Replacing open fire with greener but attractive alternative

[lurch3r]

We currently have gas central heating and an open fire in the living room. We use it only in the winter at weekends and Christmas but I am recently worried about how ecologically awful it is and not good for our health or the neighbours. I would like to keep the surround and as much of the original 18" box as possible but am looking at electric as gas doesn"t seem much better for the environment. Has anyone replaced with a realistic looking electric fire? I've been looking at the ones with the flame made of steam. Do they make a noise when they are on? Any recommendations would be very welcome. Thanks.

We moved into a house with open fire. Three had been blocked up. In one they had put an electric fire which looks like a word burner. It looks really good and we have kept it, but never use it.

Two others are empty with just a grate.

We have now removed the chimney as costly to repair and we didn't use the one working fireplace. We intend to rip out the surround as it isn't in keeping with the rest of the house and either replace or re plaster.

electricity 17p a unit and up... and it isn't generated by pedalling unicorns.

open fires are indeed an eco disaster at 20% efficient. You need a logburner which will be 80% or more. That also gives you a backup in power cuts. Check what has happened in Texas - that's us if the current push to wind continues.

I know electricity isn't guilt-free but I am worried about the pollution from log-burners' smoke and particles in the environment. We do what we can to try and minimise our carbon footprint so I am phasing out our use of gas and we use a renewable energy supplier. It's not perfect but we do our best. Has anyone installed an electric fire that is nice to look at with a decent flame effect?

www.theguardian.com/money/2018/may/26/wood-burner-open-fire-pollution-cleaning-up-air-quality

A modern clean burn woodburner produces hardly any particulates - a match produces more. Use kiln dried wood and its eco too.

There are some very good electric ones out there though.

From the article posted above:

“One of the newest models of stoves used to burn dry wood will produce a fraction of the particulates of an open fire burning wet logs, he says.”

A rather odd comparison - why is the stove burning dry wood and the open fire burning wet? Of course it’s going to produce more pollution if the logs are wet!

The steam/ flame effect fires produce a lot of condensation, as do bioethanol so if you are going for one of those you might want to think about a dehumidifier 👍

Hadn't thought about the need for a dehumidifier. That's not very eco either! Or nice to look at.

Or you can keep a window a bit , but it might defeat the object of trying. To keep the room warm, we had a cast iron fire with an electric fan heater underneath, you had to remove the bit at the bottom when in use. It used to glow light through the coals and warmed the room up very quick , so didn’t need it on very long . @