Balanced flue living flames gas fires

quatro

Anyone have any experience of one of these? Am looking into a Verine Ballade fire to go into a new build with no chimney but an outside wall.

In the past I've had gas convector fires with balanced flues and they worked very well - dont know enough about gas living flame ones though.
Thanks

nordberg

My parents had one of these fitted about 20 years ago. It's a Valor and is still going strong today.

totalguitar

What about a power flue ? The best fire i've seen with this option is the Kinder Camber. Easy installation as well.

quatro

The fire i want is one to go into a 'traditional fireplace' ie. hearth, cast iron fascia and a mantel - not one of the ones that sit up on the wall. But i need a good one, and a reliable one.

quatro

I thought power flues are a bit noisy as they need a fan in order to run? sorry i dont know a lot about it all.........

totalguitar

quatro wrote:

I thought power flues are a bit noisy as they need a fan in order to run?

I think it depends on the make and model and ultimatly how much you pay.
Does a balanced flue still not need a pipe to extract the fumes outside. I'm not sure how they work but i was told that with only an outside wall to work with, i needed a power flue.

quatro

A balanced flue does need a pipe to take the fumes out yes - i dont know enough about power flues yet - but hopefully the plumber will be explaining more tonight!

uncle_buck_3

Balanced flue fires have a flue that goes through the wall, this is normally 2 pipes (1 inside the other) the fire takes in air from the flue & expels the waste gasses out of it.

All balanced flue fires have a glass front as they are room sealed which means they do not use any air from the room in which they are.

Power flue fires still have a flue but only the waste gasses from the fire go out through this, the air that the fire uses to burn will come from inside the room so the room will require an air vent to supply the correct amount of air for the fire in question. This will be covered in depth in the fire instructions.
The fire will also require an electrical connection for the fan in the flue.
Power flue fires can be glass or open fronted.


There are also flue less fires on the market…these do not need a flue, these use a catalytic converter to clean the burnt gasses into carbon dioxide.
This type of fire also needs an air vent to supply the correct amount of air.

Have a look at this link for more information, near the bottom of the page.
http://www.simplyfires.com/technical-information.htm


HTH.

quatro

Thanks for the information - my installer is happy to install a balanced flue gas fire and has explained that a power flue requires an electricity supply [so wont work if there is a power cut!] and would require the wall above the power flue to have a lintel put in. So balanced flue it is!

uncle_buck_3

You may still find that you have to remove some of the inner leaf of your cavity wall & install a lintel with a balance flue fire if you have a flat wall & it is an inset fire.
This is something to take into consideration before choosing your fire!

If you google for balanced flue fires you will find sites where you can download installation instructions, I think you will find with most Inset fires be they balanced flue or power flue that the inner wall will have to be removed to accommodate the back of the fire, unless the fire surround is quite deep or there is an adaptor available for the fire you choose.

HTH