open fire or gas fire

scargill

getting a new house. have the choice of open or gas fire.

i've only ever had an open fire so want to get other's opinions on which they prefer and why.

Dopey

Hi there,

If I were you I'd go for a wood burning stove. They look great and are a lot more efficient than an open fire. Not sure how costly the gas fires are but they may be expensive to run. Will you be on the gas mains?

Dopey

solaris

Presumably your new house will have central heating, so any fire will be mostly for effect rather than necessity. The open fire will provide more atmosphere than the gas. In my experience the gas fires can look real enough, but are noisy (you can hear the hiss of the gas). The downside of a real open fire is you will have to clean up after it, and will need a spark guard, but if you will only light it once in a while that may not bother you.

BTW - when we were selling our last house, a few of the perspective buyers were asking if the gas fire could be removed to allow a real open fire ...

rooferPete

Hi Scargill,

Open fire, you can fit a gas fire if you want and remove it should you wish, a lot easier than building a chimney.

.

murman

Hi Scargill,
I was the no 1 fan of the open fire - natural flame and good ambiance etc. However, when I started to think about heat sources for my new house I decided against the open fire because:-
1/ Approx 80% of heat goes up the chimney
2/ When the fire is not lit, the chimney introduced draughts and is a point of heat loss.

I also looked at gas stoves but I find, at least with older gas fires, that the air tends to get very dry in the room and you'll need to place a container filled with water close to the fire to combat this effect.

I've decided to go with a solid fuel stove. You get the natural flame plus it is a sealed unit without any draughts.

Hope this helps
murman

Benster

We went for an open fire from the very start, for reasons of ambience (it's a real fire) and also because, as was said above, gas dries the air out too much. The house was fitted with a proper chimney anyway, so we had the choice.

It was a struggle getting the fireplace we wanted, though. If you have the money to spend on a fancy big stone one (marble, limestone, sandstone) be aware that most are not sold as usable with a real fire, only gas or electric. The heat from a real coal fire is much more intense and could crack the hearth. We were also told that the lighter stone designs will discolour along the mantlepiece more quickly if used with a real fire. We opted instead for a slate hearth and surround with wooden mantlepiece, after a LOT of searching - got it in Portadown in the end. Slate looks the biz when you apply the oil covering to it, and a lot more natural than polished granite or tiles.

B.

Flukey

An open fire with a back-boiler is the best thing.