DIY fireplace - how to make your fireplace working?

January came and a lot of us look around their homes after Christmas frenzy and think: we need a change. So.... why not to make a fireplace where so far you only had an empty wall...? Or why not make use of your redundant fireplace or an empty hole in the wall where you've had this dubiously attractive candle-arrangement for far too many years ...?

You can of course go to a gas showroom, get your existing chimney fixed or open the flue. You can go to a DIY store and look through a range of electric fireplaces, maybe there will be one which doesn't look all that bad and will kick off a little bit of extra heat, too. But you can also do a better thing - get yourself a bio fireplace - a real-flame-fireplace running on biofuel.

There are many options, here we will only talk about one, but you can see many more designs of all-in-one fireplaces, electric fireplace alternatives or a small gel burners and gel bowls which will act as a good upgrade from candles and will still fit easily within your budget.  See all the rest of products and look for inspiration at www.gelfireplaces.com

Back to empty fireplace or empty wall solution. Come to think about it - it costs a fair bit to get a fireplace working. Let's do some comparisons:

• redundant chimney repair can cost you even £8000 (it depends on many factors but is never cheap)
• buying a gas fireplace - can cost between £600-£5000 + installation cost and gas you are using
• flueless gas fires can go for affordable prices of £400-£700 but the flame impression is gently speaking not the best... If you've ever dreamt of having a roaring, playful flame, you may drop the idea of having flueless gas fire before you get yourself into a depth of disappointment. Flueless fire will give you a flame like this:

• electric fireplace may cost as little as £199 or £300, but as a result you are getting something that looks like that:

which is not exactly the most appealing look; the "fake flames" can put a lot of people off. Quite rightly to be honest, because you can use the same money to get a bio fireplace and your friends won't stop appreciating it. It's guaranteed. Full stop.


We're talking about a fuel container here, which you can drop in the hole in the wall or your fake chimney breast built for that purpose. The actual cost of the unit you need is £245 (medium) or £295 (large). It's called Bio Container. Building your biofuel fireplace from scratch can close in a budget as low as £400-£600, all depends on who will do the work, what is there to be done and what materials you use.

Fuel box "Bio Container" - bioethanol burner by Gel Fireplaces Ltd

If you don't have a fireplace yet, but would like to get one built, there are companies who can do the work for you, a handyman could quite easily build the fire, too. If you want to do the work yourself, there are few things you need to know:

• Bio Container needs to be inserted in a completely fireproof and heatproof material like stone, slate, metal, brick, cement or Vermiculite Board. For the latter we highly recommend Vitcas store, specialists in providing refractory materials (we have consulted the laboratory data sheets for Bio Container with a specialist from Vitcas). Vermiculite Board can cost as little as £29.90 for a 510x610x25mm panel. Regular fireboard is not suitable for lining your opening.
• The top and back of your fireplace opening must be also made of a completely fireproof/heatproof material as all the heat produced from the flame (approx. 3kW or more) will be pushed there before going outside on to the room. Regular fireboard or MDF are not suitable!
• The sides of your opening must be fireproof too, but are less exposed to the heat so you could use a regular fireboard.
• There should be approx. 500-600 mm clearance for the flame (if you don't have that much, you could reduce it slightly, but you must make sure the entire hole is lined with stone, slate, brick etc.)
• No pebbles, logs or other accessories may be put across the flame. The nature of the product is that it needs to be clean in order to burn clean, so if you are looking to use i.e. ceramic driftwood pieces, you may arrange them around the flame opening and from a little distance it will make the right visual impression of a flame coming through the branches.
• Whatever material you use to cut a hole to drop the Bio Container in - you always need to leave about 2 mm extra space around for the air flow and metal expansion. This means that your container should be loose within the slot and it should sit (hang) on the steel rim around it, rather than sit on the floor of the cut slot. FAILING TO DO THAT MAY CAUSE YOUR LINING TO CRACK.
• A lot of people decide to use granite or other stone to line their fire with. When using natural stone, you have to use as thick layer of it as possible as the fire will produce a lot of heat and thin layers are prone to cracking.

testing the bio container in a hole in the wall, it works!

building and finishing the hole in the wall

final look: Bio Container inserted into a hole in the wall. Decorated with ceramic Stones. TV above is absolutely safe, providing you insulate the wall properly and use solid materials like stone, slate, brick or vermiculite board to build or line your hole.

When you build your own fire with our ethanol fuel box Bio Container you need to make sure that you are inserting it in a completely fireproof material. The slot cut in the base of your opening must not be made of MDF. 

Facts about our Bio Container:

• burning time: 3-4 hours per refill
• one refill takes: 1L (medium container) or 1.5L (large) of Bio Ethanol fuel
• effective running cost: £0.80-£1 per hour (based on buying fuel in bulk, Annual Pack for £110)
• heat output: 3KW or slightly above
• flame regulation: no
• flue needed: no
• fumes or smoke produced: none (if flame is not obstructed)
• smell: virtually any (it is a real flame, so you will smell it when you enter a room as nothing that burns can be completely odourless, but the scent is barely present and does not bother 99.9% of people)
• do I need any ventilation: no. You may want to open a window after having the fire on for couple of hours, but nothing more)
• can I use Bio Fuel bought elsewhere: yes, but you must make sure it is the right one, with ethanol content not greater than 96.6% and designed specially for fireplaces. Also - be very weary of buying your fuel in 5L containers as, although it is cheaper, the weight of it makes it hard to fill up precisely and you are much more likely to spill the fuel. Never light the container that has been overfilled.
• can I use jellified fuel with it: no, because you cannot wash it and gel leaves residue
• does the top of container discolour after time: slightly, it is a real flame, so the top of the container will eventually tarnish a bit, this is completely normal and cannot be prevented

Here are several pictures of our happy customers who designed and built their own fireplaces using just our simple Bio Container.

Picture courtesy of our customer Paul Rourke

Picture courtesy of our customer Julia Solovyev, featuring 2 x Large Bio Container

Picture courtesy of our happy customer Craig Gardner

www.gelfireplaces.com

Have you built your own fireplace and learned something that may be useful for other readers? Feel free to comment and share your experience.

Thinking about our container? Are you in the process of building you fire? Ask a question in the comment to this article and we will do our best to help.