Any idea of gas used by boiler vs gas fire?

ormus

that fire will be very inefficient. maybe your boiler too if it was fitted over 20 yrs ago now?
you certainly need some new TRVs fitted to the rads.

a carbon monoxide alarm seems like a good idea too.

rustyboy21

pinkteapot wrote: »

Thanks for all the thoughts.

I don't know anything about the rating of the fire. It has one ignition/control dial and it's a "Fireflame Gold Deluxe by Main". No other labels or anything with information.

It was serviced just over a year ago - the guy who came round laughed at how retro it is. Think it was put in when the house was built in 1990 and this is the only pic of it I can find online:



It's not just for effect - if you close the lounge doors so you're only heating the one room, it HEATS it.

TRVs - I wish. Heating system also dates from 1990 and we don't have TRVs. We have a standard double pipe system with the radiators having one 'fixed' valve (the one you only adjust to balance the system) and one 'temperature' valve which is just marked with a +/-. Most of the valve caps for these are knackered inside though, so to adjust the valves you have to take the cap off and use pliers/spanner.

Servicing both the fire and the boiler is on my list of February jobs so it'll get checked out again soon. The flames are blue when you first put the fire on and turn orange after a few minutes. You've got me worried, but it was the same before and then after the last service. Hmmmmm.

Fire gets used a lot in the depths of winter as the lounge radiators just don't heat the room. It's a 4m x 5m room. One radiator is behind the sofa and one is in a large bay window - helpful positioning.

That fire shouldn't be burning yellow/orange. They always used to have a blueish flame. I would suggest that it may be on it's way out, as it may be that the burner could be slightly buckled. It was an efficient fire around 70% But to be on the safe side, get your engineer to check the burner out. If the flames are running yellow where they emmanate from the ceramics, rather than when they are maybe 2-3'' above the ceramics, then there is defo something wrong. A CO detector would be usefull.

All the parts, apart from the ignition now are obsolete, so getting it repaired now will be nigh on impossible. BTW is it LPG? The only one showing for the fireflame is the balanced flue or the LPG version. Sometimes LPG can be dirty and cause sooting in a fire.

Get your boiler and fire serviced soon, Don't want to say don't use the fire as it may be safe, but just be prepared that it may be on it's way to the little fire skip in the sky !:( was a good fire too.Also crack open a window slightly to let some air into the room. It will take a lot for any fumes ( if they are leaking) to cause major harm. Just don't leave it on overnight.

IF you have to buy a fire again and want the same sort, look at Robinson Willey Sahara LF, Valor Black beauty,Heartbeat. Experience has shown me that Flavel ones similar have had problems in past, especially the emberglow, always going wrong