Anyone got a coal fire?

[lylasmummy]

Hey ladies

I've just moved into a house with solid fuel heating, I'm so confused, I have a switch for emersion heater to get hot water, but have been told they are v expensive... I have to boil kettle when I want to wash up lol...

Do I just buy coal? Or would it be wise to buy logs too? Is there anything special I have to do before I light it for the first time, it's not an open fire, it's a "log burner?" I think? With doors n stuff? I remember my nanny had same one when I was little about 20 yrs ago

 

[kmbabycrazy]

My mum has a log burner, she burns wood mostly though not coal. She tends to light newspaper and twigs and then put the wood/coal on. She doesn't find her emersion heater expensive to run as long as she switch it off when she needs to. They mostly use the electric shower though with maybe one bath a week being run. So she can put it on for a short time in the day to give her enough hot water to wash dishes through the day and then switches it on for an hour before the bath and turn it off before they get in.

 

[Fergie]

Our stove is a duel fuel one so you can burn coal, wood & peat on it. Does yours heat your water ?. Ours did but we disconnected it as we've a new boiler system just put in.

I'd advise you to have your chimney swept for any blockages (we had a crows nest in ours) and they'll usually tell you if you need any of the inner tubing replaced.

Buy some firelighters and kindling (or chop up a log). Ours is a bugger to start if it's clean and needs a wee bit ash in it to go, so we use both to get it going then chuck on the coal and logs and it goes like a wee bomb.

Oh and get a metal bin for the ashes. Keeps them out the way while they're cooling. The ash is good in the garden, just mix it in with the earth .

 

[weewdy]

Is yours a multi fuel burner or a log burner? If it is a log burner you are not meant to burn coal in it as it will clog up. Coal will give off a better heat but it is expensive. We have a multi fuel burner and we use peat and its great, cheap with nearly no ash.

 

[lylasmummy]

I think it's multi, yeah it heats the water, it has a back boiler I'm led to believe... Bought a sack of coal, some kindling and some logs today so will give it a trial run in next few days or so... How will I know if it needs sweeping? Will it smoke in the house? Roughly how much does a sweep cost? I have no utensils like a poker etc, are these essential right away?

Never thought of the ashes....

 

[Fergie]

I think it's multi, yeah it heats the water, it has a back boiler I'm led to believe... Bought a sack of coal, some kindling and some logs today so will give it a trial run in next few days or so... How will I know if it needs sweeping? Will it smoke in the house? Roughly how much does a sweep cost? I have no utensils like a poker etc, are these essential right away?

Never thought of the ashes....

Up here (Scotland) it's £50 for a sweep, but the one we have cleans everything in the stove as well as the chimney and they are supposed to be swept every 6 months to a year. It won't draw too great if it needs cleaned and will be quite dour. It shouldn't smoke the house if the seals around the door and that are all okay, but if you don't have a whirly on the top of the chimney outside, it can blow back in strong winds. If you don't have a poker then just watch when you're putting logs etc in. You can get fireplace sets on e-bay or that for £20. And use an old oven glove for opening the doors, the handles tend to be rather hot .

 

[SassyLou]

Out last house had solid fuel heating, its much cheaper to find a proper coal merchant than buying coal from a local shop/garage etc. The more you buy the cheaper it becomes. We often found adverts for logs in our local paper. Once you've got the fire in you should, by regular riddling and removal of the ashes, keep it in for quite a while without it going out, our record was 8 weeks. Obviously at this time of year it can be too warm to have the fire in just because you need hot water. An electrician told us that to keep turning the emersion on and offf worked out quite expensive as it has to heat from a full cold tank each time you switch it on, and to just leave it on constantly. I did keep checking the meter (we did a few days with it on constant and the aame number of days with it on when we needed it) it did work out cheaper to leave it on constant, it was still quite expensive though so we had an electric shower fitted.

 

[MrsPear]

Definitely get the chimney swept, people can put all sorts of stuff up there when they aren't using the fire for a period to keep the draught out. Plus it could have a lot of soot anyway and you'll get a smoky room and it could be dangerous if it lights up.

Do you have somewhere to keep plenty of coal? Definitely agree with whoever said buy in bulk not only is it cheaper but you don't want to be scrimping because you only have one bucket left!

PPs have said it all really- definitely invest in a fireplace set with poker etc. You will probably need some sort of shovel type thing to get the ash out, a lot of fireplaces do have a tray to pull out but the ash still finds its way round the sides and back and little pieces of coal too.

Start collecting newspapers etc so you can get it going really easily. Suppose you could use firelighters instead, but I always used paper.

Just play around! You'll soon get used to poking the ash down and getting the air in to get a really good fire! Make sure the air vent is open when you light it to draw the air in, and then close it later so it doesn't all burn out too quickly.

Coal burns for longer and gets hotter (I think) but logs are nice in the evenings if you want a quick boost in the room, and a burning log looks lovely too.

 

[Lauraxamy]

I have a fire, I burn mainly wood but sometimes with coal in the bottom so it puts out more heat. Definitely shop around for coal prices, there's some really good deals especially at this time of year, prices go higher in the winter I find. I get my chimney swept once every year around the end of August so it's ready for winter