TRUST IN OUR KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & SERVICE
Specialists in open fires nationwide…
At Camelot we don’t do stoves. Just open fires. We understand the nuances of open fires and appreciate the frustrations many of the people we meet when all they are offered is problems or a stove. But that’s not what they want.
We’re here to help and have many tools at our disposal to do so. We offer a personal service nationwide. If you have an issue do please get in touch.
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
YOUR FIRE SMOKES
Why does my fire smoke?
The reasons why a fire may smoke are varied. Even the nature of the smoking can vary, and often gives clues to the causes. It’s worth noting that under certain conditions some chimneys may smoke, but otherwise they work just fine.
Many people live with these circumstances as part and parcel of having a real open fire, but you should always seek professional advice to address such issues.
Smoking that isn’t a significant problem
Only you can decide if the smoking you have is a problem. There may be a health and safety aspect, so always seek first hand specific advice if you are in doubt from organisations such as the Institute of Chimney Sweeps or National Association of Chimney Sweeps.
Essentially, what we are referring to here is the occasional case of minimal smoke into the room, perhaps only upon first lighting the fire under certain rare conditions. Cold flues or freak wind conditions outside can cause this to happen, but it may not be a reason to invest time and money in changing the fundamentals of your fire.
If the possibility of smoke is such that it puts you off lighting the fire you should certainly look at a solution if you want to use the fire.
The wrong physical criteria
There is an element of science behind a successful chimney. The wrong physical criteria in a fireplace or flue will mean it won’t work at all, or will suffer poor performance which could be dangerous.
Dimensions such as flue diameter, total flue height and fireplace opening area are key criteria for a successful fire. Voids (inconsistent spaces) anywhere up the length of the flue can create pockets of cold air or smoke traps where smoke can swirl and lose momentum.
Poor maintenance
Poor maintenance of your fire or chimney may cause it to smoke overtime. A build up of soot or tar through insufficient sweeping of the chimney will reduce the effective diameter of the flue at points, as well as increase the risk of chimney fires.
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
External factors causing a fire to smoke
Even in a situation where the physical criteria is right, external factors can cause a fire to smoke all the time, or regularly enough to be a problem. We mentioned poor air supply previously, but this can be a significant issue and sometimes people don’t realise where the air supply is if it isn’t an air brick. Many properties have other fires or extraction systems, or even informal flue systems such as a poorly fitting loft hatch, which can create competition for the supply of air in a home. If that competition is strong enough it will cause your fire to smoke.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO THE READER. All the information on this website is provided with the intention of increasing the readers ability to identify a poor performing fire and find ways to address any such issues. Professional advice from qualified people based on specific knowledge of your chimney or fire is the only way to safely identify issues and solutions. In no way does Camelot Real Fires or any of its employees intend you should use the information provided here or anywhere else on this site to make your own diagnosis and take action to address a perceived issue. The result of doing so could be a costly failure or even result in danger and harm to your loved ones or other users of the fire. We accept no liability for any claims arising from use of information from this site for such purposes.
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY
We had nearly given up hope of finding a suitable open fire for our antique French marble fireplace when I came across the Camelot website. Paul and his father were able to overcome all the problems and create a fire to fit our fire surround which none of the previous companies had offered to do.
Sue, Cambridgeshire
FIRE DOESN’T LOOK RIGHT
Fires can look bad for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it can be hard to put your finger on the reason, but you know what you feel in your stomach when you look at it. This can make choosing a new fire even more difficult if you haven’t much experience of homes with fires in. We’ve tried to summarise the most common circumstances we have seen where clients aren’t happy with the way their fire looks. If this helps, taking a look at our OPEN FIRES DESIGN section or our OPEN FIRES GALLERY of projects might enable you to see a new look for the fire at your property.
Fires can look bad for all sorts of reasons. This can make choosing a new fire even more difficult if you haven’t much experience of homes with fires in. We’ve tried to summarise the most common circumstances we have seen where clients aren’t happy with the way their fire looks. If this helps, taking a look at our OPEN FIRES DESIGN section or our OPEN FIRES GALLERY of projects might give you some ideas.
Why doesn’t it look right?
Knowing why a fire doesn’t look right is important because it gives you confidence to move in a new direction. This is a list of the most common we have seen.
- Out of character
- Wrong size for fireplace
- Too agricultural
- Too ‘mass produced’
- Wrong materials
- Wrong heat source
- Poor ‘renovation’
Out of character
When a fire is out of character it really jars with the eye. It doesn’t mean you can’t put a modern fire in an old property – some of the wood stoves look great. To some extent it depends a lot on the strength of the character in the fireplace.
Wrong size for fireplace
All fireplaces have a proportion. The height to width ratio. The depth. Is it very tall or quite small? These dimensions mean a fire which contradicts what your mind expects to see may look like its the wrong size. To be fair, it’s usually more that the fire is too small for the fireplace.
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
Too agricultural
We see a few cases of fires that look too agricultural. Sometimes it’s a case of craftsmanship applied in the wrong area (a canopy may look too solid because it may have been welded from heavy gauge steel). Sometimes its a case of function over form in the design of some fires; too much focus on how it works rather than what it looks like.
Too 'mass produced'
Some fireplaces look wise and old, others crisp and modern, some elegant and sophisticated. It’s a combination of the setting, the style and the materials in use in the fireplace. Certain materials complement these traits, others contradict them. Choosing the wrong materials for your fire can mean it looks out of place, or just like a black box rather than a piece of furniture.
Wrong materials
Some fireplaces look wise and old, others crisp and modern, some elegant and sophisticated. It’s a combination of the setting, the style and the materials in use in the fireplace. Certain materials complement these traits, others contradict them. Choosing the wrong materials for your fire can mean it looks out of place, or just like a black box rather than a piece of furniture.
Certain materials complement these traits, others contradict them. Choosing the wrong materials for your fire can mean it looks out of place, or just like a black box rather than a piece of furniture.
We had nearly given up hope of finding a suitable open fire for our antique French marble fireplace when I came across the Camelot website. Paul and his father were able to overcome all the problems and create a fire to fit our fire surround which none of the previous companies had offered to do.
Sue, Cambridgeshire
Wrong heat source
Camelot make wood burning convecting open fires. It’s what we do, but we recognise the strengths of other sources of heat such as coal, gas and electric for feature fires. Some of the gas effect fires today look amazing and can visually get close enough to the real thing for some.
Poor ‘renovation
Poor ‘renovation’, or building work, on a fireplace is often one of the things people buying a home are looking to put right and in the process re-create a beautiful centre piece to a room. It can range from bricking in, adding tiles, building-in to change the fire opening, wrong choice of bricks for an internal feature, the wrong choice of surround.
Find out why our Thermovent is so much more efficient here:
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
NOT ENOUGH HEAT
Rooms come in all shapes and sizes, as do central heating systems.
Some rooms are so large that to heat them via the main heating system to a comfortable temperature is a very expensive habit. If there is an open fire in the room some people see lighting it and sitting near to it as a way of providing a localised top up to the central system – unless the fire in place is not capable of delivering enough heat. This being the case, you have a variety of choices as far as burning wood is concerned.
1) Fit a wood burning stove (if heat is your main objective this may be your best route.)
2) Fit a fire such a convector fire that is more efficient that a normal open fire.
If the latter is of interest, take a look at our Thermovent open fires or Canopies & Fire Grates below for high efficiency heat output paired with an open fire…
Find out why our Thermovent is so much more efficient here: