When you’re choosing your new gas fire you’re going to be looking for cost-effective heating and stylish designs. It’s important to consider fuel efficiency with any new fire because the running costs are an ongoing consideration well beyond the initial cost of the unit. Here’s a quick overview of things to consider.
The least efficient gas fires are the ones that lose heat through the chimney. That means you’ve paid for the air to be heated, but you don’t actually get to experience that heat because it’s lost through the vent. An open front gas fire looks lovely, but in practice, a high percentage of the fuel you burn is wasted. Not great for fuel efficiency.
If you have a living flame gas fire that’s set forward of the chimney and housed behind a glass front, there’s radiant heat from the glass that makes it slightly more efficient, but you still lose a lot through the flue.
There’s a big advantage, efficiency-wise, in outset radiant gas fires, which are designed with ceramic plates. They’re not the most contemporary of looks, but even when you turn the fire off, the heat retained continues to warm the room. It’s more cost-effective, but still, you lose the benefit of fuel you’ve paid to burn.
More efficient are the gas fire models that have a glass front and are built into the wall. Not only do these look amazing, they also retain far more of the heat, and use convection to improve fuel efficiency. Definitely worth a look if you’re serious about getting the best value for money as well as an updated look for your home.
But when it comes to the best players inefficient gas fires, you really want to consider the models that have been designed not to use a chimney, or at least not to use it in a conventional way. Take for example the balanced flue gas fires. Instal this kind of gas fire on an external wall, and the harmful gases will be removed while ensuring most of the heat is retained. Radiant heat and warm convected air combine to give you an almost flawless level of fuel efficiency. And what’s more, you don’t have to have a chimney.
And the very most efficient models of gas fire? Definitely the flueless models, where no external flue is required. These flueless gas fires are designed around a catalytic converter that takes away any unhealthy fumes without losing heat. They’re great for safety too, with an inbuilt monitor that ensures you’re kept safe. All the heat produced from flueless gas fires is the heat that warms your home. The one thing to bear in mind is that your room needs to be big enough (e.g. 30 cubic metres) for this kind of model to work.
So if you’re interested in getting a gas fire with optimum fuel efficiency, go for the flueless gas fire. You'll have all the benefits of gas fires - clean, convenient and well-designed - with none of the drawbacks of heat loss.