Fireplace advice

[Benedict A55h0le not]

I would honestly say this is a very bad idea.

All open fireplaces are ones that will be very very poorly efficient. Pick one or the other.

Whats nice with closed combustion is you can pop a flatbottom potjie on it, not braai but heading in that direction

If you want this just get a open braai any wood burning in there is like a fireplace anyway, thats what we do sometimes under our lapa in winter.

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just burn wood here, terribly inefficient but it works

Thanks. Yes it is not as efficient if you don`t braai also. It just seems like wastage to have all those coals and not cook on it also. I am leaning towards a proper fireplace and not a braai.

 

[Snyper564]

Thanks. Yes it is not as efficient if you don`t braai also. It just seems like wastage to have all those coals and not cook on it also. I am leaning towards a proper fireplace and not a braai.

Also ensure its a closed combustion

 

[I.am.Sam]

What must I do if I want something that heats and I can braai on? Are there like any hybrid cooking/heating fireplaces available to buy?

so we been to a holiday place in arniston

its just one big hole in the wall ..can be used as a fireplace or braai ..

but the amount of wood you use is madness cos its big

 

[PPogba]

I am currently extremely happy with my Becker Antracite Heater, costs about R40per day to run.
On for 24hrs a day, 7days a week. No need for any other heaters in the house.

 

[ShaunSA]

so we been to a holiday place in arniston

its just one big hole in the wall ..can be used as a fireplace or braai ..

but the amount of wood you use is madness cos its big

Stop bluticing bastid

 

[Tabac]

I am currently extremely happy with my Becker Antracite Heater, costs about R40per day to run.
On for 24hrs a day, 7days a week. No need for any other heaters in the house.

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Bliksem. They still sell those ? Remember as a kid (In the 80's) we had one.

 

[TheBadMadMan]

Busy with the install. No idea how it works yet.

Reason for going the insert route, thats how the house was built, except previous owner put in a braai which just let the whole house smell like smoke..there was nothing that aligned the braai with the chimney, so smoke went up in the ceiling. Annoying.

Anyways, not sure what the pros/cons are. The unit I am installing still has a thermal fan. It actually has the ability to add vents(pipes) to 2 more rooms if I wanted to.

Id say, maybe the con is the price, they usually much more expensive and you have to get a builder to install it with the brickwork etc.

Mind sharing the model you went for? Also, did you have the suppliers do the installation (and brickwork?) or did you get your own installers/builders?

Would love to hear your feedback after a few days use. How's the fan noise. Does it function decently when there is no electricity. Was the electrical work needed to be done complicated or a simple wall plug? Etc.

Cheers

 

[Tinuva]

Mind sharing the model you went for? Also, did you have the suppliers do the installation (and brickwork?) or did you get your own installers/builders?

Would love to hear your feedback after a few days use. How's the fan noise. Does it function decently when there is no electricity. Was the electrical work needed to be done complicated or a simple wall plug? Etc.

Cheers

I used gcfires.co.za (supplier) on a recommendation from either here or zatech slack (can't remember).

Explained I need an insert etc, however they don't go out to houses. They said they can recommend builders who they have a working relationship with, so that is who I used. They sent out buildback where one of the teams specifically do fireplace installs of all kinds.

What was nice about this, I didn't have to deal with the delivery, the builders picked it up and then arrived with it on the day. There was a hickup, where the switch/control panel or something is missing, so they busy picking that up somewhere.

The model they recommended is the Galaxy-80 which is made by Ferlux. I was happy to go with it, because the room we putting it in to, is huge, like almost 100 square meter and walk out to other rooms without doors and loads of windows and sliding doors, so the oomph is needed.

I will admit, I hope the fans aint noisy.
No idea how it functions without electricity, but seeing as we have Solar, the power for the fan should be a non-issue.
The electrical work was simple so far, but its not complete. The unit has a wire with 5 wires in it. blu/green/brown for power and then 2 more grey/black which I think connect to the control panel / switch unit. From there I suspect they going to plug it in on a regular wall plug which, conveniently sits right next to where we have it installed.

As for how it works...I will only be able to give more feedback on that after some use. I am still looking at wet plaster around it right now.

 

[Neuk_]

I am currently extremely happy with my Becker Antracite Heater, costs about R40per day to run.
On for 24hrs a day, 7days a week. No need for any other heaters in the house.

View attachment 1334070

Those are awesome, my inlaws had one in their last house, ran it like you did 24/7 through the middle of winter.

 

[Spizz]

Busy with the install. No idea how it works yet.

Reason for going the insert route, thats how the house was built, except previous owner put in a braai which just let the whole house smell like smoke..there was nothing that aligned the braai with the chimney, so smoke went up in the ceiling. Annoying.

Anyways, not sure what the pros/cons are. The unit I am installing still has a thermal fan. It actually has the ability to add vents(pipes) to 2 more rooms if I wanted to.

Id say, maybe the con is the price, they usually much more expensive and you have to get a builder to install it with the brickwork etc.

I've got GC Fires coming to me next week for a new installation. They are replacing an old open fireplace with an insert unit and using a cover plate for the gap. Knowing nothing about nothing, I went with their recommendation and am putting in THIS ONE, but I am interested to know about the fans in your unit and why that was suggested?

GC are doing the removal and install btw.

 

[Tinuva]

I've got GC Fires coming to me next week for a new installation. They are replacing an old open fireplace with an insert unit and using a cover plate for the gap. Knowing nothing about nothing, I went with their recommendation and am putting in THIS ONE, but I am interested to know about the fans in your unit and why that was suggested?

GC are doing the removal and install btw.

I asked upfront for having the thermal fans, because of the large room I want the hot air to be circulated, instead of having super hot air next to the unit and the rest of the room not as hot. Think of it like an aircon unit. Aircons also use a fan to move the air around in the room.

 

[Spizz]

I asked upfront for having the thermal fans, because of the large room I want the hot air to be circulated, instead of having super hot air next to the unit and the rest of the room not as hot. Think of it like an aircon unit. Aircons also use a fan to move the air around in the room.

Nice. The room we are putting the fire place into is actually pretty small but the old unit they are taking out is huge, so we decided to fill the hole as much as possible with a bigger fire place and smaller cover plate and not the other way round if you know what I mean. Install a week tomorrow, hopefully yours is going smoothly.

 

[Tinuva]

Nice. The room we are putting the fire place into is actually pretty small but the old unit they are taking out is huge, so we decided to fill the hole as much as possible with a bigger fire place and smaller cover plate and not the other way round if you know what I mean. Install a week tomorrow, hopefully yours is going smoothly.

Well install is 95% complete. Now we need to wait for a new control panel from Spain. Will take minimum a week according to installer.

That said, they said we can wait 3 days before using it for the first time. For now we can use it without the fans, it just wont heat the room as affective as with the fans. Sounds like very few of these Galaxy 80 units get sold, the unit you have sounds like they install them quite frequent and it doesn't need power for the fan etc.



We opted to paint ourselves, will wait 2 weeks before doing that.

That cable hanging on the right is where the control panel needs to go.

Oh and I believe the alignment with the existing chimney for the position sadly.

 

[TheBadMadMan]

Well install is 95% complete. Now we need to wait for a new control panel from Spain. Will take minimum a week according to installer.

That said, they said we can wait 3 days before using it for the first time. For now we can use it without the fans, it just wont heat the room as affective as with the fans. Sounds like very few of these Galaxy 80 units get sold, the unit you have sounds like they install them quite frequent and it doesn't need power for the fan etc.

View attachment 1334196

We opted to paint ourselves, will wait 2 weeks before doing that.

That cable hanging on the right is where the control panel needs to go.

Oh and I believe the alignment with the existing chimney for the position sadly.

Looks decent. Didn't notice the alignment, but now that you mention it, it's standing out to me .

Do you have dry (seasoned) wood ready? Where did you purchase your wood from? I'm assuming you're in the CPT region.

PS. I read up on that unit of yours. The fans look like high wattage turbines, which would move a lot of air which I'd guess likely sounds similar to an aircon blowing. I very much look forward to your feedback when you've used it for a while.

Either way I'm sure you will enjoy it very much. I'm in two minds whether to go Insert (bigger and more expensive but higher KW) or freestanding (smaller due to clearances therefor lower KW) within the hearth.

Ball park figure on costs if you don't mind me asking?

 

[TedLasso]

I am currently extremely happy with my Becker Antracite Heater, costs about R40per day to run.
On for 24hrs a day, 7days a week. No need for any other heaters in the house.

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My dad has one in his house. Hardly used. And it's nearly 35 years old I think now.

 

[Saba'a]

I am currently extremely happy with my Becker Antracite Heater, costs about R40per day to run.
On for 24hrs a day, 7days a week. No need for any other heaters in the house.

View attachment 1334070

I have a similar one, univa anthracite.

How do keep it burning? I know of some Dutch who had one and they burnt it 24/7.

Mine tends to be deader than dead the next day, even if I load anthracite in the "hopper feeder".

 

[Tinuva]

Do you have dry (seasoned) wood ready? Where did you purchase your wood from? I'm assuming you're in the CPT region.

I bought some marked as "dry" red gum from https://thewoodgurus.co.za/. Only 100 pieces to see what they are like (knowing nothing about what wood is good). Anyways the pieces I have here looks to be seasoned, or dry. Like the inner colour is sortof faded? Will know for sure when I try to light the first ones to see how much or little they smoke.

PS. I read up on that unit of yours. The fans look like high wattage turbines, which would move a lot of air which I'd guess likely sounds similar to an aircon blowing. I very much look forward to your feedback when you've used it for a while.

Either way I'm sure you will enjoy it very much. I'm in two minds whether to go Insert (bigger and more expensive but higher KW) or freestanding (smaller due to clearances therefor lower KW) within the hearth.

Definitely hope so.

Ball park figure on costs if you don't mind me asking?

The unit cost was exactly what you see on that hydrofire website, so the same discount was passed on to me. However there were these other items added:


So thats what you then have to pay for to the supplier. They also added 45 degree bends which I want to send back and get some money back.

The builder cost then was a whole lot extra, about R16k mostly for labour and then some bits for cement and bricks and stuff they used in the process. The labour so far was 2 full days. They do take quite a few breaks on the 2nd day, between giving stuff dry time etc. Like there were layers of things happening. Bricks with cement on day 1. Then plaster on day 2 thats grey/darkgrey. Then they took a while, did some cleaning up on the floor etc, then that brown stuff which needs to crystalize but apparently is for texture on the wall and more cleanup and stuff.

So all in, this was a R55k mini project. I will admit, I was hoping for closer to R40k before I started. All this quoted upfront before I spent a cent between the builder and supplier. I definitely didn't do this to save money, I just dont see how this saves money over a gas heater or using aircons. Our aircons use eskom and not solar in winter. In summer there is enough excess to run on solar.

 

[abudabi]

Well install is 95% complete. Now we need to wait for a new control panel from Spain. Will take minimum a week according to installer.

That said, they said we can wait 3 days before using it for the first time. For now we can use it without the fans, it just wont heat the room as affective as with the fans. Sounds like very few of these Galaxy 80 units get sold, the unit you have sounds like they install them quite frequent and it doesn't need power for the fan etc.

View attachment 1334196

We opted to paint ourselves, will wait 2 weeks before doing that.

That cable hanging on the right is where the control panel needs to go.

Oh and I believe the alignment with the existing chimney for the position sadly.

Are you ducting the fans to other areas of the room? If not how do the fans get the air to circulate in the room... around the sides of the unit?

 

[Tinuva]

Are you ducting the fans to other areas of the room? If not how do the fans get the air to circulate in the room... around the sides of the unit?

Yeah I believe its around the sides. There are levers at the top, 3 in total that you can control the air exiting and the bottom is where cold air goes in. So not completely around the unit, mostly the top is where the fan let it out.

I didn't do the ducting, I was told its only useful for runs less than 8m and where I wanted it was over 10m.

I will definitely post feedback here after using it with and without fans for a few weeks.

 

[The_Mowgs]

Well install is 95% complete. Now we need to wait for a new control panel from Spain. Will take minimum a week according to installer.

That said, they said we can wait 3 days before using it for the first time. For now we can use it without the fans, it just wont heat the room as affective as with the fans. Sounds like very few of these Galaxy 80 units get sold, the unit you have sounds like they install them quite frequent and it doesn't need power for the fan etc.

View attachment 1334196

We opted to paint ourselves, will wait 2 weeks before doing that.

That cable hanging on the right is where the control panel needs to go.

Oh and I believe the alignment with the existing chimney for the position sadly.

I helped the old lady across the road from me last Friday to start the fire and they had the exact same model. It heats, it heats A LOT.

Also, dont open the vents at the bottom or the flow on the side without wearing gloves or some sort of satan cloth, my fingers are still shining.