Does Maricopa County pay to convert my wood fireplace to gas?

Phoenix Fireplace & Chimney · November 9, 2026

What the program is for

The Fireplace Retrofit Program pays to put a natural gas log set into an existing wood-burning fireplace, so the household can have a fire on No Burn Days without smoke. The county's incentives page describes it as a voucher for homes already plumbed for natural gas.

The county's page says the homeowner pays anything above the voucher, that it is one installation per household and residential only. The county uses its own approved installing contractor for the log set itself. We are not part of that arrangement and do not install the program's log set.

Who qualifies

Eligibility comes down to location, gas service and the condition of the fireplace. The county's boundary is drawn along streets in central and west Phoenix: the 67th Avenue alignment from Dunlap Avenue to Carver Road, Carver Road, the northern edge of South Mountain Park, 24th Street, Camelback Road, 16th Street and Dunlap Avenue. Check the county's map for your address.

• The home is inside that boundary.
• It has a Southwest Gas meter and natural gas service. Census ACS data shows electricity is the main heating fuel in about three-quarters of Phoenix homes, so many older houses that heat with electricity still have gas for a water heater or range, and some have no gas at all.
• The fireplace chimney and firebox are in good working order.
• There is a chimney cap on top and an operational damper.

The step where the homeowner pays: inspection and cleaning

The program's second step tells the homeowner to get, at their own cost, a fireplace and chimney inspection and cleaning, with a receipt that states the fireplace is safe for retrofit. This is where we come in. Our inspection is free: we look at the firebox, the smoke chamber, the flue, the damper and the top of the chimney, and photograph what we find. The cleaning is priced at that inspection, based on what is in the flue.

Brick fireplaces in this part of Phoenix are often decades old. Census ACS puts 42 percent of the city's homes before 1980. The usual problems we find in them are a damper that is rusted shut or missing its handle, a cap that blew off years ago, cracked firebrick and a crown that lets water in. Any of these can stand between you and a safe-for-retrofit receipt.

Fixing the cap and damper to meet eligibility

A missing or broken cap is a common gap. HomeGuide's 2026 guide puts a chimney cap at $200 to $850, and a top-mount damper cap, which seals the chimney at the top and can stand in for a ruined throat damper, at $140 to $420. Firebox repair runs $150 to $1,000 in the same guide. We price any repair in writing at the inspection, so you know the full cost before deciding whether the program makes sense for you.

Gas logs or a gas insert

The program pays toward a log set, not an insert, and the two are different. A vented gas log set sits in the open firebox and burns with the damper held open, so much of the heat goes up the chimney; it is mostly about the look of a fire. A gas insert is a sealed box with a glass front that slides into the firebox and vents through a liner, putting far more heat into the room.

If you want real heat from an old brick fireplace, an insert is the stronger choice, and it falls outside the county program. HomeGuide puts an installed gas insert at $2,000 to $5,000 and a full wood-to-gas conversion at $1,500 to $8,000. If your home has no gas line near the fireplace, extending one runs $350 to $2,000 in HomeGuide's guide, and in Phoenix that gas work needs a city permit.