Log Lighter - LP

[Alan L.]

In my new house I had a line run to my indoor fireplace from the propane tank, not for gas logs but for starting wood logs.

There is a valve cutoff sticking out of the rock and inside the firebox is a stubbed out pipe with threads, probably 1/2".

I know I need a log lighter bar, but it is unclear if I need just the pipe (which appears to be open on the end which seems strange) or a kit, which includes the valve (which I already have). Any ideas on what I need?

Also, there is no electricity hooked to the fireplace. How do I light the thing? Use a match?

 

[ragkar]

Oh my gosh. If your house insurance man finds out he'll cancel you faster than you could believe. You do know that LP is practically odorless and poisonous.
My suggestion is that you go to a fireplace accessory place and buy the grid, pipe and controller. Though I don't know how you would keep the outlet pipes clean with ash falling on it. You'll have a pilot light auto shutdown and a means of lighting your logs.
Maybe they would have a better suggestion.

 

[xlr82v2]

Ragkar,

I don't know about your LP gas in your area, but the LP around here is DEFINITELY not odorless.

Alan L,

I'd seek out the advice of a professional fireplace installer on this one. Better safe than sorry. They can get you hooked up with all the stuff that you need to do the job right. Gas log lighter would be a nice option in a fireplace!

 

[WVBill]

I tried to get a log lighter from my Propane company here in WV and they refused. Said there is no such thing that passes UL certification.

WVBill

 

[RavensRoost]

Google on Blue Flame log lighter.

RavensRoost

 

[ragkar]

I think you may be right about LP odor. It's been a long time since I smelled it.
Anecdote - In my poorer years I lived in a mobile home with a LP hot water heater Just off the bedroom closet. I recall one week when I was having troubles with this heater which was just about four feet from my sleeping head. That week I also had terrific headaches (I usually never get them) all week long. To make matters worse, apparently some small animal had died under the mobile home and I could smell it's decomposing stink.
Somehow I didn't put one and two together. Yep the smell was escaping LP gas. I could have died in my sleep.
Oh yeah, I smoke in bed.
After a week of this I finally woke up to my problem and called an electrician to replace the LP hot water heater with an electric model.

 

[teg]

I got my log lighter *free* from a local plumber (natural gas) They had a bucket full of them and said take whichever one you want, just remember us when you plan to get tired of it and want a gas fireplace.

I loved it, the gas cut off is out of the fireplace. I used L o n g matches and sometimes fire sticks. About once a year I have to clean out the holes that the gas comes out. Actually had the log lighter totally under the ash... turned it on and flicked the fire stick and it lights up no sign of the log lighter - just flame coming from the ash.

It was a pipe with small holes drilled on top that screwed into a little block that had a small adjustable hole to allow air to mix with the natural gas. I do not know if the LP one is different. When I get home, I'll take a photo of it.


.

 

[Alan L.]

For some reason the LP version of this device is outlawed by some codes, apparently not in mine (or the plumber would not have run the line for the LP gas).

I certainly don't want something dangerous in my house, but since I was running propane for the tankless water heater and outside grill anyway, I figured it would be nice to have a gas lighter for the fireplace.

Seems like some kind of pilot setup would just burn up in the wood fire.

 

[vic4news]

I think you may be right about LP odor. It's been a long time since I smelled it.

Propane is orderless, but something is added to it to give it an odor for safety
reasons. I'm not sure when they started doing this, but I'm pretty sure that
I can remember it having an odor back in the 1960s.

 

[AlanB]

I believe, and it could be backed with some research, that they started adding the odorant to the gasses after a huge explosion in a school in Texas, I believe it was sometime early in the 1900's.

I believe the NG was a by product from the oil wells and they gave it away.

Not sure where I am remembering it from, but remember hearing about it in detail.

Sorry I am no help to the OP.