Old Fireplaces, New Flames: How Our Customers Did It

Every week we hear from people with a fireplace they love but no longer light. A cast-iron Victorian surround, a small Edwardian fireplace in a bedroom, a wood burner that has turned into a piece of furniture. Here are some of the homes where our customers gave those fireplaces real flames again with bioethanol, what they chose, and what they learned along the way.

A Victorian or an Edwardian fireplace that kept its fire basket

“I have a Victorian fireplace and fire basket, will I be able to use this bioethanol insert in it?”

It is one of the questions we get most often from customers, and the answer is yes. The customer kept the original cast-iron fire basket and placed a slim ScandiFlames manual burner inside it, where the coals used to sit. A handful of decorative logs around the burner hides the steel burner, so from the sofa it simply looks like a fire burning in the basket.

The idea that makes this work: the burner stands inside the basket when there is room for it, and the original fireplace stays exactly as it was.

Burners that usually work in a Victorian fire basket

Photo	Product	W × D × H (cm)	Good to know
	ScandiFlames Deluxe Bio Burner 1.0 L	28.5 × 10.5 × 6.5	Our pick Our first choice for Victorian and Edwardian fireplaces. Only 10.5 cm deep, so it fits even a shallow basket.
	ScandiFlames 1 Litre Deluxe Burner 24 cm	24 × 15.5 × 6	Compact and low
	ScandiFlames 1.3 Litre Premium Burner 24 cm	24 × 15.5 × 7	Same footprint, slightly taller
	ScandiFlames 1.5 Litre Premium Burner	26 × 15.5 × 7.4	For a slightly wider basket

Our customer Georgina Raine did the same with her Victorian fireplace. She placed a bioethanol burner in the fireplace, filled it and lit it, and filmed the whole thing.

A wider open hearth

Not every old fireplace is small. In a wider brick or stone opening, a freestanding ScandiFlames fire grate fills the space and comes with its own logs, so it looks like a laid fire the moment it is in place.

Fire grates and inserts that usually work on an open hearth

Photo	Product	W × D × H (cm)	Good to know
	ScandiFlames Fire Grate M (40 cm)	44 × 35 × 13.9	Comes with logs
	ScandiFlames Fire Grate L (60 cm)	61 × 35 × 20	Comes with ceramic logs
	ScandiFlames Kingston fire grate	46 × 32 × 29	Freestanding grate
	Bioethanol Fireplace Insert Package 50 cm	50 × 20 × 10	Package with logs, glow fibres and 12 L bioethanol

The log burner that became a frame for the flames

Many of our customers keep their old wood burner because they like how it looks, even if they are done with carrying wood and cleaning the glass. This customer placed a burner inside the stove and dressed it with ceramic logs.

Bioethanol needs oxygen, so the door question came up straight away. With the chimney open, the door on the log burner can be closed. If the chimney has been blocked, the door comes off or stays open while the flame burns.

Burners that usually fit through a stove door

Photo	Product	W × D × H (cm)	Good to know
	ScandiFlames Bioethanol Fireplace Insert 30.5 cm	30.5 × 20 × 10.3	For smaller stoves
	ScandiFlames Bioethanol Burner Insert 37 cm	37 × 19.5 × 10	For medium stoves
	ScandiFlames 1.5 Litre Premium Burner	26 × 15.5 × 7.4	Low, fits a narrow door
	Bio Ethanol Fire Basket with Curved Steel Front	44.5 × 20 × 15	Curved steel front hides the burner

A chimney that is no longer in use

“I have a chimney I don’t use. Is it possible to make a flue so particles are led out through it?”

The customer’s thought was natural: there is a chimney, so why not use it? A bioethanol burner does not need a chimney or a flue, which is exactly why it works in fireplaces where the chimney is closed off or no longer used. The fireplace simply becomes the setting for the flame.

Burners that usually work in a larger fireplace with an unused chimney

Photo	Product	W × D × H (cm)	Good to know
	ScandiFlames Superior 2.5 L Burner Insert 45 cm	45 × 16 × 8	2.5 L, black
	ScandiFlames Superior 3.5 L Burner Insert 60 cm	60 × 16 × 8	3.5 L, black
	ScandiFlames Fire Grate XL (80 cm)	76 × 35 × 13.9	Comes with logs
	ScandiFlames Superior 4 L Burner Insert 80 cm	80 × 16 × 8	4 L, black, for the widest openings

Putting the flame out

One customer wrote that the flames kept finding their way along the sides even though the plate was closed. This happens when the burner has been overfilled or fuel has been spilled: the excess bioethanol sits on the burner’s top surface or around the opening, outside the area the lid covers, so it keeps burning after the lid is closed.

To avoid it, fill only to the marked maximum level and wipe up any spilled fuel before you light the burner. Every burner comes with a tool for the lid: slide the lid all the way over the opening in one movement, and the flame is smothered. Make sure no decoration is in the way so the lid can close fully. The extinguishing guide shows it in a short video.

What our customers would tell you

• Small period fireplace? Choose a manual burner rather than a fire grate, and dress it with decoration.
• Keep 100 cm free above the burner to anything that is not fireproof, such as a wooden mantel shelf. The fireplace itself is already fireproof.
• Check the fit before the first fill. A burner that has had bioethanol in it cannot be returned. See our return policy.

Ready to do the same at home? Our step-by-step conversion guide takes you through it, and room size and burner size helps you choose.