Cooktops, heaters and gas lines fitted, tested and certified, including log fires into fireplaces that were built for something else entirely.
Online Now!·--:--
A gas log fire going into an existing fireplace is one of the more satisfying jobs in this housing, and it is also the one where the most gets assumed. The fireplace is there, the chimney is there, and it looks like a straightforward swap.
It is not a swap. The chimney was built for an open fire, in most cases a very long time ago, and a gas appliance has its own requirements about how it is vented. Whether that structure can serve is a question with a real answer: the condition of the flue, whether it is clear along its length, its dimensions, and what the specific appliance calls for.
A great many chimneys out here have also been closed off for decades. That is a perfectly normal starting point and it is not a problem in itself. It does mean the assessment carries more weight, because obstructions and deterioration are likelier in a flue nobody has used since the seventies.
Where the existing chimney is not suitable there are usually options, including lining it or choosing an appliance that vents differently. What does not happen is an appliance going into a flue that is not right for it. We would rather tell you that before you have chosen the fire than afterwards.
No switches, no phones indoors. Turn it off at the meter only if you can reach it safely, then ring from outside.
Open up, get out, and ring from the footpath. It takes seconds and it removes almost all of the risk.
Do not operate anything electrical on the way past. That includes switching a light off, which is as much of a spark as switching one on.
Turn the supply off at the meter only if you can reach it safely. It is not worth walking through a stronger smell to get to a tap.
It was built for an open fire, and a gas appliance has its own requirements. Cross-section, condition, termination height and what the flue is lined with all matter, and none of them were designed with a gas log fire in mind.
So whether an existing chimney can serve a gas appliance is an assessment rather than an assumption. It is frequently yes, and it is not automatically yes.
That assessment is the first part of the job rather than a formality before it.
It is a common starting point rather than a problem in itself. A great many fireplaces in houses of this era were sealed up in the seventies and have not been opened since.
What matters is the condition of what is behind the seal, which nobody can know without looking. Birds, debris, a partial collapse or a nest are all ordinary findings.
Opening it up and looking is a short piece of work and it is where the conversation properly starts.
Lining the existing chimney with a flue suited to the appliance, or choosing an appliance that vents a different way entirely, such as a direct vent unit through an external wall.
Which one suits depends on the fireplace, the room and the appliance, and on what you want it to look like when it is finished.
That last part matters more in a house like this than it does elsewhere, and it is worth raising early rather than at the end.
Clearances to the surround and the mantel, the correct flue, adequate ventilation for the room, and installation to the manufacturer's instructions. All of that is specified rather than judged.
A gas log fire in a period fireplace is a very good outcome when it is done properly. It is also a real installation rather than an appliance you slide into a hole.
Getting the appliance chosen before the work is scoped is the usual mistake, because the appliance decides the flue.
Its demand goes into the same calculation as everything else on the supply. These are substantial burners and they run for hours at a time through winter.
So adding one to a house that already has a cooktop and gas hot water means checking total demand against what the line and the meter carry.
Where the sums do not work, appliances starve each other, and a fire that drops off whenever somebody runs a shower is nearly always this.
Opening up a fireplace, making good a hearth, or any building work around the installation is somebody else's trade and we will say so rather than take it on.
The connection, the appliance installation, the flueing and the certificate are ours. Being clear about that boundary saves everybody time.
We are happy to work alongside a builder and to say exactly what the appliance needs from them before they start.
Adding an appliance is a calculation against total demand rather than a connection. The line has a capacity and so does the meter.
The input rating on the appliance plate is the number the calculation runs on, stated in megajoules per hour, and a photograph of it is enough to get started.
Doing the sums first is most of the difference between an installation that works and a callback that gets blamed on the appliance.
Sizing, testing, clearances, flueing and ventilation, all specified rather than judged, and all hidden the moment the work is finished.
You can look at a tap and form a view about it. You cannot look at a gas installation and tell whether the pipe was sized correctly or whether the line held pressure.
Which is why the document matters more here than anywhere else on this site, and why we will not do gas work without issuing one.
Every gas job finishes with a compliance certificate recording who did the work, that they held a licence, and that the installation met the standard on the day.
Keep it with the property papers. It is what an insurer asks for after an incident and what a conveyancer eventually asks for at sale.
On a fireplace conversion it is also the only document that says the chimney was assessed rather than assumed.
Fixed price agreed before anything starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges.
Before a fire is chosen, so you know what the property will actually take.
Connected, tested and certified in one visit.
Priced on the run rather than by the hour.
With the compliance certificate handed over.
Made safe at any hour, with the cause established afterwards.
And on a fireplace, when the chimney was last used. Decades ago is a normal answer and a useful one.
Condition and clearance of the flue, and the total demand against what the line and meter can deliver.
Fitted to the Australian Standards and pressure tested before anything is signed off.
The Certificate of Compliance in your hand before we leave rather than in the post afterwards.
Get outside, leave the switches alone, and ring. A licensed gas fitter can be on the way immediately.
Call 1300 381 569Frequently yes, and it is not automatic. The appliance has requirements about how it is vented, and an existing chimney is a structure that was built for something else, decades or more than a century ago. Whether it can serve is an assessment: the condition of the flue, whether it is clear, its dimensions, and what the particular appliance calls for.
There are usually options, and they depend on the appliance and the structure. Some installations use a flue liner within the existing chimney. Some appliances vent differently and do not need the chimney at all. What we will not do is put an appliance into a flue that is not right for it and hope.
It helps to know, but no. A chimney that has been closed off for thirty years is a common starting point out here. It simply means the assessment matters more, because obstructions and deterioration are likelier than in one that has been in regular use.
Both are involved. The gas connection, the appliance installation and the compliance certificate are licensed gas fitting. Structural work to a chimney is not, and where that is needed we will say so rather than improvise.
That is a calculation. Everything in the property draws on the same supply, so the answer depends on total demand against what the line and the meter can deliver. A log fire is not a small appliance.
Everyone outside first. No light switches, nothing electrical, no phone used indoors. Turn the supply off at the meter only if you can reach it safely, then ring from outside.
A flue and supply assessment for a fireplace conversion is $180 to $350. An appliance connection is $200 to $500. A new gas point is $500 to $1,200. A leak test and certificate is $180 to $350.
If it is a fireplace, tell us roughly when the chimney was last used and whether you have chosen an appliance yet. Ideally the assessment happens before the choosing.
Assessed, installed, tested and certified, at the figure agreed first.
Online Now!·--:--
