Installing a Fire

I have always had wood or coal fires in the houses I have lived in. They work great. I dont know much about gas ones, but I would prefer wood as you can go get the fuel yourself and if there is an emergency you are not left stranded with no heating. Alot of the new fires are really clean burning, if you live in an area that has a clean air policy then you will only be able to put in certain models. Most of these you cannot turn down overnight as they dont allow the damper to full shut- most people remove this bit so they can shut it down! lol. Dont get just a heatpump either, they should be used with another form of heating as if the power goes off you are stuffed.

When we had our fire installed it wasn't overly expensive, $2-3000, this came with everything, flue, health, fire, permits, labour. Been worth it's weight in gold.

If you are getting a gas fire installed unless you have the gas line to where you want your fire you'll have to factor in that cost too.

Easiest idea is to go & get quotes first and then decide.

Hi Lou

Dh Uncle & his grandfather have put in Gas fires, the both love the heat but the cost run them is huge!

If you are going to have to buy your wood you'll need to factor about $500-$600 a year for that, then there is the mess of having to deal with it, the dust & storage of the wood..

I dont pay for wood, thankfully I get it through work, but this is our last year with our fire, we are going to put a heat pump in. The extra $40-$60 per month is going to be much cheaper for us once I'm off work than to arrange firewood (and yay for instant heat)

Just some thoughts to confuse you more! What part of the BOP are you? A girl at work got her Heat Pump through her rates, on a 10year interest free loan

Lou, we got a Jayline from 4 Seasons, not sure if you have that were your are. I just left all up to them to arrange.

We also got a fire which was capable of heating over the amount of floor space we have. ie 120sqm and the fire is for a house which is 140sqm. We have also put "holes" in the top of the walls in the lounge to vent through to other parts of the house (flat roofed house)

We have had a pellet burner installed last year - cheaper than gas ( we would have had to have a gas line ), looks like a proper fire but you don't have to mess around with kindling and firewood so much cleaner. It turns on and off at the wall. I think the whole lot was about $3-4K and pellets cost about $10 a bag which gives you 24 hours - so lasts us about a week.