Hungry Fireplace...

Timfy

We have a small (approx 2' x 3' x 14" deep) fireplace in our front room. It has a straight through chimney.

The problem we have is that it is insatiable when lit! It only roars away and I feel like the fireman on a train, constantly shovelling in coal or throwing on logs!

Is there any way of taming this beast? I see other fires gently burning down over the course of an evening and their owners just throwing on another log after a couple of hours. Ours will go through half a sack of coal and probably somewhere in the region of 25 logs in an ordinary evening!

I have tried using slack (in a damp bag, just like mummy!) but whatever is burnt in this doorway to hell is simply incinerated in minutes.

I am on a tight budget and so cannot afford to fit a woodburner... Is there any way of safely baffling a fireplace to allow me to choke it down a little?

I am fully aware of the dangers of CO poisoning, and I have to admit that this is not my preferred means of leaving this world, so safety aspects must be taken into consideration too!

I have fitted a cowl to the chimney... this had the effect of adding great haunted house effects when the wind blows but very little else!

bbam

If its buirning that much fuel youll save the price of a small stove quickly

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/heating/2593193

ART6

From your pic it looks as if there is no fire front panel as such, but simply three open bars. In that case the fire is simply getting far too much air through it, and so it will indeed be a very efficient incinerator. You need to install a proper grate and fire front with an adjustable air inlet that will allow you to control the amount of air under the grate. You should be able to buy such things quite cheaply at builders providers.

jack of all

Your fireplace opening is the rough builders oversized opening and no fire surround is fitted which accounts for the increased draw from your flue,resulting in more fuel required. Typical fireplace opening should be around 450mm wide by 550mm or so high (as high as the fireguard). Get a cheap secondhand fire surround and fit it for immediate results, cheaper than fitting a stove but consider doing that long term.

One shot on kill

Way to much air getting in under the fire try a proper grate alright.

Infairness it looks like there just wasn't a fire place put in but the size of the opening shouldn't really make a difference.

paddy147

I would be carefull about the stoves off of donedeal.

You need to buy a propper well established make of stove and also that parts for the particular stove and openly and readily available.

Lots of cheap chinese crap out there these days

wayoutwest

Paddys right -theres a lot of cheap[new]stoves out there.I've just fitted a cheap stove for someone who was delighted with its' low price. Pain in the b*m to fit, as I had to angle grind bits of the legs[in order to sit it level], and grind front bars and baffle plate [non-precise moldings] in order to fit them.....If it made this badly, is it going to last????....I think not.
Timfy do yerself a favour[if you can afford it, that is]- shove in something like a Stanley Oisin[500 euro] and a full length of solid fuel' flexi up to the top[ probably something like another 500 euro for that + capping etc]. It will bang out 5 - 7kw into the room using a third of the fuel that you are presently using-after all that shovelling you won't know what to do with yourself;)

jack of all

One shot on kill wrote: »

Way to much air getting in under the fire try a proper grate alright.

Infairness it looks like there just wasn't a fire place put in but the size of the opening shouldn't really make a difference.

Size of the fireplace opening is the biggest problem here, fire grate type is irrelevant when the ope is so big. As suggested look into getting a decent stove ( Oisin is good value and puts out plenty of Kw for a small to medium size room). Biggest problem with cheap Chinese stoves is availability of spare parts- when you need a new fire back or grate three years down the road will they be available?

martin46585

Take yourself off to the ploughing, and get a cheap Stanley stove,
even the Oisin would put more heat out into the room than the present set up,which is fairly much sending all the heat up the chimney,