what is the burning passion for having an open fire?

deezell

davedonie wrote: »

I'd be lost without the open fire. I've no central heating, would love an insert stove but cant affors one. I only light it when it's so cold that the dogs (my hot water bottles, love em) are looking cold themselves.
I have a fan heater but only use it for 20 mins to take nip out of the air.

There's 3 used ones going on Adverts.ie, search inset stove as well as insert stove . This one in Portlaoise but it's already under asking price offer of €170, so you'd need to be quick and pay more than asking
http://www.adverts.ie/19283917
Decent one here in Galway, €200, front fit more than insert,
https://www.donedeal.ie/heating-for-sale/black-enamel-5kw-stove/23653764

air

OldRio wrote: »

Use the huge amounts of water we get for power.

Just on this point, there are basically no major opportunities left for hydro energy production unfortunately.

Even the likes of Ardnacrusha makes a tiny overall contribution, the country is too flat.

Dams also typically involve flooding land and displacing people, neither of which are popular.

BeerWolf

I'll take a nice cosy warm hearth, that adds a nice ambience, over a soulless electric heater any day, thanks.

And if it's CO2 emissions you're concerned about, such fires don't really contribute to it compared to logistics and the industries... yet Joe Green politician thinks WE'RE to blame... nevermind the fact for millennias people have been having such fires... :rolleyes:

BeerWolf

charlietheminxx wrote: »

I have a new build house and I am a little bit sad I'll never have an open fire again. They are just lovely and cosy and give a fantastic glow, always brilliant during power cuts too. There's something soothing about the flicking warm light and the heat and the gentle crackling.

You can always YouTube a video of it...

Andy From Sligo

Candie wrote: »

I like open fires, but the hassle of lighting and cleaning them would put me off using it. Gas fires might not be the same but the convenience of flicking a switch makes up for that imo. Electric fake fires can do one though, I've never seen a convincing one.

so after I read this comment i googled 'what is the most realistic looking electric fire?' and this came up from DID electrical - a snip at only €750 :eek: .. i'll take 2 thanks..

https://www.did.ie/dimplex-wall-mount-electric-fire-sp16e-sp16e-prd?param1=wgmidmarfb&gclid=CjwKCAiA27LvBRB0EiwAPc8XWf7pW-zjVtLT3qkeIXUy321CtueyNMpXsHZsa5VrPcwIjyL75iDRQRoCx9EQAvD_BwE#

Ubbquittious

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

so after I read this comment i googled 'what is the most realistic looking electric fire?' and this came up from DID electrical - a snip at only €750 :eek: .. i'll take 2 thanks..

https://www.did.ie/dimplex-wall-mount-electric-fire-sp16e-sp16e-prd?param1=wgmidmarfb&gclid=CjwKCAiA27LvBRB0EiwAPc8XWf7pW-zjVtLT3qkeIXUy321CtueyNMpXsHZsa5VrPcwIjyL75iDRQRoCx9EQAvD_BwE#

I thought it was a very widescreen telly

Leg End Reject

A fire on a night like this is succour for the soul.

Andy From Sligo

Moon Indigo wrote: »

I just sincerely want to say thank you to everyone I was really honestly worried about having no central heating. You kind people have helped me tons knowing there’s is a slight possibility of a Stanley conversion. Thank you and hey sorry if I took over too much space on this thread. I’m going to test my luck.. if anyone in Dublin/Kildare does or knows of someone who does these stanley to oil conversions (and is not a cowboy!) Let me know. Thank you once again I mean that

Thats quite alright - it makes a nice refreshing change to find someone appreciative of some information given .

hope you find someone who will be able to convert it for you ...

Galwayguy35

On a night like this it's nice to sit in front of the open fire, I burn briquettes and timber and there's great heat out of it.

The Green Party will probably want us to stop doing that next if they get their hands on the levers of power.

Andy From Sligo

Candie wrote: »

I like open fires, but the hassle of lighting and cleaning them would put me off using it. Gas fires might not be the same but the convenience of flicking a switch makes up for that imo. Electric fake fires can do one though, I've never seen a convincing one.

sometimes you do need nanny state to kick in to change things though otherwise nothing will ever change - the other think where governments have took control and stepped in is the smoking ban in pubs and inside buildings. its one of the best things to happen. so much retaliation at the time and people saying they were going to defy it and carry on .. and yet it all turned out pretty good in the end and one of the best things to implement in Ireland

Ubbquittious

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

sometimes you do need nanny state to kick in to change things though otherwise nothing will ever change - the other think where governments have took control and stepped in is the smoking ban in pubs and inside buildings. its one of the best things to happen. so much retaliation at the time and people saying they were going to defy it and carry on .. and yet it all turned out pretty good in the end and one of the best things to implement in Ireland

Ahh yea its working great all the pubs are dieing a death just like they intended. Being dull as dishwater seems to be a requirement to become a politician and when you have these kind of shaggers running the country it becomes more and more like being in school every day.



If they get their way it will look on paper as though we have a mighty quality of life but there will be no craic left and we'll end up living like caged hens

Galwayguy35

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

sometimes you do need nanny state to kick in to change things though otherwise nothing will ever change - the other think where governments have took control and stepped in is the smoking ban in pubs and inside buildings. its one of the best things to happen. so much retaliation at the time and people saying they were going to defy it and carry on .. and yet it all turned out pretty good in the end and one of the best things to implement in Ireland

I don't remember there being much opposition to the smoking ban at all.

Andy From Sligo

wakka12 wrote: »

Warm, cosy, beautiful, what is not to like ?

bringing in coal from outside

getting fire to light

smoke blowing back into room

cleaning out the grate

having the chimney swept regularly

not as easy to control

sparks spitting out from open fire

Fire hazard

.. apart from that they are lovely

freshpopcorn

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

bringing in coal from outside

getting fire to light

smoke blowing back into room

cleaning out the grate

having the chimney swept regularly

not as easy to control

sparks spitting out from open fire

Fire hazard

.. apart from that they are lovely

You know where they don't have open fires Andy prison. Enjoy your night in your cell.

Andy From Sligo

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

I don't remember there being much opposition to the smoking ban at all.

yeah, some old codgers mainly - set in their ways

Snow Garden

I have both the open fire and stove on tonight. Cosy listening to the storm.

Andy From Sligo

How on earth do people with open fires ever get house insurance these days? , so dangerous like having a bonfire in your living room. I know they in a stone/brick hearth but potential of coal rolling out of the fire grate or sparks from the fire and taking into account many people have a rug or something in front of the fire (maybe a cat or dog ) all flammable - so they put a mesh of metal to hopefully stop all this which is about as effective as a ash tray on a motorbike

No, if i supplied home insurance I would say, no too much of a risk of fire and burning the house down ... stoves and enclosed I wouldnt be able to have an issue with i suppose

Ubbquittious

Snow Garden wrote: »

I have both the open fire and stove on tonight. Cosy listening to the storm.

Ahhh i envy you. I'm stuck in a house that has only storage heaters at the minute but tis fairly exposed to the storm here so the fire lit would be the icing on the cake. so it would. The power will probably go again soon so at that point i'll freeze.

Ubbquittious

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

yeah, some old codgers mainly - set in their ways

The real codgers are teh ones in the Dail:)

deezell

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Thats quite alright - it makes a nice refreshing change to find someone appreciative of some information given .

hope you find someone who will be able to convert it for you ...

I hope he doesn't. A complete waste of money, the problem is there's always someone willing to take it off you.

Andy From Sligo

funny enough, I know people on here are saying when the electrics are gone they have no heating but really when you logically think about it if your technically minded there is not really much power needed to keep an outdoor oil boiler working and central heating rads on throughout the duration of the power-cut so you can keep warm.

the pump should be very low wattage got to be less than 80w

The oil boiler burner itself would use very little wattage. Just a fan and a couple of solenoids - got to be less than 100w

so, what we talking a couple of hundred watts at the most to keep a oil boiler and central heating pump going and a generator pumps out what about 2kw - ample (i know not everyone has a generator lying round but still) that would keep your heating working no problem at all in a power-cut.

its the same with people with a back boiler on an open fire or stove the only reason they have to damp down the fire in a power-cut is because on a fully pumped central heating system you need the circulation pump working so it can get rid of the hot water in the boiler to the radiators - well if you could get power by a generator to the central heating circulating pump during a power cut buy a generator or some other way (you can even use a 120w inverter you can buy these days - 12v car battery and 240v ac output) and then you can continue to use your heating if you have an open fire or stove with a back boiler in a power-cut

Muahahaha

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

The ban on smoky coal was first promised by Labour’s Alan Kelly in 2015 .. and was to take place in autumn 2019 - richard bruton stopped it and has shelved it indefinitely now

I could see them banning smokey coal at some point alright and it would be easy enough to do, just put a ban on the importation of it. But banning buring fires altogether would be a completely different proposition

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

The Gardai wouldn't be set the task of policing it I shouldn't think ... - i would see it as an 'official' from the local council authority. Come round your house (more than likely after being reported by a neighbour or someone) "hello sir/madam can you tell me do you use your open fire / stove and what fuel do you burn in it?" and then write you out a warning maybe and if they have report of it again will charge you a fine of 150euro or something - hit you in the pocket more like . I reckon thats the way it would go.

When do you ever see council workers working after 5pm? They would be wanting all sorts of pay rises to be going out at night policing chimneys. Aside from the problems of enforcement it would be massively politically unpopular to try to ban people heating their own houses in the way they have for decades. The government would also be hitting elderly people the hardest, some of whom would have no other heating than a fire. And we saw how scared the government is of angry elderly people (who all vote) during the recession when they tried to take a fiver off their pension and nearly ended up with pensioner riots in the streets. They backed down pretty sharpish, dont mess with the elderly. Or their open fires

zerosugarbuzz

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Ahhh i envy you. I'm stuck in a house that has only storage heaters at the minute but tis fairly exposed to the storm here so the fire lit would be the icing on the cake. so it would. The power will probably go again soon so at that point i'll freeze.

Get a Superser, not atmospheric but you'll save a fortune.

Agent_47

Muahahaha wrote: »

I could see them banning smokey coal at some point alright and it would be easy enough to do, just put a ban on the importation of it. But banning buring fires altogether would be a completely different proposition

Article in the Business Post as to why that won't happen, legal challenge by the coal firms and competition with Peat and wet wood being factors, not to say it will be valid in the future.


When do you ever see council workers working after 5pm? They would be wanting all sorts of pay rises to be going out at night policing chimneys. Aside from the problems of enforcement it would be massively politically unpopular to try to ban people heating their own houses in the way they have for decades. The government would also be hitting elderly people the hardest, some of whom would have no other heating than a fire. And we saw how scared the government is of angry elderly people (who all vote) during the recession when they tried to take a fiver off their pension and nearly ended up with pensioner riots in the streets. They backed down pretty sharpish, dont mess with the elderly. Or their open fires

New builds have no chimneys , weeding out the neanderthals slowly!

OldRio

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

How on earth do people with open fires ever get house insurance these days? , so dangerous like having a bonfire in your living room. I know they in a stone/brick hearth but potential of coal rolling out of the fire grate or sparks from the fire and taking into account many people have a rug or something in front of the fire (maybe a cat or dog ) all flammable - so they put a mesh of metal to hopefully stop all this which is about as effective as a ash tray on a motorbike

No, if i supplied home insurance I would say, no too much of a risk of fire and burning the house down ... stoves and enclosed I wouldnt be able to have an issue with i suppose

You do talk some rubbish. I was a professional fire fighter for over 22 years in the UK. Do you know how many fires I attended where a fire started in the way you suggest.?

One.

Ubbquittious

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

funny enough, I know people on here are saying when the electrics are gone they have no heating but really when you logically think about it if your technically minded there is not really much power needed to keep an outdoor oil boiler working and central heating rads on throughout the duration of the power-cut so you can keep warm.

the pump should be very low wattage got to be less than 80w

The oil boiler burner itself would use very little wattage. Just a fan and a couple of solenoids - got to be less than 100w

so, what we talking a couple of hundred watts at the most to keep a oil boiler and central heating pump going and a generator pumps out what about 2kw - ample (i know not everyone has a generator lying round but still) that would keep your heating working no problem at all in a power-cut.

its the same with people with a back boiler on an open fire or stove the only reason they have to damp down the fire in a power-cut is because on a fully pumped central heating system you need the circulation pump working so it can get rid of the hot water in the boiler to the radiators - well if you could get power by a generator to the central heating circulating pump during a power cut buy a generator or some other way (you can even use a 120w inverter you can buy these days - 12v car battery and 240v ac output) and then you can continue to use your heating if you have an open fire or stove with a back boiler in a power-cut

Back home I have an APC PowerUPS i found in a skip to run the circulation pump of the back boiler though the oil central heating would need about 400w to stay going I believe. Though i did look at a house one time that had a honda generator for the central heating boiler like you described. This place was off the grid so said honda jenny had to power the rest of the house as well. It was a bit of a fcukup of a system really and I would throw a backboiler into a place like that if i ended up buying it

Ubbquittious

zerosugarbuzz wrote: »

Get a Superser, not atmospheric but you'll save a fortune.

I have a few of them but they are desperate yokes. only good for heating the shed on a windy night. They pump out fierce dampness

nthclare

A fire is handy if you're on a low income or when you have a yearning for a natural ambiance and glow.
Man's greatest accomplishment for millenia being scoffed at by the ignorant and the new fires aren't sexy brigade.
Some of us believe in climate change, but we're also free to light up if we like. Responsible of course.
Some of us in our 40's have seen quite a lot of down turns in the past.
Imagine a family of 5 trying to get by when one looses the job and one wage left in the house.
Their new technological heating system goes kaput and they haven't the finances to maintain it or the money to afford to pay for upgraded insulation...

Sitting there in the cold and then only having the option to plug in an electrical heater or 3 and a 500 euro heating bill, which will be direct debit and leave a nice hole in the bank balance.

Solar panels take 15 years to complete the cycle of financial equilibrium, but only last around 12 to 15 years.
There's another pup sold to the masses.

The plastics and other schematics and parts of the panels rot and loosen due to the sunlight and dampness after the ten year mark.

Ive seen them taken apart and it's not pretty...

pwurple

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

How on earth do people with open fires ever get house insurance these days? , so dangerous like having a bonfire in your living room. I know they in a stone/brick hearth but potential of coal rolling out of the fire grate or sparks from the fire and taking into account many people have a rug or something in front of the fire (maybe a cat or dog ) all flammable - so they put a mesh of metal to hopefully stop all this which is about as effective as a ash tray on a motorbike

No, if i supplied home insurance I would say, no too much of a risk of fire and burning the house down ... stoves and enclosed I wouldnt be able to have an issue with i suppose

There are far more fires from stoves than open fires. They are hotter and can ignite their surroundings easily, especially with a faulty flue.

Andy From Sligo

deezell wrote: »

I hope he doesn't. A complete waste of money, the problem is there's always someone willing to take it off you.

yep, if it didnt work of course. I mean of course its not going to work as efficient as an outdoor condensing boiler ...

however money is tight and the convenience is overwhelming. 1 flick of the switch, no more buying coal or wood , no more cleaning out and more benefits. - burner (comes in power of 36kw - 110kw) should be powerful enough to heat up rads grand (depending how many rads in the house how big they are and depends how old fashioned they are) - no cost involved with messing around with pipes if just the stanley is being converted to oil.

of course there are gonna be unscrupulous people about to take your money. And if it is gonna cost a couple of thousand then yes it may well be better looking into getting an outdoor boiler unit - but then that means more work and changing of pipework at least as well as other stuff.

that plumbingparts online place does outdoor condensing boilers starting from €1,407.00

https://www.plumbingproducts.ie/384-outdoor-oil-boiler-modules-ireland