Nic Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Hi as per title Bio-ethanol Ventless Fireplace In a Passivhaus ? discuss wife would like a real fire having looking into the log burner side of things and get one that is using an outside air supply and the difficulty in ensuring a good airtight fit with all the joints so as to not leak into my air tight home, I was considering the bio fuel system. I know they are more cosmetic and as I don’t need a lot of heat due to the levels of insulation etc . I was considering this as an option any thoughts please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike2016 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Looked into this a few years ago - getting ethanol was a problem for me - also heat output, despite being small was a problem if I recall!! Looked into LED alternatives but nothing like a real fire!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russdl Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 We have used a 2kW bio ethanol fire for the last three winters now. It lives in the lounge, on the coffee table. Of an evening if there’s a nip in the air we light it for 30-40 mins with the lounge door partially closed. It quickly warms the room (not the whole house) and the room stays cosy for the rest of the evening. The more open plan your house is the less effective it will be. We’ve probably used it a dozen or more times so far this winter, more than previous winters due to the distinct lack of sunshine. It’s in no way a replacement for the beautiful Clearview stove we had in our old house but it does what is required of it, it has a real flame, it doesn’t create any ash or need cleaning and I’m not spending loads of my spare time harvesting, chopping storing and fetching timber. It’s also hundreds or thousands of pounds cheaper than an installed passive standard log burner (that most likely wouldnt get a great deal of use). We wouldn’t change a thing. 10 minutes ago, mike2016 said: getting ethanol was a problem for me We get ours from Amazon. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 1 hour ago, Russdl said: We get ours from Amazon. Care to post an example? Can you get it in sensible size quantities. I ask because we have a spirit burning stove on our boat and we currently burn meths which stinks. I would like to find an alternative fuel for it that has no smell, and is available in larger bottles than the usual silly little 500ml meths bottles. And preferably cheaper than that (hence wanting to buy in larger quantity) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russdl Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 (edited) This is the stuff we’ve ordered. 6 x1L bottles, £24.49 Edited February 13 by Russdl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan F Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Look at the Dimplex Optimyst/Opti-V poducts. While not a real fire, we personally liked the effect this create more than some of the bioehtanal options, but without the heat or ethanol smell! We used the cassete version and built it into a slate bench and even plumbed it in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russdl Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 There is no discernible smell from our bio ethanol fire. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiehamy Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 We've actually got 4 in the house! We've had them for years and love them - when we had a power outage for 3 days, we only needed to run one (2x3kWh output) and the house temperature was just fine. They are a luxury and we only use them when we feel like, but they do provide a decent heat output and nice atmosphere. We get fuel from here at the moment https://ekofuel.org/shop.html. I've just bought 48 litres. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russdl Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 @jamiehamy thanks for the link to the fuel, doesn’t that unit price decrease with bulk! I’m pretty sure we’ve only ordered 3 lots of 6L - so 18 bottles in total - and we still have 8 and a bit bottles left after 2.5 winters but I’ll definitely re-stock from ekofuel when the time comes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russdl Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 And, as an aside we also use our bio ethanol fuel to make our own surgical spirit aka ‘rubbing alcohol’ 70% bio ethanol 30% deionised water* Almost odourless and cleans almost everything. *we collect this from the dehumidifier when we dry clothes indoors in the winter. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 16 hours ago, Dan F said: Look at the Dimplex Optimyst/Opti-V poducts. While not a real fire, we personally liked the effect this create more than some of the bioehtanal options, but without the heat or ethanol smell! We used the cassete version and built it into a slate bench and even plumbed it in. Have you got some images please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan F Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 (edited) 3 hours ago, Nic said: Have you got some images please? Have a look on youtube, that way you can see the effect they produce too. This is the "cassete" version that we used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEmPgSSB4s4 Edited February 14 by Dan F 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norbert Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 hmmmm..... while i do not feel the need to have any type of fire in our new build (unlike Mrs...) I do wonder how we would get on in an extended power cut. After Arwen we were without power for 5 days, however with 2x wood burners and a gas hob we survived just fine. If the house was all electric what then? I guess a back up gas camping stove thingy would work OK-ish for cooking and hot drinks, but what about space heating? I can see that a 2-3kw bio ethanol burner might well plug the gap, what does anyone else do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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