Inset Gas Fires - Do you really need one?

Advantages: A real fire with dancing flames
Disadvantages: Gradual smoke discolouration of walls

...We have an open fireplace in our living room and I love it. The cosy satisfaction of watching the flames on a winter's evening is very satisfying. However, during an internal move round of furniture, and especially wall fittings, we found the room to be in great need of a repaint job caused by the smoke from the fire over the years. We investigated gas inset fires for the fireplace. The prices we obtained were vastly differing for the same product from the numerous local outlets. The cheapest price was from B&Q so we purchased one. The next task was to find a registered gas fitter - not as easy as one thinks. Once again prices varied vastly - from £150 to £36 - but they all indicated a similar response when asked about the efficiency of the item. About ninety percent (YES 90%) of the heat generated goes up the chimney! After...

roger62 24.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Member Advice on Gas Fires

What to look for in a gas fire

Advantages: Warm, economical
Disadvantages: Need regular servicing

...! Radiant Fires. The flame should be blue, or almost clear, as you look at it at the bottom. Then they glow orange, which tends to worry people as they believe the orange flame is dangerous. The dangerous flame is yellowy-orange and floppy that is easily blown to one side. These sort of flames start to form soot on the radiants and they go discoloured and dark. When it goes like the burner is blocked and you get fumes. Any fire should be stripped right down and the burner washed - not just blown. It is no good just running a vacuum over it. If you can get a small rubber tube inside the burner and then attach it to your vacuum that is as good as a wash and increases the lifespan of the burner because you aren?t getting it full of water. Again, nobody checks gas pressure or gas rates - because they are difficult to alter as they don?t put governors...

Ray45 08.01.2001 (29.12.2000) · Read review
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Review of Member Advice on Gas Fires

British Gas

Advantages: gas seems fine
Disadvantages: telephone nightmare

...British Gas I felt I had to write this review after having to deal with this company for the first time and being pretty disappointed. Having moved into a new flat and coming from a flat where all the bills were included in the rent meaning never having to deal with all these companies and now having to set up all the new accounts for things such as electricity, gas and water I found this company particularly tiresome to deal with. We were meant to phone up on the day we moved in to the new flat and pass over all the readings on the meters and the correct information to set up new accounts and the such like. I had no problems at all when contacting the water supplier and the electricity supplier but when it came to the gas this was more of a problem that I could of dreamed. After phoning up the main line for British...

newby2 26.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of British Gas

Hot, black and sleek

Advantages: Looks good - feels great
Disadvantages: Fiddly ignition

...Finally after nearly a year, many trials and tribulations, I have a gas fire in my living room again. Am I happy with it? Oh yes! Instant warmth and no need to turn up the central heating if I am not moving around the house. I started looking for a new fire before my old one was removed and initially thought about a big surround and a coal effect fire, but then once my old fire was removed I loved the extra space I had so abandoned the idea. I then set about finding an inset fire and after much searching I found the Flavel Finesse which seemed to be just what I wanted. Description found on the internet: The most versatile hole-in-the-wall gas fire from Flavel. The Finesse will fit virtually any flue and is available in three different variations - a brass trim option to suit a classical setting and two chrome trim options...

baeswoman 15.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Flavel Finesse Gas Fire

Warm & Toasty in an instant

Advantages: Great efficiency, remote control
Disadvantages: Changing batteries is a bit fiddly

...After almost 20 years living in the same house and staring at the same 60s stone fireplace I decided it was time for it to go! Time also to modernise and create a little more space so I went in search of something that could be wall mounted which meant the hearth could go as well (and yes, that also meant I needed a new carpet!) I shopped around a little, called in a local company, had a look through their brochures and selected something I liked which turned out to be the Gazco Riva Gas Fire. Background ++++++++++++ In the village where I live there is no mains gas. Much as I like a coal fire I found it difficult, as I am working full time, to go through all the rigmarole with a coal fire in order to light it on days when I need extra top-up warmth. Some years ago I had a gas fire fitted which is powered by bottled gas. I...

laramax 16.02.2007 · Read review
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Review of Gazco Riva Gas Fire

A cosy, clean fire

Advantages: Realistic effect, clean, good backup for central heating
Disadvantages: slight hiss

...The valor 617 is a coal effect gas fire. That is to say it operates on natural gas but the gas heats several layers of synthetic coal like blocks to give the appearance of a coal fire. The effect might sound a bit tacky but actually its quite realistic and there is something about glowing coals that somehow feels warmer. The big advantage of course is no messy fire to light nor ashes to clean and it all lights at the touch of a button. The only slight gripe I have with this fire is the hiss of the gas but you soon learn to ignore it. Whilst I do not use this as the main source of heat in my living room it does add an extra boost for those long winter evenings, and provides a useful backup when the central heating breaks down....

BigCheese 09.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of Valor Fuel Effect Gas Fire

British gas

Advantages: NOTHING AT ALL
Disadvantages: everything!

...him that it had already been connected for quite a while and that I was expecting someone to come and do a health and safety check. ?O.K? he said ?I?ll do that now.? So he got in the meter cupboard and rattled the pipes a bit and adjusted some sort of valve thing. ?There? he said ?all done.? Surely that can?t be it, I thought, he hasn?t even looked at the fire or the boiler, but no, he insisted that it was done. Wednesday after I had a gas leak and had to call Transco. It was only small, but it was because a pipe in the fire was blocked and so the gas was forced to go somewhere else - into my kitchen. Fair enough the council had done a health and safety check as well, but perhaps it could have been prevented if the man from British Gas had done a proper safety check just a few days earlier. I did receive a letter from British Gas...

pink_champagne 06.10.2003 · Read review
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Review of British Gas

  British Gas make a complete hash.

Advantages: None that I can think of...oh..they have the word "British" in their name
Disadvantages: Customer Service (lack of), Prices, Attitude...oh everything really

...The name "British Gas" always had that comfortable ,solid feel to it. To me it always invoked a sense of something reliable, but probably expensive. Quality service that wouldn't let you down. A company you could trust. Ok, probably a bit pricey, but you knew they'd come up trumps for you. In a way, something akin to the AA (the so called "4th Emergency Service). Best engineers, best service, best of British.. and all that. Hey, I can already hear you sniggering ?. Now I admit I wasn't a customer of BG, as an adult, so my impressions of them were not first hand. These were just memories of living with the parents and what I envisaged when I heard the name. It just had that good wholesome feel to it. When you needed an emergency Gas engineer, you looked in the phone book for British Gas - not some local 'cowboy' Oh how...

eldergill 18.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of British Gas

Money burned by British Gas

Advantages: Large company, synergy, many products offered.
Disadvantages: Price hikes, deparments don't talk to each other

...UPDATE 28.11.08 When I wrote the review below, prices had gone up by 50% since January 2008, with British Gas agents profusely blaming rise in oil prices for rises in both Gas and Electricity. Fair point? By July oil was at a record $147 a barrel at its peak. Since then oil has collapsed to a 2 year low of $52 a barrel and still falling, I spoke to British Gas about this -- they say that gas is already in the system paid for at the old prices! On Radio 4's Today program, they continued along this line when pressed about price rising the moment oil goes up, but stubbornly high when oil comes down. Remember, not a penny has come off gas or electricity - yet when the first wave of oil price rises began in January 2008, gas prices went up by 15% and a further rise of 35% in August. It is now five months on, and British Gas...

makro74 31.07.2008 (28.11.2008) · Read review
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Review of British Gas

* It's a Gas Gas Gas Man . .

Advantages: A very good cooker.
Disadvantages: Not a lot.

...This model, of gas cooker, the 600 SIDODLa is a free standing, stove, with a double oven plus a grill, and also has an automatic programmer. This model is made to suit natural gas, and can also be converted to take LPG, simply by using different jets. You also get an LED for the programmer, which displays the current time as a bonus. I managed to "Scrounge" this cooker from the "Outlaws" second hand, and it has proved to be a little Beaut. It came with a small, but adequate instruction manual. This is just an ordinary cooker, but of course there are two ovens, the upper one is also the grill, and the lower one is the main oven. You can of course use them both together if you require. The ovens have two lights in each of them, and the doors are glass. The main oven is fitted with a fan. The width is 600 mm, average in other words...

smudgeybabes 21.01.2009 (28.02.2009) · Read review
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Review of Stoves 600SIDODLa* 600mm Gas Cookers