{"id":169,"date":"2019-03-23T14:48:29","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T14:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/?p=169"},"modified":"2024-01-31T10:36:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T10:36:58","slug":"why-not-an-open-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/2019\/03\/23\/why-not-an-open-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodburner or open fire?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes people think that a fire is simple a fire and that installing a woodburner is an unnecessary expense. Some people think it is better to renovate the original fireplace rather than destroy a piece of history. <\/p>\n<p>So, if you have a fireplace that is bricked up, or an old fireplace in need of some TLC. and you are trying to decide between fitting a wood-stove and an open-fire here are a few things to think about.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Open fire<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cheaper to renovate existing fireplace.<\/li>\n<li>Not guaranteed that the fire will draw well when complete. May need a gathering hood fitting inside the chimney.<\/li>\n<li>Soot attacks the brickwork, leading to extra maintenance or repair.<\/li>\n<li>Very prone to differing weather conditions, often goes into reverse sending smoke inside the house.<\/li>\n<li>Need to have fire baskets and fire back repaired or replaced eventually<\/li>\n<li>In old houses with new double glazed windows there is left draught so open fire struggles to find enough oxygen to burn well.<\/li>\n<li>Only 15% efficient so burns through fuel about 5 times as fast.<\/li>\n<li>Difficult to burn at optimum temperature as no thermometer.<\/li>\n<li>Most of heat generated is lost up the chimney.<\/li>\n<li>More storage space needed for fuel and more deliveries.<\/li>\n<li>Smoke is less clean than from a wood burner and causes air pollution.<\/li>\n<li>Debris often falls back into room causing damage to floor, carpet or belongings.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Fire risk! Can&#8217;t be left unattended or turned down!<\/li>\n<li>New installations in houses without a fireplace will need a lined flue.<\/li>\n<li>If used regularly will need sweeping at least one per year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Wood or multi-fuel stove<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>More expensive to install than to renovate an existing open fire.<\/li>\n<li>Good draw produced by lining the chimney, which also protects the brickwork.<\/li>\n<li>Firebrick liners inside stove will need repairing or replacing over time.<\/li>\n<li>Designed to work with door closed so no smoke inside the house<\/li>\n<li>Airflow can be adjusted so that you can burn high or low.<\/li>\n<li>Around 70 &#8211; 90% efficient so burns through less fuel.<\/li>\n<li>Less storage space needed for fuel and fewer deliveries.<\/li>\n<li>Low emissions causing far less pollution than open fires.<\/li>\n<li>Needs sweeping at the end of every burning season and more often if you only burn wood.<\/li>\n<li>Multi-fuel models can burn both wood and coal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Open fires have been around since cavemen time. Log burners have been designed over time because of the need to improve on the original.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-170\" src=\"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/20121101_161618-480x640-e1553352495811-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Open fire place with fire basket\" width=\"283\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/20121101_161618-480x640-e1553352495811-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/20121101_161618-480x640-e1553352495811.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 283px) 100vw, 283px\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Above is a photo of the old open fire in Molly Malones Public House, Hitchin. Below is the Oregan 8kW multi-fuel stove that replaced it after refurb. Which do you prefer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"256\" height=\"415\" src=\"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Oregon8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-223\" srcset=\"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Oregon8.jpg 256w, http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Oregon8-185x300.jpg 185w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news is that whichever way you decide to go, we can help you with your project. If you would like to arrange a free survey to see how much your install or renovation will cost; drop us an email to office@chimneysweep.info or call 01462 671555 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes people think that a fire is simple a fire and that installing a woodburner is an unnecessary expense. Some people think it is better to renovate the original fireplace rather than destroy a piece of history. So, if you have a fireplace that is bricked up, or an old fireplace in need of some &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/2019\/03\/23\/why-not-an-open-fire\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Woodburner or open fire?<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[40,41,39],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-logburner-v-open-fire","tag-renovate-open-fireplace-or-replace","tag-woodburner-versus-open-fire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/woodburnerinstall.uk\/faq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}