What to do with our Lounge Fireplace ???

[Dc]

We have a  raised open stone fireplace with chimney which we burn wood in a fire basket. It is great to look at but does not really generate enough heat as most of it goes up the chimney. Should we buy a backplate, an insert or foyer (what's the difference?)? to improve things. Our oil fired central heating is not yet installed( I've bought the radiators and pipes)so need a quick and hopefully cheap solution to our problem. Any advice greatly appreciated.

dc

[JohnM]

Well, my vote goes to a nice stove every time. They tend to be far more economical than an open fire and with a nice big glass door you can still see the friendly flames. French friends have just had a very efficient solar system with wood pellet central heating system installed.... but they still have the stove going if they are in for the evening.

OK I know this is off topic, but has anyone here got one of these wood central heating systems? The wood, the size of maggots, is automatically drawn into the boiler and it trips in when the sun isn't bright enough, but how do you automatically relight the wood if it goes out? (I should have asked my frineds, but didn't think of that until I was on the ferry on Saturday)

John

 PS My friends reckon that it is cheaper to run than town gas.

[IAN_S]

We were in the same position as you with a nice small fireplace that was useless for providing heat in a large room. We installed a 14kw insert with chimney liner and two hot air openings in the room. The insert has a 2 speed fan and we find the slowest setting absolutely fine when the fire has got going a little.

We now have oil central heating as well but still use the insert as it looks great on a really cold night and also generates enough heat to stop the central heating being used as much, which in these days of higher oil prices can help a little.

 

[Suninfrance]

The insert is great. We stayed at a couple of gites which had them and were so impressed we put one in ourselves.

It's great to sit in front of it on a cold winter evening with a good book and a glass of brandy.

Jan

[I1]

I have the same problem. Massive open fire (on a shelf), and when it really gets going all the heat goes up the chimney. Also, as it’s a wide chimney, it sucks a lot of heat out of the rest of the house as well. I need quite a lot of air coming into the room or I get smoke back down the chimney (it’s an old traditional fireplace and chimney and the fire is one side, the old “cooking alcove” on the other side.

I got an estimate for an insert (incl. Tube up chimney, hot air circulator, fan, etc for large room upstairs) but ended a bit “over budget” (for the moment). It was a decent quality system but at €5000 I had other needs drawing on funds so will have to wait (or find something cheaper).

I really wanted to avoid the €200 inserts from Bricomarche (as I’m sure they will not last, etc.) and in my quote the actual insert was €1700.

Did others pay similar costs or was I going really top of the market ?

[Suninfrance]

We got our insert from Briconauts in Limoges.

The insert was 409 Euros and the flue 311 Euros.

This was 18 months ago. When the chimney sweep arrived earlier in the year, he recommended we treat the back and top of the fire with something called mastique refractuer, which helps maintain the condition of the inside of the insert.

Jan

[Catalpa]

jfm quote:

<< OK I know this is off topic, but has anyone here got one of these wood central heating systems? The wood, the size of maggots, is automatically drawn into the boiler and it trips in when the sun isn't bright enough, but how do you automatically relight the wood if it goes out? (I should have asked my frineds, but didn't think of that until I was on the ferry on Saturday) >>

Continuing your off-topic...

we've seen one of these wood chip boilers too. Very interesting. We didn't get into the details but it seems they can be multi-fuel and will burn chopped maize and presumably chopped straw too. The one we saw in action was computer-run and you told it what fuel was being loaded and it dealt with it accordingly. We don't know the details of how it worked but one thing seemed definite: you need a large, external 'shed'-type building to store the fuel before it gets pulled by auger into the firebox.

My green fantasy is: plant a number of acres with fast-growing willow, poplar or whatever - biomass. After about 10-12 years begin to coppice, convert harvest to woodchippings and use the resulting pellets for the boiler. I've yet to work out how many hectares of wood are needed to make one totally self-sufficient in fuel year on year! Add solar panels and storage batteries and energy-self-sufficiency beckons! In my dreams.

Carole