Fireplace - ethanol based

stonecutter1309 · May 30, 2007 11:25 am

Hi everyone,

Came across these guys:

http://www.ecosmartfire.com/home.php

A flu-less and enviro friendly fireplace - apparently runs on ethanol.

But where the heck do you purchase ethanol from?

Edit - d'oh! it runs on dentured ethanol - which is apparently methylated spirits!

mattwalker · May 30, 2007 11:31 am

Does the ethanol mean it goes faster than other fires??

:lol:

stonecutter1309 · May 30, 2007 11:34 am

I think prices start at $2900 - and no flue needed - so no ghastly installation costs!

Our builder is charging $8k :shock:

for a Rinnai gas fire place. This may be a much more affordable alternative!

Yak_Chat · May 30, 2007 12:21 pm

Hmm

A metho fireplace.

Is that going backwards or forwards?

http://www.ecosmartfire.com/about_fuel.php

From my knowledge and expereince when camping with a meths stove it is not the hottest of heating fuels - you can put meths on your hand and burn it without being burnt and you need to be at the very top of the flame to get the hottest temperature.

They say you don't need to flue, OK, so what is the heat output (BTU) into the room per unit of fuel, versus the cost to buy the fuel per unit etc etc before I would jump one way of the other.

Interesting product, lots of german text on their site, so maybe they are importing a trend from Europe.

I like the idea of a reuseable fuel and it all needs to be weighed up.
Steve

Terry1 · May 30, 2007 12:25 pm

What about one of these stonecutter.Just kidding really.We still do them now and then in this area (pretty cold)but people are starting to put them outside under their pergolas etc rather than inside.We've done a few over the last couple of seasons in a winery,a pub,and another under my own pergola.I noticed that wood burning ovens for cooking pizza,bread,etc,are becoming popular in some areas although I haven't built one of those yet.Regards Terry.
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Yak_Chat · May 30, 2007 12:38 pm

The other thing that comes to mind re the metho fire, is open flames are VERY dangerous for kids and loose clothing. I'm very sruprised that they are allowed to have the open flame in such a device.
re the wood fire - Yep they work terry, but I prefer a combustion wood fire that stay alight and uses less fuel per hour -

I hate choppig wood at 11pm because the fire is about to go out. :wink:

Steve

stonecutter1309 · May 30, 2007 12:43 pm

Terry - love the idea of the outdoor wood fire place!

Yak Chat - I found this on the site about output:

Thermal Input: 14 Mj/hr – 13,000 BTU – 3.5 Kw/hr
Thermal Efficiency: Over 90%
Heats on Average: Over 35 m2 OR 376.74 ft2
Fuel Consumption: 0.64 Ltr/hr OR 0.17 Gal/hr on MAX
0.49 Ltr/hr OR 0.13 Gal/hr on MED
0.28 Ltr/hr OR 0.074 Gal/hr on MIN
In general 5 Litres OR 1¼ Gal of fuel would last from 7 hours on MAX and up to 20 hours on MIN setting.

http://www.ecosmartfire.com/fuel_efficiency.php

Terry1 · May 30, 2007 1:43 pm

I agree Steve.I think open fireplaces belong in old country pubs and outside pergola areas where they provide a great focal point.We light ours when we have people here for tea on a winters night and they just love sitting around it.If you build them right you can get quite abit of heat out of them despite what they say.Regards Terry

Yak_Chat · May 30, 2007 2:50 pm

SC

I think you will find an interesting bit of info at the link below re metho's performance. Around half that of gas.

As per my original point - Metho is not a HOT fuel, and weight for weight, bang for buck it might not be that good a choice.

I think there are also issues of how much fuel you have to store at home to use it.
Does your insurance policy cover holding 100 litre (let's say 20 days supply) of metho beside your house. Make sure it does!!!

Also metho evaporates pretty quickly, so really it would be better in 20 litre drums, then you have to decant etc to use it.

I have had oil heaters in one house and this is basically a low grade heating kero with a 100litre tank and that got very expensive to run due to the cost of oil based products.

I think this thing is more a looks nice, etc, but just a flame in the air is not that efficient - it should be heating a solid surface - ie like the gas log fires which heat up a solid mass for extra heat release.

Have you looked at gas space heating, and maybe some extra insulation to lower your heating needs. As I've said before, I lived in a swedish house in 10 degree weather with no heating on and 3 people's body heat kept the house at around 22 inside.

http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Efficiency.htm#Usage

Hope this helps.
Steve

stonecutter1309 · May 30, 2007 2:55 pm

We'd be having a fireplace purely for the "ambience" factor as the house will have ducted reverse cycle AC, plus passive solar design and insulation (R3 in the ceiling, R1.5 in the walls).

I don't think we'll turn on the ducted heating in the bedrooms - more likely use something like Econoheat: http://www.econoheatsa.com.au/

(We don't really want to have A/C - but it's better to have it installed for re-sale value of the home)

Yak_Chat · May 30, 2007 3:23 pm

Cool.... Or is that WARM...

If it's not as primary heatting then it could be ideal for ambience.
Or you could buy one of those silk fire things with air flicking it up for ambience (NOT) :wink:

Or throw a bowl of metho on the floor light it up and cover it over with a piece of tin when you've had enough

On the other front, how much $ do you think the aircon helps with resale, I say zip to me but that's because I see it as a no value thing for me.
Steve

stonecutter1309 · May 30, 2007 3:40 pm

Sydney siders are in love with their air-con units. Not sure what Adelaide summers are like, but Sydney's are hot and humid - it's more the humidity that people are likely to use the air con for.

I'd also say it's because most project builders that do big box mansions that aren't designed for passive heating & cooling need it!

wookie · Nov 19, 2010 10:33 pm

Check the ethanol fireplace from the Planika Fires

MrsGreen · Nov 22, 2010 11:37 pm

I think for looks they're a great alternative to an 8k (plus surrounds) built in- then again the 8k one we're looking at having doesn't have enough heat output for out open living area either.
If you actually want to use it to heat, then you're wasting money. If you are running your heating AND the good looking heater at the same time, that's just plain bad for the planet.