Asbestos Gas Fireplace Logs & Ember Material

Asbestos gas fireplace logs and ember materials are decorative components installed in gas fireplaces to simulate the appearance of a natural wood fire. Manufactured from the 1950s through the mid-1990s, these products were made from chrysotile asbestos moulded, woven, or pressed into shapes resembling burning logs, glowing embers, and ash beds. When the gas fireplace was operated, the burner flames heated these asbestos components, causing them to glow and create a realistic fire effect. The problem was that the heated gas flow passed over crumbling asbestos material and distributed fibres throughout the living space.

The ember material, also called glow fibre or ember glow, was the most hazardous component. It consisted of loose or loosely bonded chrysotile asbestos fibres, often dyed to simulate glowing coals, spread over the gas burner area. When the fireplace was in operation, the flow of heated combustion gases across this loose, friable material entrained asbestos fibres and carried them into the room through the fireplace opening or the ventilation system. Even when the fireplace was not in use, the degraded ember material could release fibres through air currents in the chimney or flue.

Artificial logs were typically formed from asbestos-cement mixtures moulded to resemble wood logs, sometimes with painted bark texture and simulated charring. While these log forms were denser and less immediately friable than the ember material, they degraded over years of thermal cycling, developing surface cracking and powdery deterioration that released fibres when disturbed or when subjected to gas flow.

The domestic location of these products makes them particularly insidious. Gas fireplaces are typically located in living rooms, family rooms, and bedrooms, the spaces where household members, including children, spend the most time. A gas fireplace with asbestos ember material, operated regularly during heating season, distributed asbestos fibres throughout the most intimate spaces of the home, directly into the breathing zone of occupants relaxing in front of the fire.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and equivalent agencies in other countries issued warnings about asbestos in gas fireplace components, but public awareness remains limited. Many older gas fireplaces continue to operate with their original asbestos ember materials in place. Any gas fireplace installed before the mid-1990s should be inspected for asbestos-containing ember, log, and ash materials before continued use or during appliance replacement.