Alternative to log burner

[BingoFucklinger]

I love the look and coziness of a log burner but would prefer something cleaner burning.

Does anyone have experience of bioethanol or electric fireplaces/burners and would you recommend? We don't need the additional heat source but it would be a nice focal point to our seating area.

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts. Thanks!

Bio ethanol are pointless imo. Expensive for the fluid and absolutely no heat whatsoever.

We have a log burner, but in our own house had a beautiful gas fire installed. It was enough to pleasantly warm the room (nothing like actual fire, but noticeable) and looked so lovely. I loved it. But, it was quite costly to run, buy and install and will be even more so now of course. I think from memory it cost about the same as a log burner and that was with us doing all the building work ourselves to build out the chimney breast etc.

*own house is supposed to read OLD house!

We have a bio ethanol fire.
I bought a 2 litre burner box and put it in an old cast iron wood burner that we got at the tip!
it’s really good, actually gets warmer than our wood burning stove (in another part of the house).
I think the key is that the stove is cast iron so it gets really hot and retains the heat. We have it on instead of the central heating.
also the real flames are lovely.
I buy bio ethanol on Amazon, 12 bottles at a time. I use about half a litre for a 2-3 hour burn, works out at £1.50 so not much more than electric per kWh.
see if you can pick up an old wood burner stove locally, add a 2 liter burner box with the additional mineral wool pad thing, bobs your uncle.

Thanks both!
@Twoshoesnewshoes That's an interesting idea, thank you! I hadn't considered the importance of the construction material.

@AGreatUsername Gas fires can be lovely! I know a couple of people with beautiful ones but we're hoping to come off mains gas and only use electricity so ideally would want something that could work with that.

You can get electric fires at Dunelm in various shapes and colours that look cosy.

No way a bio ethanol fire gets as hot as a wood burning stove. The one I encountered let as much heat out as a few candles…… you would need to be burning a lot of fuel in one to get any decent heat out of it.

If there was a better / hotter / cheaper option than wood burning stoves then everybody would be using it.

The bio ethanol stoves are good for effect. But not for any serious heat output.

I really like the look of the electric stoves from Everhot. Really stylish, bright colours, would make a good focal point even without a visible flame. You can buy two versions, one has a mini oven inside that can take a small casserole dish.

After years of loving a log burner but not the faff and mess we have a gas fired version in our new home. So easy and clean and the only heat we use in living room

I've been going round the options for years and never come up with an answer I'm happy with.

Would love a woodburner but they aren't great for the environment or for asthma so that's out.

Haven't found anything that comes up to them for cosiness and look. Most electric fires look really fake to me.

I was very drawn to the Everhot but went to see them in a showroom recently and they are bigger and chunkier than I thought - I think they are too big for our room.

I've come across the Aga electric stoves which are a bit smaller, but I suspect the flame effect will look very fake.

Dimplex stoves get good reviews but are made out of MDF. Everhot and Aga are cast iron so more pleasing as a stove, though also expensive by comparison.

I'd love to know if there is a stylish electric alternative, following the thread with interest.

Aga electric stove