Open fireplaces: still a selling point?

Probably.

I've smelt coal being burnt here in suffolk - first time in YEARS.

They always seem to enthuse over them in 'Escape to the country' or wood-burners but I'm not sure it's a rather romantic notion which would quickly fade once the reality of organising the fuel and clearing our the grate hits home. Also in the face of endless talk around better insulation, having an open chimney seem a little odd to say the least.

Andy Cap wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

It makes me wonder if the desire for huddling around a real open fire has been hard-coded into our genes through millennia of it being a *real* need!

Al

A decent fireplace always looks attractive to me. But having a wood burning stove is the rage now - fitted into an attractive Victorian style surround if possible I would think.

As for fireplaces, the little British 16" fireplace is too small for the "b eautiful house" magazines of course. It must be a huge thing big enough to roast an ox. As long as you can close off the flue when the fire is not in use I guess you won't lose too much heat up the chimney.

But we now use our underfloor vented open fire in the back room, and once i ts heated up with smokeless fuel the odd log is wonderful. Its obviously no t as efficient as a stove, but you can see the flames properly.

Simon.

On Friday 03 January 2014 15:56 AL_n wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I installed a stove in a fireplace due to the electicity being a bit dodgy.

If the HV lines come down, then there's one room we can all sit in and be warm.

Nah, it's people looking for a "lifestyle". Same as all the people who ripped out all those perfectly good fitted carpets to put down decking (sorry, laminate) only a generation or so after people delighted in being actually to afford wall to wall to get away from cold, draughty floorboards and rugs that moved around on their own.

From observation of people who have open fires, the upshot seems to be you end up with one room hot enough to melt lead[1] that makes the rest of the house then feel sub-arctic.

Always handy to have one. You never know when the gas /electricity will go off. Keep some fuel stashed.

The male has to spend all evening poking it. Trouble is, with an open fire, the whole place smells a bit smokey after a while.

An open fire place might not be these days, too much heat loss up it and if you have a fire not that effective at heating the room. *BUT* it does mean there is a chimeny so the installation of a wood burner is a relatively easy proposition.

If you have source for cheap wood then a wood burner with boiler will reduce the demand for expensive gas/oil.

Burning wood is fairly carbon neutral the carbon was taken from the atmosphere in the last 50 years, it forms a relatively short duration carbon cycle. Harvesting and transport will use some fossil fuel, unless you cut and process and transport the trees by hand...

Burning fossil fuels (gas/oil/coal) is the problem as that is releasing carbon that was taken from the atmosphere millions of years ago.

When? I've always considered them an anti-selling point requiring the expense and hassle of getting rid of them. (My crushed thumb has almost recovered from helping my neighbour get rid of hers a couple of months ago.)

jgh

Probably - especially if the buyer has never used an open fire before.

These days a wood burning stove is trendier and less messy if you are going to actually use it as opposed to having an ornamental fireplace.

At present it is so mild here ours is not lit!

Exactly what we did. There were two open fires here when we moved in, the one in the front room being particularly useless from the PoV of efficiency. Since the volts are a bit dodgy here too, and oil is no longer 10p/litre, we replaced one with a woodburner, one with a nice large window door so its just like an open fire. With 5kW of heat output, you can heat much more than just the one room.

On Friday 03 January 2014 17:16 Martin Brown wrote in uk.d-i-y:

And more importantly, safer. I have no qualms in leaving one slumbering all day.

Likewise - it is weird weather!

Has anyone experiences with the kind of woodburner that fits into a fireplace with a glass screen and internal ventilation (fans?) to manage the airflow - you get the radiated heat but don't exchange (much) air with the room? It looks like a fireplace (and is a fireplace if you raise the screen) but combustion can be more complete (less smoke, less tar).

I suppose it's just a normal stove but one that looks like a fireplace, not something out of an iron foundry. Though I don't know what they do about heat in the flue gases.

Apparently different woods burn at different temperatures, so you can control the heat by picking your material. Assuming you have a varied supply of course.

Theo

It's rather depressing all the 'professionally updated' houses around here with an obvious chimney breast which has been covered in MDF and painted a nice shade of magnolia... with all the chairs arranged around it as if we're still paying homage to a fireplace long departed...

Theo

It was the total opposite for me. We bought the house we're in now in spite of the fake Baxi Burnall. I fully expected to at-least seal up the opening after the novelty had worn off - maybe a couple of months or so. Two years later and we're still using it most winter weekends. We've just had the chimney swept again.

I do hate the thought of all that heat going up the chimney when we're not using it though. I keep meaning to make a removable cover for the opening, but there's too much other stuff to do.

Cheers,

Colin.

IMHO, a period property where it has been removed - especially if the chimney breast remains - looks stupid.

You don't have to use an open fire - the fireplace can be purely decorative. The chimney can be partially sealed to cut down on heat loss.

Put a chimney balloon up it. They are quite effective.

These chimney breasts take up a lot of space. I always remove the complete chimney and breast right to floor level and put in a modern metal chimney. A lot easier to clean & works better. I took four out of my present house.