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We live in a village that has no gas - for years we have been using an open fire in the lounge as a back up to the storage heaters - in recent years because of the climate down here and mild winters haven't lit the fire that often but with the increase in electricity it's becoming more and more expensive to heat the house - been considering getting an open LPG fire installed in the existing grate - the existing brick chimney can be used legitimately as the flu so no extra conversion cost there - two "tall" gas bottles can be located in our garage ( attached to the house ) the chimney breast extends outwards in the garage so the bottles would fit against the breast so wouldn't lose any more garage width. The fire would be coal effect but with no faffing around with kindling , coal and dust and the ability to have instant heat when you need it.

Haven't got a clue about prices so feel a bit vulnerable - have someone coming out to do a survey - but sounds like it's likely to be at least a grand with installation - probably excludes the two bottles ? the fires they intall are NuFlame

Anyone have any knowledge of these fires ?

We bought a gas / open flame fire a few years ago for our new house that didn't have a fire or chimney breast - only central heating - we bought it because of the look nice / focal point effect.

Yes - it does look very nice in the bespoke sandstone fireplace but the efficiency is rubbish and have used it very little. Would I buy again - probably not.
Christmas time is one of few times we spark it up!

I'm a gas plumber but don't have an LPG qual and have fitted new flame before and they seem to be of good quality.

Don't think that you are restricted in terms of what dfe fire you can have - most fires can be converted from nat gas to lpg by changing the injectors.

80% of the heat goes straight up the flue though, have you considered a wood burner? They are so much more efficient.

Years ago we bought a house with no mains gas and all we had was oil hot air central heating.We bought a LPG fire,the main problem was condensation which was the reason the fire was short lived.
A group got together and we paid to have gas put on the estate,it wasn't cheap at the time,back in 1983 it cost over
£1100 per house.
Can you not get a log burner.

If you have an open fire then you have a chimney which means you could have a wood burner which is far more efficient than your open fire or a gas fire.
I went from a gas fire to an open fire to a wood burner and have never looked back.
At that time I lived in a 3 bed bungalow and the wood burner would heat the whole building by leaving the doors open.

Dav the wheel nut wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:37 pm If you have an open fire then you have a chimney which means you could have a wood burner which is far more efficient than your open fire or a gas fire.
I went from a gas fire to an open fire to a wood burner and have never looked back.
At that time I lived in a 3 bed bungalow and the wood burner would heat the whole building by leaving the doors open.

seems the general consensus is towards a wood burner if , as we think , efficiency is our paramount concern - we have a brick conventional chimney - I was told once that I may need a lining f/or the chimney to fulfill legal specification and to be able to get the work formally certificated ?

Also how do you gain access to sweep the chimney ?

If this is likely to be your forever home I would reccomend having a plumber in to install an LPG tank (or bottles) and having a boiler put in.

assuming you currently have a gravity system (tank in loft and a cylinder in the airing cupboard that heats via an immersion) you could have a boiler that will either heat that cylinder and radiators or do away with the cylinder and tank and have a combi. If cost wasn't a factor you could have a boiler that heats a new 'unvented' cylinder, do away with the tank in the loft and have mains pressure hot water.

Although the installation costs will be expensive your running costs would go down by a substantial amount.

I've got a wood burner, it's rated at 4.5kw but can achieve 6 when flat out. In winter it's do toastie, I would definitely recommend one and as others have said they are about 80-85% efficient. You can also get dual fuel ones but I think you would be best advised to install a liner if putting one of those in.

You could even have a wood burner that heats the cylinder.

we have no mains gas in our village. for many years we had a open front, power flue LPG fire. Looked nice but gave little heat out.

last year we modernised to a balanced flue LPG 'mock' log burner (no chimney either) which is fantastic. Remote control, auto ignite, thermostatically controlled and loads of heat. 5.6kw, 82% efficient. installation including removing old fire and building 'mock' chimney breast was £3200.

highly recommended

gov wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:53 pm

Dav the wheel nut wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:37 pm If you have an open fire then you have a chimney which means you could have a wood burner which is far more efficient than your open fire or a gas fire.
I went from a gas fire to an open fire to a wood burner and have never looked back.
At that time I lived in a 3 bed bungalow and the wood burner would heat the whole building by leaving the doors open.

seems the general consensus is towards a wood burner if , as we think , efficiency is our paramount concern - we have a brick conventional chimney - I was told once that I may need a lining f/or the chimney to fulfill legal specification and to be able to get the work formally certificated ?

Also how do you gain access to sweep the chimney ?

The flue liner is not so much about legality - it's a necessity to get a log burner to draw correctly, as the existing brick chimney will be far too big (I.e. No pull through of smoke into the chimney so it comes back into the room and the fire doesn't burn well). The liner effectively sleeves the chimney down to a smaller diameter (maybe 4-6" dia). Any company that installs a log burner can supply and fit a liner to your chimney, assuming they can get access to the chimney on your roof to feed it down inside.

For cleaning the flue, part(s) of the internal liner of the log burner will be removeable so that the sweep can pass his brush up through the burner to get into into the flu liner.

Chris

I seem to recall that certain woods are not suitable to burn?? Something about resins coating the flu ?

ronk wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2017 8:42 pm I seem to recall that certain woods are not suitable to burn?? Something about resins coating the flu ?

IIRC it's conifers and pine that cause problems.

I had a cherry tree cut down a few years ago and offered the logs on Freecycle. Someone with a wood-burner called and asked what sort of wood it was - it seems cherry is fine as he was straight round! Saved me taking it all to the tip!

As stated you will need a flue and a register plate. The plate seals off the existing chimney and the flue passes through it.
The flue is swept exactly the same as your existing chimney except the brushes go up through the wood burner.
It must be installed by a proper company who can issue a hetas certificate which will be needed if you ever sell the house.
If you only burn seasoned hard woods you will reduce the need for the flue to be swept. I only burn seasoned oak and have mine swept every two years and still get very little ash when done. Hard woods also burn hotter and slower.
They are not that cheap to install and it pays to go for a quality one as the cheaper ones will eventually warp but overall it will pay for itself because of the amount of heat it puts out.

Thanks for all the advice and information - much appreciated.