please help before i light it ???
we bought a house with a normal gas fire in the lounge - now its getting colder I want to light it but decided to remove the coals to have a hoover up of old dust etc first and saw what looks like a thick layer of cotton wool under the coals !!!
Is this normal and okay to light
Its a Jetmaster gas fire with a gas pipe going in and a knob underneath saying OFF PILOT and HIGH as the 3 options
Sounds like Kaowool, which is a high temp insulation used to difuse the gas and bed the 'coals'. Some DFE fires use a sand bed for the same purpose. If you are concerned you should consult the manufacturers, as information obtained here is worth precisely what you paid for it !
AWEM
It sounds like you have a display type grate burner.
You really should leave servicing of these to a pro (people who know my posts won't flame me for that as they know I support competent d-i-y).
The cotton wool is glass wool and is an integral part of the fire. Yes you can give things a clean up, watch out that you don't hoover up and vermiculite which might be lying around.
Ideally you service it in accordance with the instructions which you can get from the makers. Their name should be on it somewhere.
You will need to perform check of the flue flow and for spillage of fumes, during operation, using smoke matches and pellets, under worst case ventilation.
If any of the above leaves you wondering what I'm on about get a pro. open fires (gas or otherwise) are not as inherently safe as modern boilers.
HTH
Thanks guys - Im not trying to service it - just literally was going to hoover up any old dust and c r a p lying around. Now I'll just leave it and turn it on. Just wanted to be sure this cotton woll stuff was meant to be there as it seems weird to me
Thanks
If you're worried then get your gas stuff serviced and check it is safe before you use it. You can ask the chap who comes out about it then.
but if you have no record of it having been serviced recently before you bought the house how do you know if it's safe to use?
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