Can anyone help me choose between a gas fire and a real coal fire?

[ReallyNotAMorningPerson]

We have an old fireplace that currently has a gas fire in it that's just been condemned as 'dangerous' (oh dear).

We either buy a new gas fire, or reinstall the fireplace as a working coal fire.

It would have to be smokeless coal in our neighbourhood, so logs are not an option. Because of the shape of the original fireplace (see pic for similar) a multi fuel burner unfortunately wouldn't look very good.

Can anyone share their experience of either options (gas or coal) and opinions about which is best?

Thanks in advance!

Op, though real coal fires are lovely to look at, are very warm once the darn thing is lit and you can make toast on it, they're a nightmare in every other aspect.

• You need storage for the coal - not with gas. *You have to clean out the ashes and will need somewhere to bin them - not with gas. *Coal fires produce an awful lot of dust and dirt from both the coal and the ashes - not with gas. The carpets will be black from the coal dust. *Coal fires need regular chimney sweeping - not with gas. *You have to faff with paper, sticks, coal to light the fire -with gas just click a button. *The worst was the threat of chimney fires. I was once woken at 3 in the morning by a neighbour on his way to work as mine was on fire. Had to call firebrigade and everything. *Coal fires also not good for ashmatics either.

....and onandonandon....etc.

Reading your op brought back memories of me in the 60's/70/s and early 80's going through this morning ritual. The day I had gas central heating installed was AWESOME!

....X - post with ArcheryAnnie

Thanks Jasper - please do! I'll keep checking the thread.

Mairzy thanks - that's not ours exactly, but it's very similar. It does seem a shame to remove it!

Thank you Pottery and Archery - it's good to hear the other side of the story!

Could you tell me whether smokeless coal might make any difference?

I have a friend with a coal fire and I must confess to not particularly enjoying the bacon Frazzles-type smell on my clothes the next day.

Would smokeless coal get rid of many of the problems, or not really?

at chimney fire Pottery. How did that happen??

My place also has the high ceiling and decent central heating, but I like to have a direct source of heat as well.

I agree wholeheartedly with ArcheryAnnie about gas versus real fire. You can have the gas fire on in a second, whenever you need it. It looks lovely and I often use it in the evening without the heating on, in early autumn for example.

There was a coal fire when I moved in here and I hardly used it, mainly because it had to be cleaned out each time, then all the preparing for lighting. What a pain, and so time-consuming.

Hmm.... cleaning out every single time Mayn? That doesn't sound too fun.

Afraid I am one for keeping the original as I have spent years sourcing and putting original fireplaces back into Edwardian and Victorian properties. I have had gas and coal fires. Coal/real are lovely but create mess to clear up and you gave to find space to store the coal/wood and inevitably go outside in winter when it is cold and wet to stock up. Last 2 fireplaces have gone down the gas route and if is so much easier. Do you live in a detached house ? Our last house was and did get cold in winter but we are now in a much smaller Cottage and although we have the gas fire we hardly ever need to use it because we are cosy with the heating on.

Honestly, Mumsnet! I made my decision to go for an open fire after reading page after page of comments about how tacky and soulless gas fires were, and now everyone here disagrees!

I guess it varies from person to person.

I love my multi fuel stove, charnwood by the way.

It has an air wash system so the glass doesn't need cleaning.

I love lighting it. Takes hardly any work. Once a week I empty the ash tray.

If you have the chimney swept once a year it shouldn't catch fire.

Be realistic about how an open fire fits with your lifestyle.

I live in a draughty old Victorian house and we replaced the coal fires with multi-fuel stoves (but didn't have any original fireplaces to worry about sacrificing). It takes quite a while to heat the rooms in our house and the coal fires took much longer to do this than the burners.
I am a SAHM so I could light the fire mid morning to get the rooms warm enough for mid afternoon. Coal fires do need need cleaning out before each use really, they are less efficient and they honestly are dusty.

If I was out all day for any reason and had to light it at teatime we sat being cold for a couple of hours. If I worked and had to do that daily in the winter it would be a pain.

We do have central heating but in the main rooms which are large, it's mostly inneffective so the fires are a main source of heating for us. We have no gas here so that wasn't an option.

(my central heating is now run off a woodfired Rayburn after we ditched the old anthracite boiler.)

I have a coal fire and I love it. Yes it's more work but worth it. I clear the ash after 2 fires so not overly onerous. And I use wood I pick up while out with the dog as well as normal coal despite smokeless restrictions. Local industry puffs out far more nasty shite than my fires.
It takes some getting used to but it is a joy in my life. The animals love it too. Oh and I burn all paperwork etc on there so don't buy kindle and don't need a shredder

We did use smokeless fuel sometimes (it was called "coalite" then, dunno what it's called now), but I can't remember if it made a difference.

If you have experience with wood fires, then coal is a bit of a shock because it really does need cleaning out every time (or nearly every time), whereas you can go for days building up wood ash and it's nicer for a wood fire. You do get into the habit of it - shovelling it out in the morning and laying it ready for lighting when you come in later - but I could not be arsed with it now.

I agree with Pottery and Archery.

MIL lives in a village with no mains gas. As it was a pit village everyone had coal fires including MIL. She absolutely hated her coal fire for all the reasons given above. She also had to redecorate her living room every year due to the muck that coal fires give out.

Unless you get free coal I can see nothing to recommend a coal fire.

im an open fire fan,we got rid of the gas fire as it was soooo expensive (one of them flame effect and didnt give out much heat)

it didnt cost us anything to put a wood/coal fire in,just the grate really,though i burn mostly wood as the grate is larger than a coal one

i clean it out probably every 2/3 days,wood is so easy to light,takes about 30mins to get the temp up high then its just topping up

i also bung on some coal and get it swept yearly £50 comes with insurance certificate,I reckon cleaning setting up,bringing wood in from garage takes 15 mins a day so no hardship

we have central heating but i dont really use it in the lounge because the fire can really kick out some heat,sometimes i have to open the door as it gets to hot,im learning to get the temp at a steady rate and slowly getting there

my lounge is 18ft by12ft so a fare size

we also live in an area that we can burn wood etc so that makes it esier

some wood is given some i buy i would say i spend approx £150 a year on the and the fire is on from Sept/Oct till April?May for about 6-10 hrs a day

wow that was long

oh and if you have a power cut you have heat and a cooking source

I have a heat and cooking source if we have a power cut - a gas fire and a gas cooker (oven and hob)

what happens if the gas get rationed or stopped

My chimney fire OP?

Well, on a night it was the norm back then to 'bank the fire down' overnight, by allowing it to burn down low, then covering the top of it with some damp 'nutty slack', so that it just ticked over rather than going out altogether. Then on a morning you could just ease the coals apart with a poker to let air in and allow the fire to flare up again. A practice often followed by many in Winter, rather than spend an age lighting a fire in a freezing cold room.

anyway, the chimney must have been ready for sweeping, and so that, combined with the low heat from the fire was enough to ignite the chimney.

It was pretty scary, as the fire was all the way through the chimney, with sparks flying out of the top. And the noise - It was booming, and terrifying to hear!.

Quite a salutary lesson, that was.

My fondest memory not was coming home one evening to find my coal delivery had been left outside the coalshed as the door was locked and the coalman couldn't put it inside.

I had been at a friends and had imbibed a glass a bottle or two of wine, so was a little wobbly and was looking forward to my bed.

Trouble was, if I'd left the coal there overnight it would have disappeared, so I had to set to with a spade and get it into the shed. I have never sobered up so startlingly quickly either before or since that night

I'm late to the party, but I wouldn't want to destroy that pretty fireplace. I'd seal the chimney up & put something pretty in there like flowers. No way I'd go for a multi-fuel stove.

We have a stove, btw. It's fine, but plenty of work. Ours is almost the smallest available. You'd have to remove so much of your fireplace to put a stove in there. No brainer to me not to do it.

Why don't you get the chimney cleaned and try a coal fire this winter and see what you think?

I've a coal fire, looks identical to yours, and had heard that they were rubbish compared to stoves, but couldn't afford to replace it so thought I'd give it a go for the first winter and see how it went. It heats the whole downstairs (1930s semi with kitchen extension leading from the two living rooms knocked into one) and after a bit of practice it really easy to light and I only clean it out every few days. We don't need the heating on at all during the day when we're at home if I've the fire lit.

It would be a tragedy to destroy the fireplace. A wood burner or similar would look ugly and out of place. It's such a pretty fireplace, I wouldn't touch it.
I would replace it another gas fire similar to the one you have,
Coal fires are a pain and very dirty. Dust gets everywhere, and faffing about with coal and ash dust, cleaning out etc is no fun.

I have had 6 separate coal fireplaces in properties and one gas effect fire.

I agree with the Authoress. Run it as a coal fire for a while, and see if you can be bothered with it... If you can't, get it converted to gas.

I have a woodburner (Charnwood) and a real fire and I use both, not sure I would ever go back to gas although I've loved the convenience of it in the past. The real fire is a faff, but I love the sound of the crackling flames and it does give out plenty of heat.

My woodburner looks and is amazing, but I replaced an 80s monstrosity to put it in, no ripping out of beautiful original features here!

If you try the real fire, get a chimney sheep for when the fire is not in use - stops draughts up the chimney. have tried chimney balloon but prefer the sheep. I got a long thin sheep which slots in quite low down- it is much easier to remove and replace than the chimney balloon