Bioethanol fires

[newberry]

Does anyone have any experience of bioethanol fires?
Really like the idea of one because we have no chimney to have an open fire and don't really have anywhere suitable for a wood burner and associated flue without substantial cost.

Would be looking at a freestanding unit like this
https://www.bioethanol-fireplace.co.uk/washington-...

If you have one feel free to post pictures and give us your thoughts

[skilly1]

MIL has one.

3 days ago she almost burnt the house down, she topped it up whilst lit and split the liquid all over the fire and then onto the rug.

She then carried the rug outside whilst on fire and burnt her hands badly in the process.

She is blaming the fire as being unsafe...

Hope that helps !

[croyde]

I was looking into this about 2 years as I'm in a flat.

They seem to be more of decoration according to all the reviews I read as little heat is given off, and an evening of a lovely fire costs about the same as running the central heating for the evening.

[clarkmagpie]

We have had one for nearly 10 year.
Great decoration.
Puts out a lot of heat.
Goes throught the fuel at a heck of a rate!

https://vauni.com/collections/our-chimney-free-bio...

[Downward]

I’m looking at one. Just to take the chill off the living room if needed and decoration.

[Spitfire2]

croyde said:

I was looking into this about 2 years as I'm in a flat.

They seem to be more of decoration according to all the reviews I read as little heat is given off, and an evening of a lovely fire costs about the same as running the central heating for the evening.

They put out a fair bit of heat. Plenty for that feet up in front of the fire feeling. But you are right. Mostly decoration.

As the MIL experience above illustrates, it's also critical to understand the safety rules and extinguish and allow to cool before topping up.

Had one for a while. Only used it until the 20 odd litres of fuel I bought ran out though. Wasn't really worth the money IMO

[OutInTheShed]

I've used ethanol cooking stoves on boats.
They create a lot of condensation.
Also burning with a clear flame, there is not much radiant heat unlike a gas fire.

The fuel is cheaper in France.

[untakenname]

I considered one as you don't need to get a flue fitted but there's limited availability of bio ethanol here, on the continent you can buy it cheap from the petrol station (E85).

Also saw this horror story recently https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07v542gvyvo

Guessing it was user error, having a transparent flame means it's easier to accidentally do something stupid.

[chrisch77]

Sounds like a recipe for a future thread “why is my house full of black mould?”

[OttoMattik]

I have one and it works great. Only downside is the cost of running it is quite high. A bottle of fuel is upwards of £2 and lasts about 3-4h max. Puts out a decent amount of heat.

Had the same issues where we couldn't fit a proper gas fire or log burner for various reasons, I wanted somewhat of a real fire rather than an electric one and this fit the bill perfectly. Cost me £1k about 7 years ago and the same model has now virtually doubled in price.

[defblade]

Ours puts out lots of heat, warms most of our 4 bed house if used for an hour. Plonked the burner into the cheapest ebay multi-fuel stove SWMBO liked the look of.

Fuel is expensive, but it's purely a top-up to CH and cost of fuel is off-set by not having to have a flue installed (through 3ft stone walls... that's £2 or 3k's worth of bioeth right there!), servicing/inspections etc

Ours burns with a nice flame... excuse the sound/quality in the video, I took it years ago as a quickie for someone who wanted an idea of how it looked:

https://youtube.com/shorts/vvsRzDAcxVE

[hidetheelephants]

chrisch77 said:

Sounds like a recipe for a future thread why is my house full of black mould?

Or a repeat of Emsman's pyromania/burns unit thread.

[Alltrack]

We have one.As everyone says it’s expensive to run.
We have ours in a small room to top up the central heating.
When we had the room repainted, the decorator mentioned that the old paint had a fine soot deposit in certain areas which he said was probably from the fire?

[Joe M]

Surprised no one has mentioned the smell... Almost like a gas leak.

[S27]

Ex-BBC reporter and wife flee bio-ethanol fire at home

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07v542gvyvo

[OttoMattik]

This is the model we bought - https://biofires.com/products/roma-traditional-bio...

Will be moving with me to the next house where we're getting a proper fireplace and this will probably go into a study or the master suite.