A rise in people using the fire at home?

Dyr

I have no fire and me heatings being broke all year. I go to work to bask in the central heating, if I could find a way of stealing heat I would :mad:

louise5754

Jaysus you can't beat the open fire.Throw a load of coal on it and you're set for the night.Glass of wine and a roaring fire awwww. Have a stove in the kitchen too but you just cant beat the heat out of the open fire.

foxyboxer

*shudders at the memory of having to go out back in the wind and rain to shovel up 'slack'*

jackie1974

marvsins wrote: »

Back Boilers got out dated long before the bubble. Don't know any houses down my way built from 1980's on with one. Would have loved to put it in my own house i built 6 years ago.

My house was built 3 yrs ago and has a back boiler, it's a godsend. I light the fire at around 5 and whole house is toasty in 20 mins. The fire easily heats 9 rads and the tank in the hotpress. During the summer months solar panels heat the water so I never have any need for any fuel other than what I put in the open fire.

Sky King

Briquettes are fkin sh!t... no heat and loads of ash. Just putting that out there.

Oh begoddin I wish I had a back boiler. Great yokes they are, begoddin.

Love an open fire I do. Logs are yer only man.

Begoddin.

jester77

What's the best fuel for keeping a steady temperature coming from the open fire?

At my parents, it is either too hot or too cold. It gets cold and they throw on some briquettes or turf but shortly after it gets too hot and you have to open a window or door and the place is very quickly like a fridge.

While very cosy and nice to look at, it's a real pita, especially when you take the ashes and chimney cleaning into account.

Sky King

They need to manage the size of the fire.

Remmy

I love building a good fire. From the process of chopping the wood , preparing it into kindling and logs and then building the structure to starting the fire. It's very relaxing. Not going ray mears on it but if you have it constructed right it only should take one match and no firelighters etc etc.

mike65

I'd love an open fire place, fecking gas fire

Noreen1

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Oh the room will just about eat with the fire lit. However heating the room with just the central heating is difficult because it all goes up the chimney. There is no damper in our fireplace... ****ing cheap landlord.

If you're planning to stay there for a while, you might find that an inset stove (non-boiler) might save you a few euro. 70% heat loss up the chimney is expensive.
If you get an inset stove, you can just take it with you when you leave!:D

Ledger

You just can't bate the open fire. I'll be home today at about 6.
Cut some kindling (free - old bed frame and pallets from work)
Fill the grates (Kitchen and Sitting Room) up with newspaper (recycling ) kindling on top
bit of coal on top
Light the paper.

Don't come near me with them feckin' firelighters, useless things.

Keep both going for the night on a bucket of coal and half a bucket of turf.


We used to have a backburner in the kitchen, but my parents, in their infinite wisdom, got it took out when we got in the oil heating.

Shiner11

By a stove. They're the way to go really. With a fire, all the heat goes up the chimney and you can't regulate how fast it burns fuel. With a stove, you can light it using coal and small sticks. Once its going strong you can close the valves to regulate the amount of oxygen inside the stove causing the fuel to burn slower. Through in a few sticks over the course of the night to keep it lighting. And all the heat stays in the room!!

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Nothing beats the smell of a turf fire.

cabot

Yes I think more people are putting in woodburners, over here in the UK they are. Difficult to find sweeps and stove installers who arent flat out for the next few months. We just got our old fireplace up and running, cant afford a stove at the moment but currently burning free wood. It meant we didnt use the central heating until recently, so definitely saved on gas. When we had the big freeze last year CH struggled to cope so decided to have an additional form of heating this year, hence the fireplace.

kylith

I'd love an open fire. There's loads of old pallets around for free wood. I have a gas fire but it's so expensive to use.

My parents have a fire with a back boiler. It's an amazing thing; the house stays at a tropical temperature, even through the snows. I'd murder for it; they heat their entire house for free. Lucky old people and their old fires. I'd definitely get a back boiler put in if I were building a house.

johngalway

Agree with the stove people

Open fires look nice, but compared to a stove they're costly and the vast majority of the actual heat goes up your chimney and out into the night, which is both expensive and pointless.

Stove will heat up itself and even if the fire goes out inside it, the stove retains a lot of heat and the room will still be toasty warm right up to the next morning. You don't get that with open fires, and as said they're always open letting any heat in the room out, fire or not.

stovelid

johngalway wrote: »

Agree with the stove people

Thanks.

Paddy Samurai

LighterGuy wrote: »

Has anyone here started to burn fires more?


*basks in the heat from the fireplace*

Not as efficient as Oil or Gas but IMO nothing like it ....basking in the glow of a coal fire with a beer/glass of wine,the rain bouncing off the windows,the wind howling:D

Its great ,over the years I have burned everything coal,turf,logs,pallets,furniture,xmas trees,neighbours,junk mail,bills.
Saves you buying a shredder

Duggy747

The house I live in doesn't have a fireplace, oh no, just an electric heater in it's place which is never turned on because it drinks electricity.

Last house I lived in had a glorious fireplace where I had my seat right up beside it facing the TV with me legs up on the coffee table. Sheer bliss while you stared out the window at the poor sods caught in the misery outside.

Next place I move to is definitely going to have a fireplace. I'm one of those people who like to stand in front of the fire while it heats up the back of my legs and arse :pac:

meoklmrk91

We have central heating and a beautiful, wonderful back boiler, I will never understand why anyone would build a house without one. We spare the oil as much as we can as we can't afford any more, and shop around for coal and blocks, good coal and the house is toasty for the night.

The oil only goes on for a while in the morning and about a half an hour in the evening to heat the rads while waiting for the fire to redden.

Stiffler2

Does any1 here know where you can purchase lots of wodden logs for cheap ??

I saw an add in the paper that said something like €250 for 1 tonne of logs.


anyone know of any really good cheap deals on wooden logs, briquettes or coal?

include N.I. as I'll be heading up there thnx to Monty Burns ( enda kenny )

Sky King

Just buy them off some feen on donedeal, or even adverts.ie

http://www.adverts.ie/for-sale/q_firewood/sortby_best_match-desc/

You can burn green ash but if you're going for birch or whatever make sure it's dry and nicely aged.

What I particularly like about this approach is that there's no carbon tax, as there is with coal and peat.

Carbon tax is a complete load of bollix and it gives me a pain up in the butt end of me hoop.

Noreen1

jester77 wrote: »

What's the best fuel for keeping a steady temperature coming from the open fire?

At my parents, it is either too hot or too cold. It gets cold and they throw on some briquettes or turf but shortly after it gets too hot and you have to open a window or door and the place is very quickly like a fridge.

While very cosy and nice to look at, it's a real pita, especially when you take the ashes and chimney cleaning into account.

Short answer:
As stated, they need to manage the size of the fire.

Long answer:

Solid fuel, whether coal, turf, briquettes, or logs, is at it's most efficient when glowing red.

It sounds like your parents are letting the fire down too far, then overcompensating by putting too much fuel on.
Remember, in a well insulated room, it takes less fuel to maintain temperature than it does to raise the temperature.

Try telling them not to let the fire down so far that the room starts to get cold. The aim is to keep the fire glowing red, rather than having flames flying up the chimney.

Less fuel, a little more often, is the secret.

The other option is install a stove. (No, I don't sell stoves!)
They're easier to regulate, and a lot more fuel efficient.
If they go down that route, I'd suggest they get a stove that has overnight burning capability. You can't beat walking into the room and finding it still toasty warm in the morning. It reduces condensation, too.

LighterGuy

kylith wrote: »

I'd love an open fire. There's loads of old pallets around for free wood. I have a gas fire but it's so expensive to use.

My parents have a fire with a back boiler. It's an amazing thing; the house stays at a tropical temperature, even through the snows. I'd murder for it; they heat their entire house for free. Lucky old people and their old fires. I'd definitely get a back boiler put in if I were building a house.

It sucks. When the gas central heating was put in my parents house the back boiler was removed. Think it was just a standard thing to do back then.

Bummer1234

Recently bought a stanley stove for our living room after me and a father discussed about how much heat is really going up the chimney compared to the room. Still getting it installed this week but overall i see alot of people also changing over to fires at home due to oil been for to expensive.

LighterGuy

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Recently bought a stanley stove for our living room after me and a father discussed about how much heat is really going up the chimney compared to the room. Still getting it installed this week but overall i see alot of people also changing over to fires at home due to oil been for to expensive.

Yeah lighting a fire just makes more sense. Apart from being cheaper than the gas or oil. You can pretty much burn most of the stuff that would just go in the trash... cardboards ... even plastic bottles.

donalg1

What a stoopid thread more people using fire in the winter wow has anyone else wondered why this is.:rolleyes:

cosmicfart

best secrets are told at the fire, ones like yes i wanna *** fook u girl

LighterGuy

donalg1 wrote: »

What a stoopid thread more people using fire in the winter wow has anyone else wondered why this is.:rolleyes:

yet another person who didnt read the thread :rolleyes:
this is about the rise of people using the FIRE as opposed to GAS OR OIL!

Seriously people should read more before replying with their sarcastic comments :rolleyes:

cabot

LighterGuy wrote: »

Yeah lighting a fire just makes more sense. Apart from being cheaper than the gas or oil. You can pretty much burn most of the stuff that would just go in the trash... cardboards ... even plastic bottles.

Not a good idea to burn plastic bottles/plastic, mdf, particleboard or wood that has been treated or varnished.