Fires and stoves can provide a focal point to a room and are popular as a secondary heating source in the home.
Fuel
Depending on what fuel is available in the home, fires can run on natural gas, liquid gas, electricity or solid fuels such as coal, wood or peat.
Position
Fires can be wall mounted or floor standing. Floor standing fires are traditionally installed with a fireplace mantel into a chimney breast. Wall mounted fires are typically sited without a fireplace.
The sort of fire you can have depends on the type of chimney or flue fitted in your home. The fuel bed is the part of the fire that the flames come through to give the effect of a real fire. The fuel bed can be a realistic coal for traditional fires, or pebbles, 'wood' or 'skimmers' for a more contemporary appearance. The 'fuel' is made from a ceramic material that looks very realistic but will not burn away.
Fires with deep fuel beds can be fitted in homes with brick built chimneys or prefabricated flues. Slimline fuel beds are shallower and suitable for all chimney and fuel types.
Some fires have upright ceramic radiants instead of fuel beds.
The following types of chimney and flue are standard in the UK:
- Brick built chimney. All fires will fit in a classic brick built chimney.
- Prefabricated flue. Pre-fabricated flues are suitable for most deep bed fires and all slimline fires. This consists of a steel box and metal flue pipe built into a false chimney breast, which takes the emissions from the fire out through the roof, and usually has a cowl on top.
- Pre-cast flue. A pre-cast flue is a series of hollow breeze blocks that take the emissions from the fire up through the wall and out through a raised tile on the roof. Usually found in modern homes, pre-cast flues are suitable for a wide range of slimline fires. However, a number of deeper fires can be adapted for pre-cast flues with the use of a spacer kit.
- No chimney or flue. Some homes have no flue or chimney and there are a number of fires designed for these situations. Balanced flue fires are room-sealed high-efficiency gas fires that typically flue to the rear. Fanned flue fires are open-fronted standard efficiency fires that flue to the rear and in some cases to the side. Electric fires do not need a chimney and can be sited almost anywhere.
Types of fires
- Inset Living Flame Effect (ILFE) fires fit into the chimney opening and do not stick out into the room. They can have either deep or shallow fuel beds and this will determine which sort of chimney opening they will fit into. Deep fires are sometimes called Class 1 fires and shallow fires are sometimes called Class 2 or Multiflue.
- Decorative Gas (DGF) fires are the most realistic equivalent of an old coal or log real fire. They are not very efficient because most of the heat generated from the fire rises up the chimney.
- Outset Living Flame Effect (LFE) fires sit against the chimney breast into the room. These are more traditionally styled fires suited to older homes and have coal or log fuel effects.
- Radiant fires also sit against the chimney breast into the room, as above, but contain radiant plaques rather than a mock fuelbed to generate the heat.
- Balanced flue fires are room sealed with a glass panel fitted in front of the fuel bed. This allows the amount of air into the fire to be controlled and they are therefore more efficient than open fronted fires.
- Fanned flue fires (also called Powerflue) are open fronted fires and use a fan to expel the gases through the wall to the outside. They are less efficient than balanced flue fires.
- Flueless fires vent the products of combustion directly into the room, which means they require large well ventilated rooms. This conflicts with Part L of the UK Building Regulations covering new build properties, which requires a reduction in air changes.
- Electric fires create a simulated flame to deliver an impression of warmth. The 2kW heat is usually generated by a fan heater although some models generate less heat by using infra-red panels.
- Stoves are self-contained fires. They can be run on electric, gas, wood or solid fuels. Electric stoves are usually constructed from MDF. Gas, wood and solid fuel stoves can be built from steel plate or cast-iron.
- Valor Fires is the umbrella organisation for the Valor, Baxi and Wonderfire brands and includes many of these fire types in its range of products.
