Flueless Fires - How Do They Work?

 

Introduction to flueless fires

Although the concept is relatively new in this country, fixed flueless gas fires have a long established history in Japan (where there are 40 million), the United States (approximately 20 million) and Australia. Fixed flueless fires give a combination of convenience, efficiency and safety which flued fires can never equal. We have entered an era of spiralling gas prices, gas shortages and global warming. It is short sighted to continue wasting energy at such a rate when there is an alternative product which is superior to flued fires in so many ways.

Efficiency of Flueless Fires

Most of the heat from an open flued gas fire or solid fuel fire goes straight up the chimney. By comparison 100% of the heat generated by a flueless fire goes to heating the room. Tests commissioned by Burley compared a 2.5kW flueless fire (Burley Environ), a typical 6kW inset flued gas fire (quoted efficiency 59%), a decorative flued gas fire and a 2kW electric fire. These tests showed that the flueless gas fire produced over 3 times more heat per kilowatt than the flued gas fire and over 12 times more heat than the decorative gas fire. In other words the flued gas fire lost over 70% of the heat up the chimney and the decorative fire lost over 90%. If the 15 million flued gas fires in Britain were replaced by flueless fires, the country would save around 23,500,000,000 kilowatts of gas every year (costing £1,600,000,000) which in turn would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 4,200,000 tonnes every year.

Flueless gas fires do not rely on a chimney, they provide an unsurpassed level of safety to which flued fires can only aspire. Flues and chimneys can become blocked or adversely affected by down-draughts. Flueless gas fires are designed to burn the gas extremely cleanly without a flue. The burnt gases are then passed through a catalytic converter. Often, flueless fires have an oxygen depletion sensor which constantly monitors the air quality in the room. If the level of oxygen drops by just 1.5%, the fire automatically shuts down.

flueless fires

Air movement

Flueless fires gently convect heat throughout the entire house. A small air vent regulates air into the room which is being heated. This heated air dissipates away from the fire and circulates around the house. A chimney or flued fire, by comparison, draws a huge amount of air from around your house. This is warm air (that you have paid to heat) which is replaced by cold air leaking in through windows and doors.

Catalytic converters

Flueless fires can incorporate a catalytic converter. This is a honeycomb which is coated with rare metals. Oxygen ‘sticks’ to the coating. If a carbon monoxide molecule meets it, the oxygen converts the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide (which is harmless and is present in fresh air).

The Convenience of Flueless Fires

A flueless fire can be fitted in minutes rather than several hours. It is an extremely simple and problem free operation provided the GAS SAFE REGISTER registered fitter follows the installation instructions. If it is to go in an open chimney, then the flue must be blocked. Apart from that the fire just needs connecting and testing, and the air vent fitting. When fitting a flueless fire, it does not need to be sealed to the fireplace opening. Flueless fires do not have to be installed on an outside wall. As no flue is required, thousands of pounds can be saved by not building a new chimney or restoring a condemned one. Annual servicing for a flueless fire simply consists of cleaning the fire, checking the combustion, and checking for damaged components.

No problems with chimneys

Chimneys and flues are fraught with potential problems, all of which will stop a flued fire from operating safely.

1. The fabric of the chimney could collapse.
2. A nest or debris could block the flue.
3. Atmospheric conditions or open doors can create a down draught.
4. Extractor fans can create a draught to reverse the pull of a chimney, causing it to spill the products of combustion into the room (this makes flueless gas fires particularly popular and safe for use in pubs and restaurants).

Flueless fires suffer from none of these problems.