There are a wide variety of fireplaces to choose from. You can see that right here at York Fireplaces! You may have already sampled the three core fuel types – electric, gas, and solid fuel – but some people have been raised entirely on one fuel type. They don’t know the other side of the coin, so to speak.
But say you wanted to convert to another fuel type, what things do you need to consider? Are there unexpected factors that you haven’t thought about? Well here are some of the points you need to know before making the jump.
Converting to Electric
Easily the simplest conversion to make, the inherent beauty of electric fireplaces is that they only require a plug to get going. So, realistically, as long as it is near a plug, you’ll be fine. But that may be something you’ll have to accomodate. If there isn’t a plug socket near-by, you’ll have to install one, unless you’re OK with having an extension cord snaking across the floor.
The other thing to think about is what to do with the chimney. If you currently have a gas or solid fuel fireplace or stove, you will either have a chimney or some form of flue. As electric fireplaces don’t require them, you will want to seal them, as otherwise they will just be draining heat.
Converting to Gas
Let’s say you are at the opposite end of the spectrum, and you want to convert from electric to gas. You may have elected to block the chimney 
already, so you’ll need to figure out the best way to get around that. If you merely bricked it off, or used a temporary blocking device like a chimney balloon, it won’t take much work to free it up (it’s a good idea at this point to have it inspected, to make sure nothing damaging has happened since it was blocked). However, if it would take a lot of work, don’t worry – there is an alternative.
Powered flues are almost universally fitted on wall mounted or hole in the wall gas fireplaces. They are a small to medium sized pipe that, instead of requiring a chimney, is fed through the wall the fireplace is placed on to the outside. This will allow the toxic fumes to leave though the wall safely.
Converting to Solid Fuel
Switching to solid fuel is perhaps the toughest, as it involves at least one factor that doesn’t apply to the others – fuel storage. Whether it be logs, coal, or smokeless fuel, you’ll need a place to store them safely. So before making the switch, ensure that you have the room to spare.
Speaking of safety, as stoves deal with open flames (to a much bigger extent than gas fireplaces do), it’s highly advisable that you invest in a fire extinguisher. In fact, that goes for all of these fireplaces. Stoves may seem like a little extra work, but anybody who’s ever had one will attest that there is nothing quite like an open flame stove to snuggle up next to.