Open fire question please

Fruball

hethmar wrote: »

If you are going to use it very infrequently it may make economic sense to wait until you have the stove before you actually line the flueway.

I will use it a LOT! However, if I don't get the new boiler until April then obviously will not need a fire at all (one hopes!) so I will wait.

Thanks for all the advice folks - its much appreciated

Keep it coming

Fruball

The reason I would prefer a stove is that I am not losing nearly all the heat up the chimney...

I had an open fire before (house was always dusty from it and I do HATE the spiders that come in with the logs, am phobic) but really, really miss having it. Esp as I love to be warm in the evenings watching tv, but hate my bedroom to be warm so the fire was fab. I used to light it late morning most days in the very cold winter and it would burn til midnight when I went to bed, so it did cost a lot I suppose..

Would a woodburner eat up so much fuel?

welda

Another point I think is often over looked is, when an open fire is not in use, any residual heat is lost up the flu, I recall years ago when I had coal fire, the draught on windy days when fire was out.

At least with a stove, when not in use, it is basically a sealed unit with register plate in place, doors closed, same for stove air vents.

Thats my take on it?

:beer:

hethmar

If you have an open fire you can buy something called a chimney balloon to put in the throat of the fire when not in use.

Re costs - an open fire loses up to 80% of its heat up the flueway (which is why you are less likely to have a chimney fire as the heat takes away the flue gases quickly): with a wood burner you could get up to about 75% of the heat into the room.

thomashenry_2

Plenty of open fireplaces come with plates at the top that can be put in place when the fire is not in use, and this will seal the chimney. All the original Victorian fireplaces in my house have.

I've thought about a stove, but at £2000+ for installation it just doesn't make any economic sense at all, and the ambience you get from them is nothing like the ambience from an open fire.

So I use my gas central heating for warmth, then when I light more fire, any heat that contributes to the thermostat not firing the heating is a bonus. I actually find that any room in which I light a fire does not need any support from the radss.

Stoves are very trendy right now, and lots of figures are given about how 'bad' open fires are - but the open fire in my living room is more than enough to heat the room. Any more, and the room would get too hot. A friend of mine has a stove and has to open windows whenever he lights it, as it makes the room too hot.....

Remember, much of the heat going up the chimney acts to warm the brickwork of the chimney, which is then released slowly back into your house.

If you are looking for something to sit in the chimney recess, get yourself a £30 dog grate, or you could even looks for a second hand Aga Rembrandt, which is a great unit.

A._Badger

thomashenry wrote: »

Plenty of open fireplaces come with plates at the top that can be put in place when the fire is not in use, and this will seal the chimney. All the original Victorian fireplaces in my house have.

I've thought about a stove, but at £2000+ for installation it just doesn't make any economic sense at all, and the ambience you get from them is nothing like the ambience from an open fire.

So I use my gas central heating for warmth, then when I light more fire, any heat that contributes to the thermostat not firing the heating is a bonus. I actually find that any room in which I light a fire does not need any support from the radss.

Stoves are very trendy right now, and lots of figures are given about how 'bad' open fires are - but the open fire in my living room is more than enough to heat the room. Any more, and the room would get too hot. A friend of mine has a stove and has to open windows whenever he lights it, as it makes the room too hot.....

Remember, much of the heat going up the chimney acts to warm the brickwork of the chimney, which is then released slowly back into your house

I think there's a great deal of sense in that. Though I have a stove, I don't think they're the answer to every heating need and they have some quite significant drawbacks - not least financial. Trying to amortise the price of one, given the hyped-up prices and installation costs in recent years, is a long term prospect. You could run a lot of 'inefficient' open fires for a lot of years before a stove began to pay for itself.

I'm also somewhat sceptical about the efficiency figures which are often quoted. I wonder who calculated them, when, and under whose aegis?

In one of my previous houses (1920's built) a tiny grate burning relatively poor quality housecoal produced sufficient heat to make a large living room on the edge of unpleasantly hot. It's hard to believe that would have been possible given some of the figures one seems bandied about.

I think fashion sometimes overcomes people's common sense when the start thinking about stoves.

thomashenry_2

A._Badger wrote: »

In one of my previous houses (1920's built) a tiny grate burning relatively poor quality housecoal produced sufficient heat to make a large living room on the edge of unpleasantly hot. It's hard to believe that would have been possible given some of the figures one seems bandied about.

I've even read an article that claimed running an open fire will make your house colder

suki1964

thomashenry wrote: »

I've even read an article that claimed running an open fire will make your house colder

You read that a lot here

Funny I'm sat in work right now in a bar around 1200 sqft with just the one open fire at one end Lovely and toasty. Everyone sat with no coats or jackets

Rinthemonth

Don't believe everything you read about the inefficiency of an open fire. We heat our living room (24ft X 14ft - 2 outside walls and 3 big windows) with just a small, mostly logs, open fire in a tortoise fire box. The fire burns in a steel box which sits inside a larger steel box so the air between the two boxes works as a highly effective convector heater.
It cost about £1k - much less than a stove and vastly better to look at!
Google "Tortoise firebox".

spinningsheep

i would love a stove, but the cost of the installation would take years and years to repay me, and I do love the cheerful flame of an open fire.