Gas fire v Open fire

awpoorshazza

I've got a gas fire - not plumbed in but its there ready to be plumbed in, in an old open fire that can still be used as an open fire. I live in an old (Victorian) end terrace. I have loft insulation, but can't have cavity wall as I don't have cavities in my walls! I put my heating on for around 2 hours an evening in the winter and shiver in my thermals under fleecy blankets and use a wheatbag the rest of the time. I pay around £100 per month combined for my gas and electric. would it be more cost effective to have my chimney cleaned and use coke/wood to keep warm or am I best sticking with two hours heating and shivering the rest of the time?

macman

A gas fire is very much more efficient than an open fire.
But gas CH (if that is what you have) is very much more efficient than either.

Leon_W

Although wouldn't a flueless gas fire be more efficient than either ? With no heat going up the chimney it therefore has to be 100% efficient.

macman

No gas fire is 100% efficient.

Leon_W

I think I'll disagree. If you're burning gas which is all converted to heat, and no heat is lost through a flue then how can it not be 100% efficient ? Exactly the same principle as an electric fire but at roughly a third of the running costs.

Gloomendoom

A flueless gas fire used as sole source of heat will have the walls running with condensation.

Leon_W

Oh I don't doubt that Gloomendoom ! A flueless seems to be recommended as an addition to central heating, not a replacement for. All I am saying is that, as a fire to take the chill off a room, then a flueless gas is more efficient than an open gas fire, equally as efficient as an electric fire, but with much lower running costs involved.

I don't have one by the way but use an electric fire just to take the chill off the room I am during Autumn and Spring. For me this works out cheaper than running up the whole central heating system.

macman

Leon_W wrote: »

I think I'll disagree. If you're burning gas which is all converted to heat, and no heat is lost through a flue then how can it not be 100% efficient ? Exactly the same principle as an electric fire but at roughly a third of the running costs.

But not all the gas is converted to heat. Some to light, some to sound...

grahamc2003

macman wrote: »

But not all the gas is converted to heat. Some to light, some to sound...

some, hopefully a tiny amount, to co instead of co2 ...

Man_Overboard_2

awpoorshazza wrote: »

I've got a gas fire - not plumbed in but its there ready to be plumbed in, in an old open fire that can still be used as an open fire. I live in an old (Victorian) end terrace. I have loft insulation, but can't have cavity wall as I don't have cavities in my walls! I put my heating on for around 2 hours an evening in the winter and shiver in my thermals under fleecy blankets and use a wheatbag the rest of the time. I pay around £100 per month combined for my gas and electric. would it be more cost effective to have my chimney cleaned and use coke/wood to keep warm or am I best sticking with two hours heating and shivering the rest of the time?

If you have a cheap and reliable source of logs/solid fuel, then burning an open fire may well be a viable thing to do - you might even find that the 'ambience' of an open fire may make you feel warmer than you actually are...

You haven't said whether or not your 2 hours' nightly heating includes all the parts of your house which are not occupied during the 2-hour happy time.

hubb

The price of coal is cheaper than gas for sure. Just keep it ticking over with as little as possible and the heat is there all night. You don't have to have it blazing. Our radiators don't feel warm enough so we opt for the coal fire and have the heating come on here and there.