Making a good, warm open fire

mel.b

Can anyone give me some suggestions on how to get a decent warm open fire going? I've had my fire going for just over an hour tonight, i'm sitting less than 2m away and i can't feel any warmth coming from it I used Eco fuel Belvoir briquttes to start the fire and then put the coal onto it. Does the type of coal matter? I just picked a bag up from the corner shop. Thanks!

murphaph

My late father used to make a nice fire. Start with a firelighters/paper and sticks to get it going, then logs or coal and when that had caught he'd put slack over the whole thing to keep it burning hot all evening.

Edit: We always bought Polish coal, fwiw.

mel.b

Thanks, what is slack?

murphaph

mel.b wrote: »

Thanks, what is slack?

Don't know if you can even get it any more. It's like "pebbles" of coal with coal dust mixed in. You used to mix it with water (sounds crazy but it worked) and put it on top of a well lit coal fire to "seal" it.

paddy147

Ripp out your existing fireplace and fit a propper multi fuel stove.Then you will have some serious heat.

Simples.:)

mel.b

paddy147 wrote: »

Ripp out your existing fireplace and fit a propper multi fuel stove.Then you will have some serious heat.

Simples.:)

Simple, except for the fact i am renting

paddy147

mel.b wrote: »

Simple, except for the fact i am renting

If you are "long term" renting then why not ask the landlord if you can install a stove??

You can get a small free standing stove for around 400 euro these days

I know 1 person who did that,and they were/are happy with the heat and comfiness,and their landlord had no problem in them doing it either.

paddy147

Peat Briquettes are good for heat.

A few Zip firelighters,some wood kindling and 4-5 briquettes on top of that,and you will have a roaring fire with in 10-15 minutes.:)

JohnnieK

old wardrobes burn really well, and beds too. I'm not joking, chopped up our old bed and it's great.;)

mel.b

paddy147 wrote: »

Peat Briquettes are good for heat.

A few Zip firelighters,some wood kindling and 4-5 briquettes on top of that,and you will have a roaring fire with in 10-15 minutes.:)

Thats basically what i do, just seems to take a long time for any heat to be thrown out.

Lackagh1970

I got my stove in this week and bloody hell I cannot believe the heat three briqeuettes gives and how long they last in it, happy days

sligoface

mel b. you don't have a back boiler by any chance. i lived in a house with one and when I moved in I thought this would be great, it'll heat the rads and water but it used to suck all the heat away up towards the chimney. since the sitting room was quite big you had to have a blazing hot fire going for about 2 hrs before it would feel warm and it took the same amount of time before the rads would heat up. i was disappointed too because in my mother's house an open fire would have the sitting room roasting in no time. but she had a small sitting room and no back boiler.