"Coal effect" gas fires
Andrew Farthing
I'm interested in installing a coal effect gas fire in a room without a
chimney. I understand that balanced and fanned flue versions are
available. Could someone who has one of these types of gas fires please
advise me on their pros and cons.
Thanks
Please e-mail me at:
andrew....@bt-sys.bt.co.uk
Richard Gethin
In article <347960D8...@bt-sys.bt.co.uk>, Andrew Farthing
<andrew....@bt-sys.bt.co.uk> writes
>I'm interested in installing a coal effect gas fire in a room without a
>chimney. I understand that balanced and fanned flue versions are
>available. Could someone who has one of these types of gas fires please
>advise me on their pros and cons.
>
>Thanks
balanced flue.
We have a valor homeflame unigas (logs) which is very efficient and very
powerful but to have a cheery flame effect to speak of you have to have
it on number 3 (4 is max) which is just too much heat and unless you've
got a baronial hall you have to turn it off.
I put a Canon Coalridge in for my sister (coal) which I was very
impressed with. Even on setting one you can see the flame licking over a
sort of pea sized coal which glows in patches of red here and there. On
higher settings it looks superb as well.
We had a few problems with the microswitch wired into the thermocouple.
I'm not sure why it was there because the knob turned off the gas as
well as opening the microswitch. Belt and braces perhaps. The problem
was that the current was so small that the switch contacts didn't keep
clean. Otherwise a very good fire.
--
Richard Gethin
Steven Briggs
In article <347960D8...@bt-sys.bt.co.uk>, Andrew Farthing
<andrew....@bt-sys.bt.co.uk> writes
>I'm interested in installing a coal effect gas fire in a room without a
>chimney. I understand that balanced and fanned flue versions are
>available. Could someone who has one of these types of gas fires please
>advise me on their pros and cons.
>
flue type). I would have to think very carefully before having another
one.
1) It takes ages (>20 min) on full power before the flames turn from
blue to nice flickery yellow.
2) It looks pretty dead & bleak 99% of the time (i.e. when not in use)
3) Its surprisingly noisy, lots of hiss, and lots of popping sounds [a].
4) They aren't as efficent as a normal radiant gas fire.
[a] Yes it meant to pop - its supposed to be part of charm
>Please e-mail me at:
>andrew....@bt-sys.bt.co.uk
>
No. Its a public forum, read the replies here or not at all.
--
Steven Briggs
Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.
Andrew Gabriel
In article <OYnWFAAl...@sbriggs.demon.co.uk>,
Steven Briggs <ste...@sbriggs.demon.co.uk> writes:
>Have got a Valor realflame coal effect gas fire (open front & normal
>flue type). I would have to think very carefully before having another
>one.
>1) It takes ages (>20 min) on full power before the flames turn from
>blue to nice flickery yellow.
>2) It looks pretty dead & bleak 99% of the time (i.e. when not in use)
>3) Its surprisingly noisy, lots of hiss, and lots of popping sounds [a].
Just over ten years ago, I had to find one to fill a hole left
by previous owners of my house. The most realistic one I
found was a Kohlangaz Kamina. It doesn't seem to suffer from
the points you raise above, and I'm very happy with it.
Several people have actually mistaken it for a real coal fire
(without the addition of popping sounds :-) ).
I don't know if it's still available, but it requires a real
flue, so would be unsuitable for the original poster.
>4) They aren't as efficent as a normal radiant gas fire.
Agreed. The heat output of the Kohlangaz Kamina into the room
is not large. The low efficiency (~30% IIRC) applies to all
imitation coal fires (and probably real coal fires too :-) ).
--
Andrew Gabriel And...@cucumber.demon.co.uk
Consultant Software Engineer
Ian M. Stewart
and...@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:
I don't think you can generalise so easily Andrew. My fire's a
Robinson Willey, glass fronted, log effect, normal flued one. It
puts out an enormous amount of convected heat. It has to be run at
full power for the first ten minutes to warm up the flue, after
which you can turn it down if you want - we never do anything but
turn it down to minimum and it is still too hot after an hour or so
and then gets switched off again. A case of being too well
designed? Too efficient?
PS the previous fire was a Cannon radiant panel heater that never
heated the room at all. The output was all radiant - there was a
slot for convection but it never worked.
--
Ian <IMS>
Traffic engineering : Order out of chaos....
i...@wavenet.co.uk
Bob Mannix
Ian M. Stewart wrote:
>
> and...@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:
>
> >In article <OYnWFAAl...@sbriggs.demon.co.uk>,
> > Steven Briggs <ste...@sbriggs.demon.co.uk> writes:
> >>Have got a Valor realflame coal effect gas fire (open front & normal
> >>flue type). I would have to think very carefully before having another
> >>one.
> >>1) It takes ages (>20 min) on full power before the flames turn from
> >>blue to nice flickery yellow.
> >>2) It looks pretty dead & bleak 99% of the time (i.e. when not in use)
> >>3) Its surprisingly noisy, lots of hiss, and lots of popping sounds [a].
> >
> >Just over ten years ago, I had to find one to fill a hole left
> >by previous owners of my house. The most realistic one I
> >found was a Kohlangaz Kamina. It doesn't seem to suffer from
> >the points you raise above, and I'm very happy with it.
> >Several people have actually mistaken it for a real coal fire
> >(without the addition of popping sounds :-) ).
> >
> >I don't know if it's still available, but it requires a real
> >flue, so would be unsuitable for the original poster.
> >
> >>4) They aren't as efficent as a normal radiant gas fire.
> >
> >Agreed. The heat output of the Kohlangaz Kamina into the room
> >is not large. The low efficiency (~30% IIRC) applies to all
> >imitation coal fires (and probably real coal fires too :-) ).
>
> I don't think you can generalise so easily Andrew.
I believe they do differ, basically if you want realistic flames you get
low efficiency - "high efficiency" ones tend to be incapable of
producing nice flames, being more like a well damped, very hot coal fire
which has been burning for a while. Such fires may well have leaflets
asssociated with them which show nice flames - DONT BELIEVE THEM! I did
with my Myson. Never had a decent flame out of it though it is quite
efficient.
Having said that, they are (more often than not) put in to "fill a
hole", and are rarely used as the owners have central heating. With
hindsight (this being my situation) I would go for a low efficiency one
with a better effect as its just for show. If we put ours on, the room
just gets too hot, not the best buy I have ever made!
--
Bob Mannix
(antispam is as easy as 1-2-3 (not))