Saving fuel in Open fires

[Starchild]

This is something me dad taught me. If you have an open fire, get hold of 2 bricks. Halve one of them.
Put the whole brick in the back of the grate and the smaller halves each side. This has the double effect of pushing the heat forward yet using half the amount of coal or wood. (A welcome addition is half the cleaning)

[mickster]

admin said:

This is something me dad taught me.

No I didn't! ;D

For some strange reason, we can't find a place that sell fire bricks anymore. We can't have a back brick because of the rear metal back boiler. (disconnected and holed) we have two 'cheek' bricks on the side and they have broken into bits too. However, for the amazing price of a tenner, I can buy cast iron cheek plates which will do the job.

Mick.

[stormy]

im going to upset mick now, we have a pile of fire bricks outside the shed.

[Starchild]

Don't worry Mick, I'll steal some in September and bring them with next year! ;D

[stormy]

here you go mick

www.castironfires.com/dept.asp?id=95

[stormy]

has anyone else noticed the nutrigrain packet in the fire.

[Starchild]

yup, that's one of t'other halfs

[mickster]

admin said:

yup, that's one of t'other halfs

Here's me thinking that a bar of hippy food was essential for fireplace economy. ;D

Mick.
PS: Thanks for the link Stormy.

[mickster]

Its days like this when I think someones having a go at me.
Last night, I put a bit of coal on the fire and covered it with a shovelful of coal dust and closed the damper. No problem so far. This morning, bleary eyed, I got up and opened the damper and gave the fire a poke to get it going. It bloody well fell apart!

The grate came off the back and dislodged the front of the thing. Now it was getting all the bloody air it wanted and smoke was billowing up the chimney in a lovely dirty yellow colour. So I had to go out and get the watering can and put the bloody fire out, then clean it out and check the damage.

Sue and I had to go to Kirkcaldy and ask advice from this guy who sells fireplaces and stuff. "Oh says he, This will cost a few hundred to put right says he." "Bollocks! says I. Oh! says he, you just need two new screws to hold the front plate in." So pausing only to do some shopping and buy mead, We got home and muggins here began repairing the fireplace and after about an hour of fluent Latin and other swear words, The job was done. Then I noticed that the wind had gotten up a bit, so when I lit the fire I got a lot of downdraught which caused smoke to billow into the living room. Anyway, that problem cured, I finally thought I could sit down and have a fag.(WTF? It wont let me put the word 'FAG'?) Bloody ciggie then!
No such luck. I looked at my hands, they were black! So I decided to give Sue a rap. "Yo ma Sue, dis is what you do, make me a coffee or I'll put ma hands on you." ;D Sue hit me. ;D ;D

The fire looks bigger since I threw out those broken firebricks though.

Mick.

[Starchild]

we want to get a woodburner in the living room, council says no problem. But the woodburner is about £400, the chimney lining £300, the cost of builder to do it so we can get the correct certifcate (or the council will make us take it out) £590! Well that will have to wait a year, at least until we have bought a gas-guzzling 4 x 4!

[mickster]

admin said:

we want to get a woodburner in the living room, council says no problem. But the woodburner is about £400, the chimney lining £300, the cost of builder to do it so we can get the correct certifcate (or the council will make us take it out) £590!

And those much vaunted mythical energy efficiency grants,that are supposed to cover half the cost?

Mick.

[Starchild]

apparently woodburners don't qualify for grants...due to CO₂
Can someone PLEASE infom the dimwits that wood is CARBON NEUTRAL! Especially when the wood is being cut form managed woodland. And yes seriously it is cheaper to use especially as we don't pay for the damned stuff!

Mind you, we want a new rayburn too....they are very costly outlay.

[mickster]

See? I told you these grants were mythical. Oh they'll advertise them and trumpet their benefits, but when folk apply, there's always some beaurocrat on hand to point out one tiny little clause that disqualifies you.

In retalliation, I would suggest applying for a grant for a 'Beaurocrat burner' Just think of all the paper that would be saved! By burning just six beaurocrats a week, you could save an area of rain forest the size of Wales plus two football pitches. The benefits to this nation as a whole, would be tremendous. ;D ;D

Mick.

[tnt]

We have fire bricks in the fireplace in the living room - they are mainly there to cover the massive holes in the grate as it is falling apart! It's less than a year old as Tim had to replace it last year when he first came up.

We have got a stove which is currently sitting in the hall waiting to be transfered to the living room to take the place of the fire. It's been there since December but we have to get a flue damper first. The one we bought with the stove was a complete pile of ****

Fortunately we don't have to pay for anyone to come out and fit it as no-one will care if it is fitted correctly or not.

By the way Starchild have a look at www.naturalheating.co.uk

They are very good and will talk you through everything you need to do or that you need and they won't try and rip you off either.

BTW this is NOT where we got our stove from - we messed up big style by buying it from somewhere else

Anyway that's my two pence worth and I hope it makes sense to everyone else as I'm really not with it today at all!

[Starchild]

Our local farmers place does woodburners, as do the rayburn dealers in Winkleigh. Council said as long as we replace like for like we can replace the rayburn too. Mind you we would have bought the place before we could afford the £4,000 for that! We only want to replace the Rayburn so we could have one to run a radiator off in the hallway.