Fireplace canopies look fantastic when they are designed correctly to complement the fireplace and the room. However, due to a lack of specialist suppliers, too often they look agricultural in manufacture, they don’t work or they just don’t match the fire place they are installed in. Creating the right canopy requires the designer to understand that first and foremost, a fire canopy is a piece of furniture. Everyone who visits the home will look at it so it is essential that it must look right. This is down to size, design, materials and craftsmanship.

A canopy will only work if it is sized correctly to the flue or chimney. This means the designer has to work within the constraints of the sizes that will match the chimney it is installed to. However, there is another way. By using a flue connector to a hidden flue which is then attached directly to a fire or stove, the size of the canopy can be liberated from its functional role and thus the task of creating a canopy that looks right can be made much easier.

A small number of premium convector open fires offer this design approach meaning customers get a fire that works and fireplace canopies can be created so that they really do look like they have been in a fireplace forever.

Stoves are designed to run at optimum performance in order to deliver their benefits. If they are run too low or with the door open, many will not perform well and can start causing issues with deposits in the flue or even spilling dangerous gases into the room. Ensuring the correct stove sizing is ascertained for your room will avoid this issue.

As an alternative to a stove, a convecting open fire can offer credible performance as it can actually offer up to 50% efficiency yet is much more forgiving in use than a stove. As there is no door and the air supply can circulate more freely it can be said that an open fire will tolerate greater variations in loading and thus output.