Open fireplaces: still a selling point?

[damduck-egg]

Something I had not really been aware of till I started to use our fireplace again regularly is the development of the inset stove some models of which are designed to go into a standard sized fireplace opening. eg

It was the sweep who did the clean this Autumn who mentioned them to us and I may well put one in next summer,though I don't think it will be a base model like that but one with a back boiler to avoid dependence on electric which is why we have kept the open fireplace with it's back boiler usable whereas some neighbours ripped theirs out which they now regret though fortunately we have not lost supply this winter so far.

G.Harman

[Dave Liquorice]

duration

Who said anything about reduction? I only mentioned "fairly neutral".

If I hand harvested the trees that are growing in our paddock, replanting as required, and burnt them there would be no nett increase in CO2. The trees currently growing take in the CO2 from the burning to make new trees to burn in 50 years time. It's "renewable" and "carbon neutral" provided I don't burn trees faster than they are growing.

If I burn coal/oil/gas there is an nett increase in carbon as burning those fuels releases carbon that has been locked up for millions of years.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

15:32:23 on Sun, 5 Jan 2014, Dave Liquorice remarked:

Greenwash. Because most people don't burn just the trees growing on their premises.

[AL_n]

"Phil L" wrote in news:vgBxu.10538$ [e-mail]:

I was thinking of installing a wood/coal stove in my fireplace in case of cuts in gas or electric supplies, but I ended up installing a radiant gas fire instead, because someone offered me one for next to nothing. I like it a lot. However, it will not be much use if the gas supply is interrupted,

I wondered if one can get a cylinder of gas that will work with such fires and other mains gas appliances. I could then simply plumb thw feed it into the gas cirquit and use the cylinder to power the appliances if ever the mains gas supply goes down. Is this doable?

Al

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 12:07:26 on Mon, 6 Jan 2014, AL_n remarked:

I had a whole house powered by cylinder gas once (before mains had come to the village). It seems unlikely to me that the safety mafia would allow a two-way switch between sources of supply though.

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 06 January 2014 12:43 Roland Perry wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Not to mention that propane and methane generally require different jets to be fitted to everything.

And propane requires other special considerations (it's heavier than air unlike methane).

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 13:52:39 on Mon, 6 Jan 2014, Tim Watts remarked:

That's one of the main reasons the safety mafia would object!!

[John Williamson]

The fire can almost certainly be converted to run off bottled gas, but to do so would normally involve changing the burner jets, and possibly the air hole size as well. I believe the makers' kits uaually contain a complete preset burner assembly.

So, yes, it can be done, but it's not an easy change to make, and I'd certainly not want to have to do it in conditions likely to have caused a gas supply failure.

[sm_jamieson]

Simon.

[Colin Stamp]

Hmmm, that's a bit better. Still very steep, but I guess they've cornered the market.

Cheers,

Colin.

[sm_jamieson]

Well this is a DIY group ... Simon.

[chris French]

Or Chimmney Sheep:

A couple of friends of ours have them, seem easy to put in and remove.

[chris French]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Yep I agree, our Victorian house has some of the fireplaces still in, though more have been removed. More practical for some rooms as it means we can arrange the furniture better. But the rooms with fireplaces look better, especially the larger rooms We use the one in the sitting room regularly for an open fire (just cos we like it) - tha has a metal damper plate across the flue opening. The one in the dining room isn't used, so that has a chimmeny balloon up it.

[Huge]

[126 lines snipped]

In which case, perhaps you could learn to operate your delete key?

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Martin Brown writes

Less messy, yes, but still messy. But I wouldn't be without it. It was the first thing I had installed when I moved into my new place before Christmas.

+1.

Snow and ice on the way though, what hits the east coast of USA inevitably makes its way here eventually.

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Tim Watts writes

Are you happy to go out and leave it lit? I do, but have been wondering if I should.

[Martin Brown]

A wood burning stove on a stone hearth? No problem.

Even with an open fire we had a neat fire spark guard made of a steel frame the fine zinc mesh that game bird are hung inside that fitted snuggly over the aperture and with that on it was entirely safe.