Bioethanol Burners

Kace2022

Evening folks,

I'm considering a bioethanol burner as a means to reduce my heating costs.  Has anyone gone down this path and can report on how effective a bioethanol burner has been for them?  I of course understand that insulation plays a massive factor in heating costs and this varies from house to house.

arrows123

I’ve got a bioethanol burner box in my Victorian fireplace. Only got it in March so haven’t had it through a winter yet. It does throw off a lot more heat than I thought it would. They are marketed mainly for the look rather than heat. My lounge is quite small though, the bioethanol costs about £3 a litre and burns for about four hours. Im planning on using it on the really cold evenings as a boost in addition to the CH (my house is 1901, single glazed and a suspended floor so gets pretty cold!) 

Mstty

Apparently bioethanol on full whack will give out about 3kw of heat but also burn through approx 75-85p of fuel an hour.

Which reminds me got some in the shed lol

QrizB

Is bioethanol a fancy sort of meths?

(A serious question, sorry if it sounds flippant.)

At £3 and about 6.7 kWh per litre, that's 45p/kWh - slightly cheaper than mains electricity (although burner efficiency will affect that), but 3x the price of mains gas.

Mstty

QrizB said:

Is bioethanol a fancy sort of meths?

(A serious question, sorry if it sounds flippant.)

At £3 and about 6.7 kWh per litre, that's 45p/kWh - slightly cheaper than mains electricity (although burner efficiency will affect that), but 3x the price of mains gas.

Not sure and does in need tonic or soda water?

JohnPo

Bit off topic, but the more posts I see about alternative (not very well thought through) heating ideas, the more I worry about the risk of fatalities. We have got the immediate explosion risk (fiddling the gas) and electrocution risk (fiddling the electricity). Then we have risks from unintended domestic fires plus carbon monoxide risks through inappropriate use of various types of fueled appliances indoors.  Further down the risk curve, we have got folk who might use fire places etc. that might have not been used for a while and not functioning properly, with all the issues of CO and particulates that cause long term health issues.

I do hope I am not being too negative, in just hoping folk see the bigger picture in terms of health risks?

Section62

JohnPo said:

I do hope I am not being too negative, in just hoping folk see the bigger picture in terms of health risks?

No, it seems the internet is currently plagued by "my brilliant idea to save energy [which I'm sure nobody has thought of before]" which in reality either don't work or are extremely dangerous.

You'd hope that this forum would be free from that kind of stuff, but I doubt it will be.

arrows123

Bioethanol is marketed as an eco friendly fuel and doesn't need a flue. There are lots of different types of bioethanol fires you can purchase, there is a risk in using them as with any open flame and you have to be careful when filling the firebox not to spill any or not to top it up when it's still warm. 

I agree however that the potential is there for people to put themselves at risk trying to use "alternative" ways of keeping themselves warm which they haven't researched etc. 

Section62

arrows123 said:

Bioethanol is marketed as an eco friendly fuel, doesn't need a flue and doesn't give off CO2.

That is wrong.  Bioethanol produces CO2 when it burns.

RobM99

Section62 said:

arrows123 said:

Bioethanol is marketed as an eco friendly fuel, doesn't need a flue and doesn't give off CO2.

That is wrong.  Bioethanol produces CO2 when it burns.

I worked as a chemist in a petroleum lab for 37 years. Ethanol does produce CO2, all fossil fuels do. (Don't know the subscripts!) or carbon monoxide if you're unlucky.

C2H5OH + 3O2--->  2 CO2 + 3 H20  + heat.  As per brandy on a Christmas pud!

FreeBear

Section62 said:

arrows123 said:

Bioethanol is marketed as an eco friendly fuel, doesn't need a flue and doesn't give off CO2.

That is wrong.  Bioethanol produces CO2 when it burns.

Under ideal conditions, burning ethanol does indeed give off CO2. But there is research done that paints a different picture - https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/press/research-news/2014/september/ethanol-fireplaces-the-underestimated-risk.html