Hi this is Sean Usher on this podcast we are talking to Pete Hillier a director from Eco Fires and Stoves about gas fires.
In this episode we are going to learn the benefits of having a gas fire, why they are an effective alternative to wood burning stoves, the different styles available and how innovation has made gas fires more economical and are now far easier to use.
Plus hopefully we will be talking about remote controls for your gas fire, cleaning and the convenience of actually having a gas fire.
First of all Pete tell me the main reason why someone should consider installing a gas fire?
Pete: Well gas fires are completely different to what they used to be a good 10 years ago, and everybody has got this idea in there head that they are pretty unrealistic and a piece of furniture
just sitting in your lounge half the time and it never gets used, and anything that was realistic was also very inefficient, things have changed drastically in the last few years, now every gas fire tends to be not only highly efficient but highly desirable because of the way they look and they have got very realistic fuel beds, so that's the attraction of gas fires, a lot of people will come in looking for say wood burners not realizing what's available on gas fires seeing them in the showroom feeling how they heat and end up buying one so they have to become far more desirable in this last say 5 years I would say.
Sean: And there are lots of different styles to suit different rooms I guess now?
Pete: There are there's an all host of different styles available, different sizes different outputs, different frame options, you can get fireplaces to go with them so yes there is a lot of choice out there.
Sean: In terms of the cost of running a gas fire how does it compare to wood or multi fuel fires?
Pete: Good question that because it depends if you pay for your wood or not, but if you were to pay for your wood from say a good local supplier or if you're buying Kiln dried in to run a high efficiency gas fire is probably a lot less than half the price in fuel, you have got to take things in to account like annual servicing that type of thing, but yes in general a good gas fire is a lot cheaper to run when it comes to the fuel
Sean: If you install a multi fuel stove often you have to have a certain amount of restructure of the chimney or a gas flue installed, is it the same with the gas fire?
Pete: Most of the time no, they are much more of a simple fit, some of the higher end higher efficiency fires do sometimes require what's called a copex gas and oil liner, which is similar to a wood burner liner for a chimney but not anywhere as near as expensive, it usually works out about 400 to 500 pounds to line a chimney for gas if its required, but that's all subject to survey with different conditions and that sort of thing
Sean: But they all need a flue I imagine?
Pete: They all need a flew of some description apart from one called a flueless gas fire which we won't even talk about because I don't believe in them, we will leave that one alone but you do get most fires are either conventional flue which is where you use your existing chimney or you can have one called a balanced flue, now what a balanced flew is if you don't have a chimney and the fire is being positioned on an outside wall you can put a flue straight through the wall and you wouldn't know the difference when you're looking from inside so two options there one if you've got a chimney and one if you don't have a chimney, which is obviously another advantage for a gas fire, you don't have to have a chimney there
Sean: This is all you say subject to survey and this is part of your service isn't it?
Pete: It is we survey every job we insist on it, it's not a chargeable thing but customers need to know one if they can have a gas fire two what type of gas fire they need so there is no point in the customer really looking to hard until they have had a survey done anyway
Sean: Now you supply the gas fires I know, do you supply the gas surrounds the fire places themselves?
Pete: Yes we do, we have a showroom which shows probably around 30 different displays but they are just a small percentage of what we can actually do because a lot of these fire places are made to measure so you can come in here and get a feel for the type of things we do, the stones we use and basically take it from there, you can build yourself a package so you can look at the gas fires that you want and if you see a stone fireplace that you like then you can mix and match the two together and we will design them so they fit perfectly together and so they look right, there is a lot to do that there is a lot of design goes into them.
Sean: Now I have heard of remotes for TVs but tell me about the remotes you can get for gas fires and what do they do
Pete: Well some gas fires can be quite awkward to use so they give different control options, the standard gas fires usually you have to bend down you have to pull out say what we call a ash cover which is a decretive part of the fire at the bottom and then you have to access the controls and light it and every time you want to adjust it you have to go down there and do the same thing, so a lot of fires now come with different options you get high level controls where you got the switch at the top of the fire, or you have remote control versions, these remote control versions are usually battery operated so they don't rely on the mains electricity, which is a good thing because if you get a power cut central heating goes off and you still want to be able to use your fire so they give you those options as well
Sean: How long does it take to deliver and install a gas fire Pete, I mean it depends on the time of year obviously I know your busy period is probably in the winter time but generally what would you say?
Pete: Pretty consistent I would say summer time or what we call out of season your talking anywhere between two and four weeks and top the heat of the season excuse the pun you are looking at probably four to six weeks, very rarely does it go over six weeks unless we have a supply issue because of demand
Sean: So for more information on gas fires wood burning or multi fuel stoves and fire places you can visit Pete's website its www.Ecofiresandstoves.co.uk or you can visit their showrooms in Church Crookam or of course you can call them on their number which is 01252 815100
Thanks a lot I'm Sean Usher bye for now
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