Getting heat out of an open fire?!!

[B19GRR]

Sounds easy right, so why have I got a nice roaring fire and 4ft away from it you can't feel a blummin' thing




As you can see it's a big open hole that just goes straight up. Any thoughts on what I can do to get heat projecting out in to the room?

Cheers,
Rob

[Elskeggso]

You could get a canopy built above it to restrict the opening above the basket, so long as it doesn't affect the draw of the chimney. Other than that, a stove would be so much better at kicking the heat out.

[pugwash4x4]

to be honest you need a MUCH bigger fire in that space to get any heat out of it.

the draw is probably too much- but you need someone skilled to work that out- the heat will be going up the chimney. If you don't have any baffles in the chimney then you're onto a hiding to nothing!

of course if you really want heat you'll have to fit a woodburner.

another option is to fit a by pass fire (can't remember what its proper name), but it routes hot air back into the room through convection.

[Engineer1]

Taking the guard away from infront of the fire may help as well.
That and putting a good sized fire in the hole, that fire back looks too small for the fireplace.

Edited by Engineer1 on Thursday 2nd December 21:16

[Simpo Two]

Fireplaces in pubs always seem to chuck out about 4 billion megawatts of heat - ask them how they do it!

[staceyb]

Take the guard out of the way, use coal and lots of it.

[stainless_steve]

Engineer1 said:

Taking the guard away from infront of the fire may help as well.
That and putting a good sized fire in the hole, that fire back looks too small for the fireplace.

Edited by Engineer1 on Thursday 2nd December 21:16

What he said

[B19GRR]

Aaah, arse then. It's a rental property so no option of fitting a woodburner. I put the little basket inside the big basket as the bar spacing on the big basket is too big and everything just falls straight through it - clever.

Ah well, a chilly winter ahead for me then, joy!

Cheers,
Rob

[Lancs Jag Boy]

Get a stove in that bloody hole!

[Engineer1]

Find a barbeque grill or oven grill anything that you can put in the bigger pan to stop stuff dropping through, besides stuff dropping through isn't the end of the world.

[davidjpowell]

Is that soot on the front of the fireplace? Should that be there - would make me wonder if soot is going to there, is Carbon Monoxide?

[Merlot]

That fire is far too small for the opening, the draw is probably much greater than needed so all the heat (90%+) is being sucked up the chimney - this is the same problem I had.

You can as others have mentioned, use coal rather than wood. Not as pretty but will burn hotter so you will have more chance of getting heat from it (although most of the benefit will go up the chimney!).

Apart from having a proper sized fire in there, you really need to get a wood burner in there. I did exactly this but it has yet to be commissioned so I'm still relying on the gas central heating for now! Burners are up to 80-85% efficient compared to 10-20% of open fires.

[Zippee]

I'd say you need a better fireback, something to really heat up and start radiating the heat into the room, plus the fire looks way too small for the size of the hole.

[Ritchie335is]

Edited by Ritchie335is on Thursday 2nd December 22:02

[B19GRR]

OK, so consensus is stove or burn house down

If I got something like this:


do I really need to stick a full flue pipe in all the way up the chimney, or can I just stick a short pipe on that'll direct the smoke up the chimney?

BTW, the comment on the soot build up, well the place is around 250 years old, so there's been a bit of build up over that time I guess, chimney was swept before I moved in, no evidence yet of death by CO yet, hypothermia is going to get me first, room is 15C at the moment

Cheers,
Rob,

[Ritchie335is]

I would buy some flat bar and weld up a decent size hearth to fit in the hole, if you cant do it yourself then Im sure it would be cheap enough to get an ironmonger/fabricator to do it.
That looks like a reasonable size fireplace but it looks like you have a twig burning in it!
Its been there for a long time, Im sure the chimney etc is up to the job, the fire itself just needs to be twice the size.

Nothing like a good going fire, I always prowl the house looking for anything to throw on it!
BTW plastic milk bottles are ace for getting it started. Either that or grinder up old tyres into fire lighting blocks.

[Hawmaws]

Try looking at the jetmaster range of fires..open and work through convection.

Once the metal is warmed up, they throw out a load of heat.

But they do need to be boxed in properly, so I guess if you are looking for a less permanent solution I may as well stop typing!

[fatboy b]

Looks like an ideal situation for one of these.....

[Pvapour]

ours is a 13kw burner, heats the whole of a 4 bed with ease, turn down to simmer mode overnight, chuck a log on in the morning and its off again, incredibly efficient and a lovely heart to the home

Edited by Pvapour on Friday 3rd December 08:22

[B19GRR]

Stop showing off will ya! The heating's been off for half an hour and the living room is down to 12C Thank God the leccy blanket just arrived!

Any thoughts on this bit?

B19GRR said:

If I got something like this:


do I really need to stick a full flue pipe in all the way up the chimney, or can I just stick a short pipe on that'll direct the smoke up the chimney?

Cheers,
Rob