Hello, We purchased a condo earlier in the year built in '04. There are 2 built in gas fireplaces. They are pretty standard. See pic. The one in the living room has a burning dusty smell when run. We only ran it maybe twice, and I got a headache and was concerned. So we turned off the pilots on both (since it was summer) and we vacuumed the interior of the living room one, and we still smelled the dusty burning smell.

1- Could this be the logs needing to be replaced? I do not notice the same smell in the upstairs unit, which likely was not used as much.

2- Most places want to charge us 250/unit to service! that seems crazy to me.

3- Another place said they really don't need to be serviced, unless a vent is clogged, in which case they come to clean out the flue. But that otherwise the fireplace and flue do not need to be cleaned.

Any thoughts appreciated. I know they sell new log kids. The logs (some of them) have very dark black areas almost seems like they are truly burning a bit.