Fireplace Mega Deals

Never under estimate the importance of your fireplace in bad weather. Bad weather in this country can mean long wet and windy spells when, without proper heating, everything in the home feels damp and cold or, worse still when thick snow covers the ground and icy blasts growl down the chimney. It is during these depressing periods that we really need to be prepared but never more so than when there is a power cut.

Winter means bad weather conditions in most parts of the United Kingdom and bad weather can equate to a power failure for many people so this is the time, more than any other, that you need to be prepared to use your fireplace or woodstove to keep your home warm until your power is restored.

So what do you need to do to be prepared? Simple – be prepared well in advance; long before the weather rages and you lose your power. You should always be ready for it to happen for you can never tell precisely when the power will go down or when you will get it back.

Stock up on whatever fuel you need in your fireplace or woodstove and bear in mind that if it is wood it should be split and stacked, allowing for good air circulation while keeping it dry and ready to use. Have a good pile of wood so that you don’t run out just when the roads are impassable and do make sure that the wood you intend to burn is properly aged. This will allow your fire to burn hotter and minimize the buildup of creosote while making it easier to start and maintain your fire.

In addition have a good supply of kindling to hand and make sure your fireplace or woodstove is in good working order long before the worst of the winter. If you are not certain all is well with your fire do call in a professional to have it inspected. You may have to use your alternative heat source non-stop for many days or longer and you can’t afford for things to go wrong in a critical period.

Have quality fireplace tools such as a shovel, bellows, poker, tongs and brush readily available as all of these will help ease the building and maintaining of fires and the cleaning of the fireplace after use. Don’t forget a proper fire guard is a critical item to prevent embers from flying out of the fireplace but still allow that necessary heat to flow into the room. You don’t want a house fire caused by flying sparks if you need to leave your fire unattended.

Make sure that if you are keeping warm with wood have a large well-stacked log holder or basket near the source of your heat so that you can keep plenty of extra logs by the fireplace. The less you open the door to go outside to get more wood the better; every time you open the door you are letting cold air into the house.

Get everything ready and in place before a possible power cut so that you can build the fire quickly – in fact it is a good idea to practice building your fire long before the power failure.

Make sure your damper is open, place kindling on top of crumbled paper on the fireplace grate or stove floor, stack several fire logs on top of this, making sure that everything is spaced about 1/2″ apart to allow for good air circulation.

Light the paper with a long match and your burning kindling should start the logs burning. If the flames are not very strong use your fireplace bellows to help the fire get going and then keep it going by adding wood from your log pile as needed. Keep the burning logs stacked properly by using your fireplace tools to reposition the logs as they burn down and shift and when you are not attending to the fire be sure to keep your fireguard in place.

If the dreaded power cut does happen be sure to close off rooms you don’t need to conserve the heat just for the rooms you do need. Build up the fire and keep it going. Next fill non-plastic containers with water and place on your fireplace hearth near the fire or even on top of a wood burning stove. This then becomes a great source of useful hot water for multiple uses while your power is out and your water pipes are running cold.

When the power does come back on you may want to continue using your fire while your heating system slowly begins to heat the whole house. Bear in mind that if you have only one thermostat and it is in the heated area then you will want to open the doors to the closed off rooms so the heater will kick in.

Once the need for your extra fireplace or stove heat has finished let your fireplace cool down completely, possibly over a couple of days, so that you can clean up all the ash and be ready for next time there is a power cut.

One word of warning – no matter how cold you are NEVER be tempted to bring petrol fueled generators, or any other heat generating devices that are designed for outdoor use, into your home. The undetected gases given off by some of these devices can be fatal. Instead simply rely on your trusty old friend – the fireplace!