Your Guide to Fire Fuels

Fires and stoves are a great way to heat your home and save money on your energy bills. However, you may be wondering which fuel you should be using on your fire.

At Real Flame, we’re leading providers of fires and wood burning stoves in London, and we can help you to get the best possible results. Here’s your guide to fire fuels.

House Coal

House coal is the most traditional choice of fuel for open fires. House coal can vary in size, and larger coal pieces are often more expensive.

Unlike many fire fuel products, house coal isn’t manufactured. In fact, it’s formed over a 300 million year process known as coalification, which is then mined in Britain and around the world. This means that the composition of coal varies depending on the region from where it was sourced.

If you choose to fuel your fire with house coal, you want to ensure that you’re using a high-quality brand. Low-quality coal produces high amounts of ash and waste, and doesn’t efficiently provide you with as much energy as it should.

Using high-quality house coal to fuel your fire has some advantages over other fuels that can be used to heat your home, such as:

• Low ash
• High amounts of heat energy
• Lower cost

However, there are also some disadvantages of burning coal to heat your home, and these disadvantages include:

• Unrenewable energy source
• Produces smoke (cannot be used in smoke control areas)
• Performance of coal varies depending on source

Wood

Wood is now a widely used fuel for providing heat, with more and more people investing in wood burning stoves each year. Wood and logs can be easily burnt on open fires as well as stoves, although it’s vital that you select the right wood to get the most out of it.

If you’re burning wood, you must ensure that it’s seasoned. This means that the wood has been thoroughly dried out over an extended period of time, as well as free from any paint or varnish, as this can produce potentially harmful gases when burning.

There are many advantages that burning seasoned wood can have, and some of these advantages include:

• Carbon neutral, renewable energy source
• Long-term savings
• Easily controlled heat

However, like house coal, there are some disadvantages to burning wood, including:

• Produces smoke (cannot be used in smoke control areas)
• Heat output is not as high as other fuels

Smokeless Fuels

Smokeless fuels are a popular alternative for burning heat energy, particularly for those who live in smoke control areas, and can be used on open and closed fires.

Smokeless fuels can be both naturally sourced and manufactured. Naturally sourced smokeless fuels are also referred to as anthracites, and these are typically sourced in Wales and Scotland or imported from China, Vietnam and South Africa. Manufactured smokeless fuels are often branded, and are usually coke-based fuels. Both naturally sourced and manufactured fuels are widely available.

There are certain advantages to burning smokeless fuels, such as:

• Produces no smoke (can be used in smoke control areas)
• Contains less volatile materials
• More efficient fire and heat

As there are with wood and coal, there are a few disadvantages to burning smokeless fuels, i which include:

• Difficult to light
• Quality can vary greatly

When it comes to choosing the right fuel for your home, there are a lot of things to consider. We hope you found this guide helpful, and if you’re interested in installing a fire or wood burning stove in your home, Real Flame can help you on your way to efficient home heating. For more information, contact us today by calling 020 7731 5025.