Gas pipe in chimney

[Frank Norman]

A gas insert was installed in the living room fireplace 10 years ago and an electric cable and a copper gas pipe was fed to it from the basement below. In the basement below the gas fireplace there is an open wood-burning fireplace that has not been used for 10 years. The gas pipe for the main floor fire is in a red plastic wrap in a hole drilled through the brick chimney up from below. The problem is that the hole was drilled too far into the chimney bricks so that a few centimetres of the gas pipe are exposed in the corner of the smoke chamber above the damper in the basement fireplace. It was hard to get the picture. The grey at the top and bottom of it are the edges of the damper. I advised that either the pipe be rerouted so it is no longer exposed and the hole filled, or the basement fireplace should be permanently closed off to prevent anyone from using it. In the meanwhile I said it should not be used. I guess a gas insert with new liner would be OK. I do not have a sense of how dangerous this situation might be. Any advice?

[David McGuire]

These are the reasons how we can justify our profession. I love installers and home DYI's.

[James Duffin]

A gas insert was installed in the living room fireplace 10 years ago and an electric cable and a copper gas pipe was fed to it from the basement below. In the basement below the gas fireplace there is an open wood-burning fireplace that has not been used for 10 years. The gas pipe for the main floor fire is in a red plastic wrap in a hole drilled through the brick chimney up from below. The problem is that the hole was drilled too far into the chimney bricks so that a few centimetres of the gas pipe are exposed in the corner of the smoke chamber above the damper in the basement fireplace. It was hard to get the picture. The grey at the top and bottom of it are the edges of the damper. I advised that either the pipe be rerouted so it is no longer exposed and the hole filled, or the basement fireplace should be permanently closed off to prevent anyone from using it. In the meanwhile I said it should not be used. I guess a gas insert with new liner would be OK. I do not have a sense of how dangerous this situation might be. Any advice?

I think you covered it very well. Good eye to catch this!