When it’s time for a fresh design for your fireplace area, you may be ready to consider how to remove a gas fireplace. Most people will want to remove a gas fireplace insert only, leaving the remainder of the unit in place as a visual element in the room. Removing the insert hardware is not all that difficult for some people, but capping the fireplace’s natural gas line and any connected electrical lines are jobs best left to a professional.
Prepping to Remove a Gas Fireplace
You should make sure you have adequate ventilation in the room with the gas fireplace before starting the job. If any natural gas remains in the lines after shutting off the gas, it will escape during removal of the insert. It should be a small amount of gas, but proper ventilation helps dissipate it faster.
For these same reasons, extinguish any sources of flame in the home during the process. Because of potential dangers, having a professional do this job is the better idea for the majority of people.
Shut Off the Gas Supply
To start the process of how to remove a gas fireplace insert, turn off the natural gas supply to the fireplace. Your fireplace may have a shutoff valve nearby. This is not the knob that turns the gas on and off when you want to operate the fireplace. This is a valve that completely blocks the flow of gas.
If you don’t have this valve near the fireplace, you may have to turn off the main gas supply for your home. This is a problem if you have other natural gas appliances in your home, like a stove or furnace. You may have to relight a pilot light on the furnace after turning off and then restoring the main gas supply, for example.
Your gas supply line may have a lever that you can turn 90 degrees to turn off the natural gas. Some lines require you to turn a nut with a large wrench to stop the flow of gas. Your local gas company will most likely not allow you to turn off the gas on your own. The gas company may send out a technician to shut off the line for you, and you’ll likely be charged a fee. You may have to pay for them to shut down and restart the gas line.
Ultimately, if the gas company charges a service call to turn off and on the gas line, knowing how to remove a gas fireplace insert yourself may not save you too much money versus hiring a pro.
This is not a process where you want to be unsure of what you are doing. You could consider reaching out to a local gas fireplace service company to shut down the gas line and to remove the gas fireplace insert for you, to ensure it is done safely.
Remove the Fireplace Insert Trim
Across the front of the fireplace, there are trim pieces at the sides and top of the insert. These trim pieces hold the insert in place, while also giving it a finished look.
Trim may be screwed, nailed, or glued to the backing material. Use a screwdriver or a prybar to pull the trim loose.
Depending on how the insert was installed, and how the fireplace finishing process happened later, part of the trim may be behind the brick or stucco. You will have to chip away these items before you can access the trim pieces. Keep removing the layers until you expose the edges of the gas fireplace insert.
Disconnect the Gas Line
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Next, you need to remove the line that feeds the natural gas into the fireplace. The insert should have a gas line that connects to the main gas line–a fitting should connect the two lines.
Use two adjustable wrenches or pipe wrenches–in opposite directions–to loosen the fitting. If the fitting doesn’t budge, use a hammer to tap one wrench while holding the other by hand.
There could be a little bit of residual gas in the line, so take precautions and create proper ventilation in the area before you loosen the fitting.
If you simply cannot loosen the fitting, you could use a hacksaw to cut the pipe to detach the fireplace insert from the home’s gas line. However, without a fitting on the end of the pipe, you’ll then need to call a local gas plumber to cap the line for you and to make the necessary repairs. Instead of using a hacksaw, the better option is to call a pro to loosen the fitting for you.
Disconnect the Electrical Line
Some gas fireplace inserts will have electrical wiring attached that provides a spark for ignition or that operates the blower. If this is the case for your unit, you must safely detach the wiring.
Before trying to disconnect the wiring, make sure to turn off the power for the fireplace at the breaker on the fuse box. Then use a circuit tester to confirm the wires are dead before touching and disconnecting them.
After disconnecting the wires–and before turning the breaker on again–place wire nuts and electrical tape on the ends of the wires. You may want to call a local electrician to permanently pull the wiring meant to serve the gas fireplace for maximum safety.
Remove the Decorative Logs
If your gas fireplace has ceramic logs, grates, and other items along the bottom of the insert, you may need to remove these before you can remove the insert.
Look for screws, bolts, or brackets that are holding these items in the insert. Unscrew them or use the prybar to pull them out. Try to avoid breaking any decorative pieces, as the shards may be extremely sharp.
Disconnect the Venting
Not all gas fireplaces use actual venting systems, but some do. If you don’t have a chimney, for example, you may have a venting system that goes through an exterior wall. Some gas fireplaces are ventless.
If you have vents that lead to the chimney or to an exterior wall, you’ll need to disconnect the venting system from the fireplace insert. They usually have screws or bolts that attach the vent to the insert.
You may want to hire a local gas fireplace installer to help with removing or capping the vents that go through exterior walls.
If the chimney vents the exhaust from the gas fireplace, you may want to investigate the cost to seal a chimney with the help of a local chimney repair specialist since you will no longer need the chimney to carry exhaust. Expect to spend anywhere from $250 to $1,350 on average to cap the chimney.
Remove the Insert
With everything disconnected, you should be able to remove the gas fireplace insert. Before removing the unit, lay down a heavy drop cloth next to the fireplace. The insert will likely dislodge dirt and other particles as you remove it, and the dropcloth will catch it.
The insert may be quite heavy, so you might want help pulling it out of place. The heavy drop cloth will allow you to drag the insert out of the house, rather than carrying it.
If the insert doesn’t pop loose, double-check that everything is disconnected. Make sure nothing is blocking the opening, and causing the insert to stick. Try working one side loose and then move to the opposite side, wiggling it out of place.
If nothing is working, the insert may be tight enough in place that you need to use the prybar to start to move it before you can pull it out the rest of the way by hand.
Use a broom or vacuum to clean up any mess left behind after removing the insert.
Cap the Gas Line
Before you turn the main gas line back on, you need to cap the gas line that served the fireplace. If the threads on the pipe remain intact after you remove the fitting, you can screw a cap onto the line.
Wrap Teflon tape around the threads of the pipe a few times. Then screw the cap over the tape and onto the threads. Use the wrench to tighten it. Don’t over tighten it, as you could damage the pipe.
Even better, you can hire a gas plumber to cap the line. If you hired a fireplace service company to remove the gas fireplace insert for you, this professional can also cap the line for you.
DIY vs. Hiring a Pro
The cost to remove a gas fireplace by hiring a professional can range from $600 to $2,500. However, the cost of simply removing the gas fireplace insert should be closer to the lower end of the range. For a chimney removal cost and the entire fireplace removal cost, expect to pay $10,000 or more.
Because of these costs, you may have a temptation to try to do the work yourself. Certainly, the process of removing a gas fireplace insert is a demolition job that some homeowners can tackle successfully.
However, the process of shutting off, disconnecting, and capping a gas line is a job best left to a pro. It may even be against your customer agreement with the natural gas company for you to do this type of work on your own, including turning off the main gas line for your home.
Capping gas lines incorrectly could place your family and your property in significant danger through a leak. This work is best left to a licensed professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because of the potential danger associated with incorrectly capping the gas line that serves the gas fireplace, many people will choose to hire a professional to do the work. Some homeowners may choose to hire a pro to only handle the gas line for them. They then may attempt to remove the actual insert on their own, which is a challenging—but not impossible—DIY project.
Depending on the model that your home has, most people can receive anywhere from 10 to 25 years of performance from a gas fireplace insert. An insert that consists of high-quality materials and that undergoes regular maintenance, repairs, and inspections has a good chance of approaching a 25-year lifespan. Failing to make required repairs, especially on a gas fireplace that consists of cheaper materials, could leave the unit struggling to give you 10 years of performance.
Kyle Schurman has a passion for writing about topics ranging from home improvement to consumer electronics. His writing appears in online publications like Business Insider, New York Magazine, Scary Mommy, and multiple Tribune Publishing websites.
Kyle Schurman has a passion for writing about topics ranging from home improvement to consumer electronics. His writing appears in online publications like Business Insider, New York Magazine, Scary Mommy, and multiple Tribune Publishing websites.
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