Types of fuel and fires

The first decision for a Fireplace purchaser is to select the fuel they propose to use.

Gas is still a dominant presence in today’s market but solid fuel fires have become popular once more, whilst at the same time electrcity is beginning to pose a significant threat to gas.

Many factors may predetermine your choice of fuel. If your home was built with a gas-only pre-cast flue, solid fuel isn’t an option. Converserly, if you don’t have a gas supply and consider bottled gas too expensive, solid fuel may well be your choice. No flue? Well then you probably will choose a balanced flue gas option or something powered by electricity.

Solid fuel designs

Solid fuel fires come in two types. The open fire is often just a basket or grate for burning coal, smokeless fuel or wood. They look good but are highly inefficient and quite difficult to control.

Alternatively, you could consider a closed design with glass doors and convection channels.

These designs burn efficiently by utilising clean-burn technology to get the maximum amount of heat out of the burning fuel. An adaptation of the system also keeps the glass on the door clean. What’s more, some designs allow air to be ducted from the heat exchanger to other rooms.

A compromise between the open fire and glass-fronted solid fuel designs is the convector fire. Designed as a steel box within another steel box, convected hot air radically improves the fire’s efficiency without the need for a glass front.

Gas Fires

Gas fires come in more types than solid fuel fires. Models designed for conventional flues are still the norm, but the past two decades have witnessed an immense growth in both balanced and fanned flue models. While the balanced flue uses the effect of burnt fuel exiting the flue pipes to pull in more air for combustion, the fanned flue (as its name implies) uses the fan to pull air and exhaust gases through the fire and dissipates them to the atmosphere.

Many of today’s designs come in all three options creating a situation where, if gas is available, there must be a design that will fit. However, remember that balanced flue fires don’t need a power supply but must be on an outside wall whereas fanned flue fires have some fan noise but are flexible in fitting.

Electric Fires

The flame-effect fire has changed purchasers’ perceptions of how a fire can look. Many of today’s designs really do resemble fires and have been sized to inset into standard fireplaces or trendy new fireplace surrounds.

Aesthetics are the key feature of the electrical design - their outputs are limited to 2kW by the capacity of the 13-amp ring main. Alternative designs boast LED flame effects, glowing ‘coals’ or flames created through projection onto a series of mirrors.