Natural Gas Fireplace – A Potential Burn Box

Natural gas fireplaces have widely replaced the traditional wood-burning fireplaces. Burning wood is often associated with smoke hazards like particulate production and incomplete combustion. This is considered to be harmful to the people in the room and is associated with the potential cause of lung diseases and asthma. To cater to this, many people have switched to natural gas fireplaces which are considered safer and more efficient.

They have eliminated the need to chop and haul logs of wood and to feed the fire consistently. Unlike wood fireplaces, one doesn’t need to clean the ashes regularly. Gas fireplaces require very little maintenance. Simply cleaning the fireplace embers and glass is sufficient for the fireplace to operate cleanly.

Burn Hazard

However, natural gas fireplaces are not entirely the boon that people believed it to be. The fireplace windows or glass in a gas fireplace can heat up extremely. Even if the fireplace has been switched on for a short period of time only, the glass can heat up to 200-300 degrees Celsius easily. Such high temperatures pose a great risk of burning and potential fires too.

Touching the glass at such a high temperature for just a moment can even cause burns, severe ones in the case of a child. In the past years, many small children have suffered deep injuries due to contact with the hot glass of a natural gas fireplace. Parents need to take a great amount of precaution and care to prevent such accidents from hiring.

Safety Measures to Follow

While gas fireplaces pose a serious burn hazard, they even offer many benefits. Natural Gas fireplaces can be used safely as long as these basic safety tips are followed:

1. Protecting the Children – Make sure that your young ones do not go near a gas fireplace while it is burning, or after use. The glass can remain hot for hours after use and it could still harm the children. If you have children below the age of 5 years in your home, you should use the fireplace only when they have gone to sleep. For children who are much older, you should educate them about fire hazards.

2. Safety Screen – The hot fireplace glass can burn not only children but pets and adults too. This is why you should always use a safety screen with your gas fireplace. Creating a barrier around the fireplace can also be effective in keeping the pets away from the fireplace.

3. Keep Combustibles Away – Natural gas fireplaces give out a huge amount of heat. Since the combustion process is complete in most natural gas fireplaces, the heat produced is even greater. You must keep all combustible materials away from the fireplace, maintaining a distance of at least 2 feet. This will ensure that there are no fires.

These are three simple safety rules that you must follow to keep your family safe and healthy around a fireplace. Timely cleaning and maintenance of the fireplace are also necessary for the proper and safe functioning of the gas fireplace.