bio ethanol fires

It is mainly for the look if I'm honest, our house is quite toasty with the central heating on.

There was a gas fire in the backroom which was condemned and when renovating the room exposed the old fire place and stone mantle that was previously covered in plasterboard. The radiator is quite sufficient in that room and when adding a bit of atmos with candles it can be too warm. I'd like in the hearth but there would be a huge expense reinstating this, and a faux gas even more.

We would like to get rid of the 70s style fire in the front room (and recess) the fireplace as it should be. We rarely have this fire on.

So I was thinking of dipping the toe into the water and getting a fire bowl for the back room and seeing how it fares, before investing into ditching the last gas fire.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Ah that is what it was - I saw one of these things put into an unused fireplace in a house-makeover-to-sell-it programme.

There is nothing to beat a log burner if you don't have neighbours to annoy.

Yep! You don't need a flu and you can move it about, the fuel might be expensive but this if offset by no installation costs. Hence why I'm considering it, empty fire places make a room look souless and nothing beats a live flame, plus if I had an open fire I'll have the down draft from the chimney (= cold house) and the dust from the fire. I hate housework!

If your dressing houses for sale I'd imagine that investing in a high end one of these would be cost effective, because it's not technically a fixture and can just be moved out with the furniture.

It's just Sourcing the fuel supply that is causing me a headache and putting me off. I'm going to start with a fire bowl and if that works I'll take it further. I like the idea of having the fire bowl outside in the summer and not stinking like a bonfire.

Hi, an alternative heat source would be a bonus, and is what we will be looking for when renovate the front room.

I'll admit The kw they give out are smaller than conventional sources, but it doesnt take much to heat our rooms.

OH has brought us as fire bowl today as a house Christmas pressie, when this comes I'll be able to gauge it's effectiveness, before we think about purchasing a larger model as a fire in the room to be renovated. We want to remove the ugly 70 s gas fire.

My issue really is sourcing the fuel.

I understand what you are saying but, Re-instating a traditional source such as an open fire or stove is horrendously expensive for something that will rarely be used and make the house far too warm for comfort.

Dannybob78 wrote: »

Hi, we're looking at a bio ethanol fire too for a heat source, electric fires only seem to go to around 2kw but these are quoted as around 3.5kw. Similar problem though, a lack of independent reviews. How did you get on with your Christmas present? Can anyone recommend them (or otherwise)?

Lets take a closer look at the figures.

One of the main sites is http://www.bioethanolfires.co.uk/

This is where the UP TO 3.5kW claim comes from. But anyone using the MSE site should know to run a mile from anything claiming 'UP TO'. It is meaningless.

If you look at their FAQ section, they say the fires use 0.36/litre per hour. Ethanol has a calorific value of 27MJ/kg. (Alot lower than diesel , LPG or petrol). So using a density of 0.79kg/litre, we get 8.5 MJ in one hour, which is 2.1kWh.

So not 3.5 then.

Then, be aware that burning ethanol will create water vapour;
Complete combustion of ethanol forms carbon dioxide and water vapor:
C2H5OH (l) + 3 O2 (g) → 2 CO2 (g) + 3 H2O

This water will humidify your house, as there is no flue. Not good if you prefer a dry house.

It's also sucking up oxygen of course, which you need to breathe. And chucking out CO2 which you don't. Noone's saying your going to suffocate, but it's not an ideal situation. At the least you need to ensure you have excellent ventilation in your house, which means bringing in cold air.

Now the cost.

They say it costs £35 for 20 litres, or 18p per kWh. I'll trust their calcs. This is almost double what it would cost to run a simple electric fire, and over triple the cost of oil heating.

For me, it's an expensive gimmick.

I want to re-awaken this thread - we've just had a pressure test on our flue as we were planning to go solid fuel, but it's failed, catastrophically. We can't really afford the 1.5k for a new flue liner.

So we've now stumped. We cant get gas to the fireplace without ripping up the floorboards, electric fires look naff, and so the only other option seems to be the bio-ethanol/gel fires.

Can anyone who has one give me an honest opinion regarding heat output? Are they really poor? If so, anyone have any ideas?!!

Thanks