Gel fires

[Matthew Barnard]

Or rather gel fireplaces. Anyone any experience of these?

Saw one on property ladder this week. Looked a suitable solution for those without gas and flue. Also looked realistic. Any comments?

[Mary Fisher]

What's a gel fireplace?

Mary

[Grunff]

You know those gel cadles you get? Think that scaled up to room size.

They're fine, but they still chuck out a fair bit of moisture into the air.

[Mary Fisher]

I should get out more often ...

Mary

[a]

Really - how bizarre!? I must say I had never heard of them either until that programme.

[Grunff]

I've only ever seen them in showrooms and on TV. Seem like a very silly idea to me.

[chris French]

Basically what you had was 3 big gel candles underneath fake coals/logs etc. in a fireplace. light the candles and flames flicker up through he coals. No need for a flue of course

[Chris J Dixon]

One Christmas I burned a large decorative candle over the holiday. Afterwards I discovered to my horror that the entire room had a permanent and irremovable layer of soot over its upper half. Can't help but fear the same would happen here, or was I just unlucky?

Chris

[John Anderton]

I sort of assume that since they're intended to be burnt over long periods that they won't leave a residue on the walls etc. but I've no personal experience. Then again, the same applies to candles so what do I know :-)

I've seen these gel candles at various shows and they do look very nice, my only concern was that they seemed very pricey (can't remember exactly how much, ~£40 per 8 hours seems to spring to mind,but I'm not sure if that was each or for all three) although I assume you can find them cheaper at places other than posh shows/showrooms.

Still, if you want the look of real flame and have no flue then they're a lot better than any of the gas/electric flame effect fires I've seen,

Cheers,

John

[Mary Fisher]

The candle was either in a draught or was 'over-wicked' - that is the wick was too arge for the diameter of the candle.

Decorative candles aren't usually good candles in that there's almost always a problem with the burning but usually they're under-wicked and either gutter (dribble) or drown.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

But doesn't the gel burn away and have to be replaced?

Mary

[Brian Sharrock]

Yes!

and expensively !

My wife and I are in the data-gathering phase of "doing" the lounge. Extra power-outlets, data-cabling, new carpet ... and a fire place . We've looked at gas fires, electric fires and the gel-fires under discussion. A fireplace retailer confessed that he'd installed one in his own house; once he'd exhausted the box of candles that 'came with the purchase' he'd never bought another box ... his hand trembled every time he went to light one ... £5 / hr ?

[Mary Fisher]

Well, we weren't thinking of doing anything but thatnks for the norful warning!

Mary

[Chris J Dixon]

It was a cheap one from IKEA, about 50 mm dia, not in a draught, so it must have been the wick.

I reckon that the big 150 mm square one with 4 wicks had better stay as purely decorative ;-)

Chris

[in2minds]

according to

they'll cost around £6 per night (3 cans)... but how long is a "night" ?

I suppose it depends on the usage of the fire, because we have CH ours (gas) is for decorative purposes mostly and gets about 5 hours use a year tops

LJ

[Christian McArdle]

Why muck around with fakes. If I was installing a fireplace, it would be solid fuel. End of story!

I haven't yet got round to converting our fireplaces from gas to solid fuel. They'd need the flue checking/sweeping and the backs and hearth checked. It would be nice on a winter's evening, though. The only problem is that the room in question shares a heating zone with the front room, which would go cold as the room thermostat is in the lounge. I suppose we could always restore the fireplace in the front room, too...

Christian.

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 15 Oct 2004, Christian McArdle wrote

...or move the thermostat to a more neutral location?

[Christian McArdle]

Nah. Given that 363 days of the year this room would be centrally heated and the most occupied room, I'd rather have the tight temperature control in that room. The front room is the only other room in the zone and is unlikely to be occupied simultaneously when we've got a actual real fire in the other room as bait.

Christian.

[Mary Fisher]

363 days a year???

Heavens, where do you live?

Our north facing sitting room in Leeds doesn't need heating until winter and it's not the most occupied room so doesn't have the benefit of body heat. .

Mary

[Christian McArdle]

Greenland.

Well maybe not, but the programmable thermostat might not actually call for heat for many of them. Perhaps I should have said that we'd only use the solid fuel fireplace a couple of times a year, on special occasions.

Christian.