. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Sylva
We install and service fireplaces throughout Sylva and the rest of Jackson County — just 50 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- Does high elevation affect how my gas fireplace burns?
- Why is black soot forming on my gas fireplace logs?
- Why are my gas fireplace flames suddenly too tall?
- Why won't my propane fireplace light after the tank ran empty and was refilled?
- Why does my propane fire pit flame shrink or die even with a full tank?