Does anybody know the rules on having coal or wood fires rather than coke fires in Sheffield. I have nothing to do today and as it is so cold I facncy having a proper coal fire. Coke fires give off heat but I want flames which you only tend to get with coal

Sheffield is classed as a smokeless zone so you can only burn coke, which is a smokeless fuel in your fireplace. Not coal or wood. Or you will fall foul of the law and get fined when someone notices the smoke coming out of your chimney.

In decades past, sheffield used to suffer from horrific smogs, and all older stone buildings are black coloured, unless they have been blasted clean.
This all changed with the clean air act.

It's supposed to be a smoke free zone here, but if you're not getting anybody's washing sooty, the chances of anything nasty happening are zilch ;)

Hmmmm, wood fires...... Ahhhh.

(I've been in Scotland recently :D )

I am fairly certain that it is also an offence for the coal merchant to sell coal in a smokeless zone.
I agree that nothing looks better than the flames from a coal fire on a cold winters day although you can stick the going outside to get another bucket of coal business :(

Originally posted by owdlad
I am fairly certain that it is also an offence for the coal merchant to sell coal in a smokeless zone.
I agree that nothing looks better than the flames from a coal fire on a cold winters day although you can stick the going outside to get another bucket of coal business :(

I used to have one of those 'living flame' gas fires. All the flame effect, none of the going outside. The perfect combination!

Originally posted by owdlad
I am fairly certain that it is also an offence for the coal merchant to sell coal in a smokeless zone.


Last time we called in Law Bros at Hillsborough to fill up they had 22kg bags of ordinary housecoal on sale, - though it's probably illegal for a coal merchant to deliver housecoal directly to a consumer in the zone.

We have an open fire and solid fuel [anthracite] central heating...had to fill the scuttles in a blizzard this morning :D

We use ordinary housecoal as we live outside the smokeless area, and it's marvelous when it's roaring up the chimney. Only trouble is, you can't turn it down when it gets too hot.


Greybeard, if you're at Bradfield, you can use real coal and have it delivered. Try Wesley Nichols at the old Wadsley Bridge station on Penistone Road North.

You can also buy logs and packs of kindling from petrol stations.

So if you are in a smokeless zone, how are you supposed to start your smokeless fuel fire in the first place? I usually use junk mail, freebie newspapers, cardboard food packaging and old bits of wood to get it going. Is this forbidden? Must I use firelighters instead?

Anyway, the council can hardly moan too much given that huge city-centre waste incinerator they've got. A few bits of offcut wood among the few remaining solid fuel fires of Sheff can't make that much difference these days.

Originally posted by RoyalRegular
Only trouble is, you can't turn it down when it gets too hot. Doesn't yours have an adjustable vent at the front to adjust the air intake over the coals. That prevents it burning so fiercely :thumbsup:

Nope, 'fraid not. It's a case of moving as far away from it as you can so you finish up with everyone sat around the outside of the room. It's always worst when my mum comes up......I think she must've been a stoker on the Flying Scotsman!

Originally posted by RoyalRegular

Greybeard, if you're at Bradfield, you can use real coal and have it delivered. Try Wesley Nichols at the old Wadsley Bridge station on Penistone Road North.

Thanks....we get our coalite etc. from Maws in Ecclesfield, I would think they stock coal as well. Is there a map somewhere of the smokeless zone - I'd just like to be on cerain ground ;)

One of the great joys in life (well, maybe an exaggeration...) is going out in the snow to refill the scuttle with coal....
Time to do it soon - down to a bit of coal dust and small bits.

Originally posted by Bilge
So if you are in a smokeless zone, how are you supposed to start your smokeless fuel fire in the first place?
You are supposed to use a gas burner sometimes called a gas poker, which heats up the coke until it is red and keeps going on it's own. We had one of these when I was a boy, and you needed the burner for about 10 minutes, and that was enough.

It really was hell in the middle of winter filling up the scuttle from the coal house outside brrrrr.
And the house was extreemely dusty on top of the cupboards etc. with all the dust from the coal.

And sometimes in the middle of the night, the back boiler would really start gurgling and boiling, it would keep me awake and I had to go and turn down the old Parkray66 and run all the hot water off, then I'd go back to bed and wait 10 minutes for the head tank to stop hissing when it was full again.

Dosen't a hot fire in one room make the rest of the rooms cold ? our's did with the central heating system, someone once said i should put a cold damp cloth over the thermostat to keep up with the heat in other rooms, never did try it, anyhow have no fireplace now, if i did i would go with the gas fire, gives you the flame but not much heat.

Originally posted by poppins
Dosen't a hot fire in one room make the rest of the rooms cold ? our's did with the central heating system, someone once said i should put a cold damp cloth over the thermostat to keep up with the heat in other rooms, never did try it, anyhow have no fireplace now, if i did i would go with the gas fire, gives you the flame but not much heat.

A room thermostat for a central heating system shouldn't be in a room with another heat source (e.g. fire) and it should be out of direct sunlight and not above a radiator, it should also be around 1500mm off the floor. If it is in a room with another heat source as in your case then it will shut off prematurely and the rest of the house will be cooler as you found. Chucking a damp cloth over it would work but it's not advisable chucking water on something connected to an electrical circuit :) That's why room thermostats are usually sited in a hall or such.

As Sheffield is in a smokeless zone how do bonfires fit into this or is it for inside fires only?

Originally posted by dudu
As Sheffield is in a smokeless zone how do bonfires fit into this or is it for inside fires only?
No. Bonfires are covered too. Only light one after (i think) 7pm. That gives your neighbour a chance to get their washing in :thumbsup:

If you light one before, the firebrigade can come and put it out :D

And I think you're supposed to notify them of 'controlled burning' before you light it - just in case aomebody sees the smoke and reports your house as on fire!

right then, so we're all a bunch of crims in November then!

Originally posted by fnkysknky
A room thermostat for a central heating system shouldn't be in a room with another heat source (e.g. fire) and it should be out of direct sunlight and not above a radiator, it should also be around 1500mm off the floor. If it is in a room with another heat source as in your case then it will shut off prematurely and the rest of the house will be cooler as you found. Chucking a damp cloth over it would work but it's not advisable chucking water on something connected to an electrical circuit :) That's why room thermostats are usually sited in a hall or such.
Our thermostat was on a redundant chimneybreast in the middle room. The whole house would get chilly of a night. :confused:

It took us some time to realise that our neighbour had a real fire going just behind our thermostat!! :rolleyes: A quick tweak by about four degrees at 5pm was all that was needed :thumbsup: (and down again at 10!)

Originally posted by alchresearch
You can also buy logs and packs of kindling from petrol stations.
True Alch, but at a Premium Price! :shocked:

I lived for a time in a farm house with an open fire and never had a problem with bringing coal in to keep it going during the evening, I merely had the biggest coal scuttle of all time and then had a swing bin in the kitchen with a reserve supply.
The only thing that I wasn't keen on was when I was burning cheap coal it used to explode a bit and so red hot lumps would leap out of the fire place onto my tatty hearth rug. My dog back then a black german shepherd was fascinated by the fire and would through the course of the evening creep closer and closer, then a piece of coal would bang and he'd leap back to the furthest corner of the room before spending half an hour creeping closer again. Fire guards..... wonderful invention

We're thinking of getting an open fire... so is there anything very important that we'd need to know about burning coke instead of coal? Does it not throw off as much heat or flame? And is it hideously expensive or smelly or anything?

Also, where's good to buy a fireplace? We've had a look in a couple of those places off Broadfield Road but wondered if anyone had any other recommendations. It's the cast iron style with the single columns of floral tiles either side that we're after.

lazyfish

The Solid Fuels Association (http://www.solidfuel.co.uk/frame/main.html) web site has a few downloadable guides you might find useful. Use the 'Literature' link in the left hand frame.

Coke isn't the only smokeless fuel, - there are several other types.

Originally posted by lazyfish
Also, where's good to buy a fireplace? We've had a look in a couple of those places off Broadfield Road but wondered if anyone had any other recommendations. It's the cast iron style with the single columns of floral tiles either side that we're after.
Try Heart of the Home at 91 Chesterfield Road. The two blokes that run it look a bit scarey but they are very nice and friendly.

Blimey! Takes me back a few years to when the old smoky city had a coal fire in almost every house (some of us couldn't afford coal so we nipped to the neighbours for a warm).

But when we did have coal - it was great, getting up in the morning and screwing up bits of newspaper, stuffing it in the coals and trying to get it to light long enough to do something to the coal. Then it was a wash in freezing water - cos we had them weird back boilers in those days.

Back to the fire where me and my kin would huddle, toasting bread (or in my case covering it in soot).

By eck - them were the good old days when you called a spud a spud and no mistaking.

Er!!! I think I've lost the plot.

Dragon

Can anybody remember when Sheffield became a "smokeless zone"?