Ethanol Fireplaces

[pitzerwm]

Has anyone bought one of these? If so, how do you like it?

I'm looking at just a decoration, not to heat the room or anything.

Looks to me that it is just a "bucket" that you fill with ethanol and light it? Am I missing something?

 

[MEP001]

Unless you're wanting a real fire, there are those fake fireplaces that look somewhat real and use almost no electricity at all.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Hiya Bill - Havent see these fireplaces, but I do use a homemade soda can stove for cooking when I'm wilderness hunting, the fuel is any type of alcohol, I use ethanol. A couple tablespoons of ethanol is enough to boil tea, soup, chili, fry a fish...
Anyway I have 2 comments:
- ethanol does generate a lot of heat, so you will be adding heat to the room
- the flame is clear, almost invisible. I add salt to the ethanol so I can see it for safety purposes. So you'd either need to add something yourself or buy the ethanol with additives in it.

 

[pitzerwm]

Hi Paul, What makes these fireplaces look like real fire? I don't need the heat, only the looks.

http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Firep...l-Fireplaces?gclid=CJjf-vnPuqcCFQI8gwodv04qAQ

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

They do look nice, if I didnt have a woodburner I'd want one.
The color comes from different elements that are burning, so I assume the fuel they sell for these fireplaces has stuff added to it already - what I meant was dont get cheap and buy drygas, use the stuff they sell even though its probably more expensive.

When I was a kid we used to throw different stuff in the fire to get different colors. We called it science experiments, but we were really just playing with fire
Table salt was yellow, Epsom salts were white, something else was green and blue, I dont remember. We burned just about anything we could think of in the name of science. It was good to be a boy in the 60s before they made kids wear helmets all the time

 

[Randy]

Paul, It was even better in the 50's when we'd do the kind of things I can't mention anymore. I remember throwing things into the fire, the EPA would be on us today like stink on poop.

 

[pitzerwm]

Hell, when I was a kid I made gun powder once and damn blew my hand off. Threw a catsup bottle full of water into the burning barrel and when it blew up, missed my head by inches.

I was a genius.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Yeah, I've planted a hatchet into my knee and hit myself in the mouth with a hammer...twice. Those were the days.

 

[soapy]

I remember only being 5 years old when my brothers were watching me one night and they got all their friends together for a bon fire while the parents were gone. Someone threw a oil filter full of gas in the fire and it exploded. Several of the guys got started on fire and I can still remember people rolling in the dirt to get put out. I was spared but my brothers burns paled in comparison to my dads wrath.

 

[pitzerwm]

If you think about it, its a wonder that kids make it to 21. Hell, last year, I almost fell off a 20' ladder with a chain saw.

 

[rph9168]

You need to remember you are not a kid anymore. I few years ago I fell off a 20' ladder and broke my kneecap. Don't heal as fast as we used to either.

 

[Happycarz]

Do they still make cap guns for kids?

 

[Jimmy Buffett]

If you hit a roll of those caps with a hammer it makes a decent explosion. Don't you try it though Pat, you might hit yourself.

 

[rph9168]

Makes a great explosion. Make sure you do it outside. I did it in the basement. I think my ears are still ringing.

 

[MEP001]

I put a roll of caps in a vice and tightened it down - apparently it doesn't require an impact to set them all off at once.