I feel I was conned into buying what I now read to be a 'Decorative'
gas fire when I wanted one to heat my living room without using my
central heating. Since paying over £1k to have it installed I find it
doesn't heat anything. It all goes up the chimney. Has anyone else
fallen for this type of fire and do we have no comeback at all against
either Wonderfire or the showroom that sold me it? I feel very angry
but powerless other than to pay out more money to buy a replacement.

On 27 Nov 2005 09:54:35 -0800, "huckleberry"
wrote:

I feel I was conned into buying what I now read to be a 'Decorative'
gas fire when I wanted one to heat my living room without using my
central heating. Since paying over £1k to have it installed I find it
doesn't heat anything. It all goes up the chimney. Has anyone else
fallen for this type of fire and do we have no comeback at all against
either Wonderfire or the showroom that sold me it? I feel very angry
but powerless other than to pay out more money to buy a replacement.


Eclipse
Orbflame Technology
White Pebble Bed
Available in brass or chrome
Suitable for hearth or hole in the wall
Concealed front controls
Heat Output: 2.6 KW

This it?

In article .com,
"huckleberry" writes:
I feel I was conned into buying what I now read to be a 'Decorative'
gas fire when I wanted one to heat my living room without using my
central heating. Since paying over £1k to have it installed I find it
doesn't heat anything. It all goes up the chimney. Has anyone else
fallen for this type of fire and do we have no comeback at all against
either Wonderfire or the showroom that sold me it? I feel very angry
but powerless other than to pay out more money to buy a replacement.

I think this applies to all gas fires which are intended to look
like real fires. After all, a real fire also sends most of its
heat straight up the chimney. I've got a Kohlangaz one which is
something like 6kW input 2kW output which was the highest efficiency
one I could find 20 years ago, which looked anything like realistic.
(I've never seen a more realistic one since either.)

What did you ask for, a nice looking realistic fire, or a functional
heater? I don't think the two things exist in one product. I also
have a proper gas wall heater of the same age, which is 2.9kW input
and 2.2kW output, which I used to use for real heating (it's now just
a backup if the central heating ever went wrong).

--
Andrew Gabriel

Yes it's the Eclipse with white pebble etc

We asked for a modern looking fire that would do what our old wall
mounted radiant convector Radiation Sunbeam type fire, the ones with
three ceramic radiants in, did. i.e heat our room without central
heating. We hate the look of fake coal fire gas fires.

What did you ask for, a nice looking realistic fire, or a functional
heater? I don't think the two things exist in one product. I also
have a proper gas wall heater of the same age, which is 2.9kW input
and 2.2kW output, which I used to use for real heating (it's now just
a backup if the central heating ever went wrong).
There are some with a convector section at the top that directs the
heat
into the room - a friend has one, don't know the model. Don't know how
flue gas / heat flow is separated etc., but it
gives out quite a lot of heat. Maybe the pebble stuff affects output.
You want the fake "coals" to radiate heat into the room also.
But of course you always lose some heat up the chimney.
Simon.

In article .com,
writes:
There are some with a convector section at the top that directs the
heat
into the room - a friend has one, don't know the model. Don't know how
flue gas / heat flow is separated etc., but it
gives out quite a lot of heat.

Yes, my Kohlangaz Kamina works that way. The flue gas goes through
a heat exchanger before being expelled from the back of the unit,
and this is used to heat the air in a convection path which draws
in at the bottom front and has an outlet grille at the top front.
This is in addition to the radiant heat from the coals of course.

Maybe the pebble stuff affects output.
You want the fake "coals" to radiate heat into the room also.
But of course you always lose some heat up the chimney.

Most, in fact.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 01:55:36 -0800, huckleberry wrote:

Yes it's the Eclipse with white pebble etc

2.6kW should be enough (unless the room is very large and draughty). The
old one was probably nearer 3-5kW output. If there is a very substantial
draw on the new fire then it might be drawing in a lot of cold air from
outside.

I'm not familiar with this model but there may be some sort of flue
restrictor plate which might need to be set in place. This will be
especially true of most/all of the following are true:

1) Good ventilation from outside or else where.
2) Large chimney being used as a flue.
3) More than 4m of chimney height.

HTH

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

huckleberry wrote:

We asked for a modern looking fire that would do what our old wall
mounted radiant convector Radiation Sunbeam type fire, the ones with
three ceramic radiants in, did. i.e heat our room without central
heating. We hate the look of fake coal fire gas fires.

If you do decide to replace you might like
--
Steve W