Bioethanol fireplaces?

[Golaz]

We are trying to decide what to do with our fireplace. Concerned about the installation cost/ environmental/ health impacts of wood burners and gas. Don’t like the modern look or inauthenticity/ tackiness of electric (we live in an old house). Soo I’m thinking of going for a bioethanol solution.
Does anyone have any experience/ advice to share?

Following as also interested.

We have one and tbh it's a bit of an arse. We had an issue with having a working flue etc...it would have been doable but at a ££££ cost and eaten up a lot of space in our room. The hearth looks the part all right. We have a glowing coal version. The main problems for me are a) the bottles of fluid are not cheap; there is obviously a fixed market in them as there is zero competition in the cost of them, and you have to store them if you buy them in bulk (which works out a little bit cheaper but not much). Second problem is that you can't really adjust the heat much once the fire is lit. Versions may vary of course but on ours, if you close the hole to dampen the flames a bit, it gets the hump and goes out. So you either have MEGA HEAT or no heat. Having said that, it's very effective while it's roaring away and about two thirds of a litre bottles lasts us about two and a bit hours. Makes our smallish sitting room very toasty indeed.

My mother had a bio ethanol stove in her apartment. One afternoon she put the fuel on and lit it with a taper as required. It didn’t appear to have caught so she opened the door to put a little more fuel on it. Result was a fireball that flew out of the stove and set fire to her apartment. She got out alive with what she was wearing. The fire brigade report said it was one of the worst fires he had ever seen for the damage that was caused - even the concrete floor was burned so hot was the heat. Chief Fire Officer said in his opinion they should be banned. So no would be my response - don’t get one.

Edited to add we have a dual fuel wood burner which meets the highest emission standards. The stove is around £900 plus similar installation cost including the flue liner. It’s a 5kw and keeps our large living room very toasty together with our dining room and hall when we leave the door open.

omg That is terrifying!!

The issue with a wood burner for us is I think it would take a lot of work to the chimney- so I’m guessing many many 1000s altogether to put in.
Then you read all the stuff on mumsnet about how they are so bad for health/ the environment and should be banned 😬

I have a bioethanol stove in my summerhouse, which is lovely and cosy. I don't think it would create enough heat for a large room, but mine is quite small. One bottle of fuel lasts me about 3 hours, and I order a dozen for £36 from Amazon.

So sorry to hear about the previous poster's mother's experience, that sounds horrific. They are perfectly safe, if used according to instructions, and there are specific warnings about not adding fuel once the stove has been lit. Sometimes it takes a little while for the flames to build up, so don't assume that it hasn't lit successfully, and definitely don't add more fuel. You also need to ensure adequate ventilation. There aren't any significant emissions other than water vapour and heat, but if not ventilated, the moisture level in the room can creep up, which isn't good in terms of damp etc.

That’s interesting to hear your experience of that because I thought one of the drawbacks was supposed to be that they aren’t very effective at actually producing heat :). Nice to know that’s not always the case anyway. Although not being able to adjust at all is a bit rubbish

Bumping in case anyone else has anymore experience to share :)

We have this one in the dining room and it provides a lovely ambience/ heat when we are having a meal in there. I’m very smell sensitive so do find that I can smell it when it’s first lit so you do need reasonable ventilation IMO (having the nearish window on the latch works for us).

Trying to make the chimney usable for a wood burner would have been way too expensive so we are happy with this compromise

Looks lovely!
Very stupid question , but when people say “ventilation” do they mean an open window? Doesn’t that slightly defeat the purpose of having the fire on? 🥴

My ventilation is an open chimney and a draughty house, I use an insert into an open fireplace instead of using coal. It's not as effective as the coal but it's good enough for a warm and cosy living room

We've had this conversation. We are building a rural house with a proper chimney and a fireplace, but aren't keen on getting a woodburner. I am very sensitive to fumes/smells and just can't believe there is really no smell with bio ethanol fuel. Also sounds a faff.

We are going to have a little Everhot stove as a focal point, with some lighting in the inglenook. The chimney will be closed but in an emergency (hopefully rare) we will still be able to open it for an open fire or stove. Our house will be very well insulated so the Everhot is more for aesthetics than anything....although you can bake a croissant or two in it!

I hadn't heard of these just looked them up - they are really cute.

My DP is also sensitive to fumes/ smells so i'm a bit nervous about the bioethanol 😬. Also does sound like a faff doesn't it? And that pp's story about the fireball has made me nervous.

Do you have a gas connection there currently? I’ve been very very happy with my modern gas “woodburner” as was worried about the cost, faff and environmental impact of a real one.

its very realistic with real flames, efficient, clean and gives off a nice heat: can switch it on and off at the touch of a remote control button.

Google Gazco gas stoves. Think mine is called Sheraton.

We have one and love it. Wanted a log burner but would have been a faff to install.

It heats the room up and looks like a real fire. Highly recommend.

Funnily enough we just dug up the floor and found and old gas pipe running into the fireplace! Would we need to do work to the chimney though to install a gas one? No idea what state our chimney is in..

Thank you! Does it smell?

@Golaz the worst thing about the Everhot is choosing a colour! Too many options.
BTW in our current house we have one of those stupid electric fires that has a "living flame" effect which is actually steam from a reservoir. We bought it in an emergency and bitterly regretted it. The fan is really noisy and the flame just looks like smoke to me...in fact it mimics a smoky coal fire so realistically you can almost taste the coal dust! The Everhot just convects as it's cast iron.

Yes my installers put in a liner/flue. Wasn’t too bad cost wise though. They were able to find and use an old gas connection that had been capped off. I’ve got a simple black granite hearth and oak mantle above.

Dimplex Optymist is the one to avoid.
Before our current chimney got condemned by the gas board we had a gas log fire and were very happy with it for many years. No smell. Would have one again, but no gas where we are moving.

There is a bit of a smell with bioethanol. It tends to be just after it goes out, but being in the summerhouse it isn't an issue. As regards ventilation, I open a window after it has been on for a few minutes, but it stays warm.

For my main fireplace in the house, I got rid of the chimney breast and have a marble fireplace with an electric fire, similar to the one below. I've not had to use it though, so really it's for the look of it.

https://furniture123.co.uk/p/large-freestanding-stone-effect-62-inch-electric-fire-with-pebbles-amberglo-agl060?refsource=fuadwords&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_id=20077050840&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=20077050840&cq_con=&cq_term=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzPy8BhBoEiwAbnM9O2NUocMgLIwymkQE7cTYpcrift0Eu_vowJduqRy41lo7coZPWaK3PxoC6a8QAvD_BwE

We have a gas woodburner effect stove as well. Wanted a log burner but after a lot of thought and consideration, we decided to go for gas. So glad we did as we feel with gas we have much more control over it and can either turn down the flames or off completely when warm enough. It heats the room well and is really cosy. Looked in to biotheanol but to be honest got put off by the cost of the fuel, having to store it and the smell it gives off. We have a paragon edge gas stove.

Just reviving this old thread. Anyone with a bioethanol stove….are they heavy?