anyone know about living room fires?

[stevepeanut]

We want to convert from a gas fire to an open coal/wood fire. When we had the gas fire installed, they put in a flue liner. Does anyone know if it needs to be removed or can we use the open fire with the liner?

[lotusless]

darren (posse) is your man for this he's just done his one

he's busy at the mo but will probably be on later m8

[RossMK2]

whhen i saw this thought your living room was on fire and wanted to put it out

[Mr Sam]

what kind of liner is it?

 

 

 

and check with your house insurance alot of insurance compaies get very funny with solid fuel/open fires

 

its fully worth it though mate, i live with my granparents we dont have a heating bill at all through winter unfortunatly the old man is unfit to cut the wood these days so i do all that, lot of hard work but nothing beats a propper fire and it heats all the radiators

 

and as the old saying goes with wood fires you get the heat twice, once cutting it and burning it

[stevepeanut]

what kind of liner is it?

 

 

 

and check with your house insurance alot of insurance compaies get very funny with solid fuel/open fires

 

its fully worth it though mate, i live with my granparents we dont have a heating bill at all through winter unfortunatly the old man is unfit to cut the wood these days so i do all that, lot of hard work but nothing beats a propper fire and it heats all the radiators

 

and as the old saying goes with wood fires you get the heat twice, once cutting it and burning it

 

we already have one in the back room/kitchen, its ace and we really want another, can't beat a real fire

[marky4]

you would need to take the flue liner out m8 for an open fire you need the the full chimney for it to draw properly

[FredTransit]

Speaking of fires, I was thinking about opening ours up. What do they when they close them up? it's got an air vent in it. Will that be it? Still have a normal chimney? We don't have a gas fire, and there's still a full fireplace in the bedroom (which we have never used).

[marky4]

normally when a fire place is close off it's just bricked up with an air vent in it to stop it sweating and sometime the top is blocked off but again with an air vent in it

[FredTransit]

Hmm, so just taking the bricks out is all we need to do? Sounds good to me!

[marky4]

Hmm, so just taking the bricks out is all we need to do? Sounds good to me!

 

will also need to check the pot on top of chimney to make sure it is fully open and has the right pot on it and then do a smoke test (buy a smoke pellet light it in the fire place and make sure it draws all the smoke up and out of the chimney) before you light a fire in it

[FredTransit]

OK! As far as I know there isn't anything different about the chimney.

[marky4]

OK! As far as I know there isn't anything different about the chimney.

 

best to be safe than sorry though

[Mr2Caps]

One other observation, if the fire has been blocked up and you have installed double glazing in an old property there may not be enough combustion air to allow the fire to burn properly, if the fire does not burn properly you get carbon monoxide, which is colourless, odourless and tasteless. You may need to add an air brick somewhere in the room with the fire in it. Double glazing is very good at keeping out draughts which the fire may have originally relied on to burn efficiently. At the very least get a carbon monoxide detector, and if in doubt consult a specialist.

[Jiffer]

1st off the copex gas flue liner is no good for solid fuel fire, so take it out.

2nd have chimney swept and smoke teseted to make sure the parging has not droped away, if it has you can get a liner for solid fuel but expencive.

3nd has it still got a fire back in? if not get a new one fitted, remeber to put a peice of cardboard behind it and then pack the back with vermiculite and masonary cement ( the card burns away and give a small expansion gap) and the fit a new throat lintol)

you can allways go down the wood burner route which you can flue a little way into existing chimney and seal with a plate.

if you do have a problem with down draft( where new double glazed windows etc been fitted and no air flow into room you can fit a terminal to the chimney pot to stop this)

I have fitted no end of these over the years and getting very popular again.

[Mr2Caps]

if you do have a problem with down draft( where new double glazed windows etc been fitted and no air flow into room you can fit a terminal to the chimney pot to stop this)

 

I agree, however if you build a new sold fuel chimney, providing a different terminal does not get over the lack of combustion air. You don't have to have down draught issues to have a problem with CO. Building regulations require you to provide air bricks etc. when constructing new chimneys.

[Fishtailparka]

Open fires do look pretty but they are very innefficient. Most of the heat goes straight up the chimney. Another thing they are good at is drawing all the draughts. On a cold night they suck all the cold air in from outside, and if you try to stop that air coming in you will die of carbon monoxide poisoning.

They are also pretty messy from the ash and bits that fall off the logs when you cart them in.

A small woodburner is probably better, but unless it is small it will roast you alive. They kick out a lot of heat!

Then there is all the log cutting involved (unless you burn coal), that takes up a lot of time and space. You can't just chop a tree up and then burn it, it has to be seasoned first. Burning unseasoned wood is pointless, you get sod all heat out of it. So, you need somewhere to store it all summer while it dries out.

My house is heated entirely by burning logs, there's no mains gas anywhere near and oil got too dear. Last year I chopped 25 tons and I am not sure they are going to last until it warms up again.

 

Not trying to put you off, just giving the full picture instead of some romantic idea of how cosy they are. Why do you think so many people ripped their open fires out when mains gas came along.

[Jiffer]

as just said woodburners are a lot more efficent, they are built to recyle the heat before pushing it up the flue,

two of the lads who work for me have wood burners and spend a bit of time cutting up anything that burns, pallets off cuts skirtings etc they both got a good store of it now but its free to them so they take what they can.

[stevepeanut]

we have a wood burner in the kitchen, all our materials at work come in on pallets, so I can take as many as I want home to burn