Open fireplaces: still a selling point?

[Huge]

If you regard three years ago as "nowadays", then yes.

[Timothy Murphy]

I have an open fireplace (in fact two) in my Victorian house. I was surprised recently to be told that putting in a wood-burning stove (outside the fireplace, which is too small for a stove) would make the room less attractive.

[Colin Stamp]

I'd wondered about them but I've never seen one. How quick/easy/clean are they to put in and take out? We tend to have fires just on weekend evenings, so it'd have to come out and go back in quite a lot over the winter.

Cheers,

Colin.

[Dave Liquorice]

This is true the large stone chimney breast fireplace that would have housed a cooking range that we uncovered from behind the 70's plasterboard has been kept as a decorative feature. Closure on the the stone lintel with a simple vent in it. I did ensure that the work on the stack above the roof line didn't stop the flues being pressed back into the service if needs be though.

[Tim Streater]

Dunno where we got ours but SWMBO found them just by giggling. Came from Amazon possibly.

They have a plug like an inflatable air bed so pump up with the same pump. But put it up the chimney first eh ha ha

But seriously to take it down, just pull the plug out and it deflates. I think when putting it up you half inflate it first so its got some body but will still go up. Doubtless the instructions will indicate.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

15:44:17 on Fri, 3 Jan 2014, Andy Cap remarked:

Some have shutters that block the chimney if required.

As for whether it's a selling point or not, give us a few years of rolling power cuts in February and the ability to "throw a log on the fire" might become fashionable again.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

16:13:41 on Fri, 3 Jan 2014, Dave Liquorice remarked:

Being "carbon neutral" in that sense is a red herring. If we believe in reducing carbon emissions then the atmosphere can't tell whether it's carbon from ancient coal or recently grown wood. The only carbon reduction thing to do is grow the wood, and then *not* burn it.

[Martin Brown]

So long as you put a tag on it so you can tell it is there the humble big sized bubblewrap can be used to make one. Or alternatively you can make a sheet of plywood to sit over the open space with a draftproof seal around it (essentially the same as a fireguard but solid).

The sheet method is physically larger and s bit more work but cleaner.

Minor irritation removing a balloon is anything dropping down the chimney in the meantime falls out. The thing is obviously pretty sooty when it is removed, but you can bag it. We have a contraption like this in the normally unused chimney to avoid loss of heat.

[Huge]

Which is what I did. I stuck carpet that matched that of the room to it. For semi-permanent installation it's held in place by bungies from hooks on the back to corresponding hooks at the back of the fireplace. When we're using the fire-place regularly, like at the moment, we prop it in place with the log basket ...

[jgh]

The main problem with a fireplace - whether used or not - is the bloody great big hearth that eats into the room. You're forever having to navigate around it, tripping over it, and you can't furniture there. Without the hearth I gained at least 25% usable space in my living room and I have space to actually put furniture in and sit down.

jgh

[Huge]

Buy a less pikey house.

[Theo Markettos]

Yes and no. Wood is on a short carbon cycle - ~50 years. Chop it down, burn it, release CO2, wait 50 years for another to grow. If it doesn't grow enough, you can't burn it. So there's a natural limit to how much wood can be burnt and how much CO2 released.

Coal is on a ~250 million year cycle: coal burnt today took 250m years since it was last atmospheric CO2. This means there's a very large amount of sequestered carbon available - millions of years worth - so it's very easy to burn more coal and so release more CO2 than is currently being sequestered.

The complication is a lot of CO2 that's sequestered - ends up in swamps and sediments - doesn't make it to coal (or gas or oil) so it comes back in a shorter timescale.

Theo

[stuart noble]

Charming

[Colin Stamp]

Sounds good for something that'd stay in fairly long term, but a bit of a pain to do on a regular basis.

Cheers,

Colin.

[Colin Stamp]

That's the kind of thing I was planning to make. The fire has a flat steel frame and a steel plate on the hearth, so I could use neodymium magnets to keep the seal compressed. One day I'll get round to making it...

Cheers,

Colin.

[Tim Lamb]

Jotul used to do one to fit in an 18" opening. They stick out a bit so you might need to extend the hearth.

>

[sm_jamieson]

I was thinking of making something like that - magnets is a good idea. But I'd prefer something that blocks the flue so the fireplace is still visible. Some kind of board that sits on top of the smoke shelf but it easiy removable. Or even a metal flue damper that can be retrofitted and stay in place. Simon.

[Colin Stamp]

There's always this :-

No price on the website but I'm guessing it's quite comical. Quoting from the site...

So I make that 200 to 360 quid!

Cheers,

Colin.

[Huge]

Bedside manners are extra.

[damduck-egg]

For a long time I covered our fireplace with a piece of thermal insulation foil held in place by strips of self adhesive hook and loop tape. This was fine as the fire was only used rarely. This Winter its been used a lot more due to building up a couple of years worth of seasoned wood gathered around and getting free heat and hot water despite the inefficiency of an open fire. The Foil started to tear so has been replaced with a piece of galvanized steel cut to cover the opening between the grate front and top of the fire opening,this is held in position by some neodymium magnets stuck to the recessed tiles around the fire opening and a gasket seal made from the old foil stuck to the steel sheet. A wooden knob off an old saucepan lid is fitted near the top. This stays cool enough to handle even if the sheet is left in place with the grate front open or lifted off for the period the fire is first lit as the sheet aids the draught until the fire is burning cleanly.

G.Harman