Are open fireplaces still 'trendy'?

longwalks1

We've got a big chimney in our 1930's home, thats currently bricked up with a nasty 1980's electric fireplace. We was planning on fitting a wood burning stove, but now am swaying towards an open fireplace. What are the advantages and disadvantages of an open fire, over a woodburner? Other than cost?

dominoman

I was convinced of an open fire when I was reopening my chimney last year.

Halfway through I changed my mind (partly due to the barrage of one-sided opinion on here!) and instead installed a wood burner.

I have to say I love it and I do think it was the right choice. A woodburner is sealed so keeps most of the air in the room, whereas an open chimney fire sucks vast amounts of air up the flue. With an open fire you end up with cosy hands but a freezing cold house emptied of warm air!

The only regret I have is undersizing my woodburner. I live in an old leaky house with high ceilings, so I should have gone more than 5KW

phil24_7

I love my open fire. As long as the wood is correctly seasoned then the output is amazing and warms the lounge, hallway and the bedroom above!

phil24_7

I will be installing a woodburner in the 2nd reception room when it is opened up into the lounge though.

wrightk

dominoman wrote: »

The only regret I have is undersizing my woodburner. I live in an old leaky house with high ceilings, so I should have gone more than 5KW

Dont knock it.... better than letting even more cold in by requiring a through wall vent in the same room as the woodburner if its above 5kw!

Gloomendoom

I don't know about open fireplaces but woodburners are definitely trendy.

If you are intending to burn wood, check that you are not in a smoke control area zone. Woodburners that meet DEFRA emissions regulations can be more expensive.

PDF

My wife and I moved last July into a 1930s property with a big fire place and planned to replace with a wood burner. We had better things to spend 3k on at the time so waited, had the chimney swept and used the open fire.


We won't be getting a wood burner anytime in the future. The open fire is beautiful and kicks out a lot of heat. We use a mix of wood and coal (1st time using coal and it is excellent). The draw on our fire is such that we don't get any smoke in the room at all.

The 3k+ we saved on the burner week keep us in wood for a very long time! !!

Feral_Moon

Open fires never go out of trend. Just make sure your chimney is swept to save the embarrassment of calling the fire brigade, as my neighbour suffered last week :rotfl:

dominoman

I agree that if you already have an open fire then it's a harder decision whether to replace it. Personally I wouldn't. Open fires look great, and the extra cost of installing a woodburner will take many years (decades?) to recoup in saved fuel.

The OP is reopening a bricked up chimney so in that case the costs of installing a woodburner versus installing an open fireplace are not that different. In that case I'd personally go for a woodburner for the extra efficiency.

Davesnave

wrightk wrote: »

Dont knock it.... better than letting even more cold in by requiring a through wall vent in the same room as the woodburner if its above 5kw!

The better ones have an inlet to attach a pipe to for an independent air supply, so this scenario need not happen.

Depends on the siting of the fire, of course.

Chrishazle

Years ago in our old house we replaced a Baxi 24" open fire with a IIRC 15KW wood burner (room was 25' x 15'!). Nett result - the amount of wood I used for a fire only from 4pm to bed time gave me a fire for 24 hours. Also we could go out (or to bed) with the fire alight - just close the doors and vents - and the fire would still be alight when we came home hours later. Side benefit was frequency of clearing ash. With the open fire we had to empty the ash bucket every couple of days, with the wood burner it was every 2-3 weeks! We also found we got a lot more heat into the room from the woodburner, it had a system where cold air automatically circulated behind the case and out the top, getting warmed by the case.

Luckily the house we now live in came with a wood burner already installed - and no way would I remove it to fit an open fire!!