Why there’s no Gr8 Fires Showroom

We don’t have a Gr8 Fires Showroom — here’s why…

Gr8 Fires Showroom

We’re often contacted by customers who are keen to find the Gr8 Fires showroom. There are a particularly strong contingent of customers in the Midlands who have seen our administrative address in Tamworth listed and want to pay a visit.

Unfortunately, there are no wood-burning stoves or electric fires stored at the Tamworth address. In fact, there is no Gr8 Fires showroom. Since the Gr8 Fires website launched in 2009, we’ve never had a showroom and have stayed true to our belief in an online-only heating appliance business. There are a few different reasons for that. Let’s explore those now…

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The Ultimate Black Friday Survival Tips

Black Friday is an exciting opportunity to pick up some cut-price bargains ahead of the festive season. But it can also be an overwhelming experience. With large numbers of retailers all promoting deals, sometimes it can be hard to see the wood from the trees.

We’ve put together these Black Friday survival tips to help you cut through the noise and get the products you need at the best possible price. Let’s look at some of the things you can do to survive Black Friday and get the bargains you want.

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Sheffield residents are top crackers of wood-burning stove glass

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People living in Sheffield are the most cavalier wood-burning stove owners in the country, according to one of the UK’s leading online retailers of stoves.

Figures from Gr8Fires.co.uk covering sales since January 2009 show that more replacement stove glass is sold to the Sheffield postcode area than any other part of the UK.

Gr8Fires.co.uk’s customer support manager Adam Fowler explained: “Stove owners have to replace the glass in their appliance when a crack or hole appears.

“One of the most common causes of glass breakage is over-firing, which is when too much fuel is added or too much oxygen allowed into the fire, causing the stove to operate at too high a temperature.

“Cracks can also be caused by adding too much wood, then closing the glass onto a protruding log.

“Burning the wrong sort of fuel on the appliance is another cause.

“For instance, household coal is too volatile for use in the confined space of a multi-fuel stove and can cause mini-explosions that will break the glass.”

Sheffielders appear to be more prone than citizens anywhere else in the country to breaking their stove glass and consequently needing to replace it, but Adam isn’t sure why.

He continued: “Obviously, the old stereotype is of Yorkshire people being tight with their money, so I suppose the idea of over-firing your stove to wring every last kilowatt of heat out of it tallies with that.

“But I’m sure that’s not the case here – it is probably just a bit of bad luck that Sheffield currently tops our charts for buying replacement glass.

“If the people of Sheffield take care with what they burn on their stoves and how they burn it, we will see them drop down the list and keep their stove glass in one piece for much longer from now on.”

The Top 10 Replacement Stove Glass Sales Locations

The top 10 stove glass sales locations
1. Sheffield
2. Newcastle-upon-Tyne
3. Birmingham
4. Cardiff
5. Glasgow
6. Peterborough
7. Nottingham
8. York
9. Swansea
10. Aberdeen

Peterborough is the UK’s wood-burning stove capital

Swansea, Cardiff and Norwich also feature in top 10 list

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Peterborough is the United Kingdom’s wood-burning stove capital, according to one of the country’s leading online retailers of stoves.

Gr8Fires.co.uk has declared the Cambridgeshire city the home of the recent resurgence in the popularity of wood burners, with Swansea, Cardiff, Norwich and Llandudno also featuring prominently in a list of the top 10 locations for stove sales.

Residents in the Peterborough postcode area have bought more stoves than any other part of the country, Gr8Fires.co.uk’s sales figures show.

Gr8Fires.co.uk’s customer support manager Adam Fowler said: “Over the past few years, there has been a huge increase in the popularity of wood-burning stoves and nowhere more so than in Peterborough.

“Since we launched in January 2009, we have sold almost 16,000 woodburners and more of those have gone to properties in the Peterborough area than any other part of the UK.”

Wood-burning stoves sales have grown considerably in recent years, with the opportunity to reduce energy bills and achieve carbon neutral home heating both cited as major reasons for the boom.

But a good old case of keeping up with the Joneses might also be playing a part

Adam continued: “Stoves have certainly become a very desirable item, so it is possible that there is a bit of a domino effect

“When one person buys a woodburner, it is very common for friends, family or neighbours to get one soon afterwards.

“It is possible this is helping to drive wood-burning stove sales in clusters in places like Peterborough, Swansea and Cardiff.”

The Top 10 Wood-Burning Stove Sales Locations

Wood burning stove sales locations

  1. Peterborough
  2. Swansea
  3. Cardiff
  4. Norwich
  5. Llandudno
  6. Tonbridge
  7. Newcastle upon Tyne
  8. Nottingham
  9. Sheffield
  10. York

Cutest photos of dogs and wood-burning stoves

Many of our customers love to share photos of their pets enjoying the warmth from a wood-burning stove with us via social media.

We’ve decided it was about time we collated all those lovely pictures of heat-hogging dogs together to form a bit of a gallery.

If you’d like your pooch (and wood-burner) to be included, please send us your photo on Facebook or Twitter.

Here are photos from our customers and social media friends:

From Donna Jordan. Lounging by the woodburner!
Donna Jordan

From Mark Rodgers. Warming by the stove.
Mark Rodgers

From Shirley Connell. Jak the Border Terrier warming up.
Border Terrier Jak Continue reading

Asthma sufferers, it’s time to buy a new wood-burning stove

Asthma sufferers have been advised to upgrade from old wood-burning stoves to new appliances to help relieve their symptoms.

Academic research conducted at the University of Melbourne, in Australia, found that using outdated stoves could increase the chances of asthma symptoms flaring up by 11 per cent.

The study looked at the effects of traffic pollution and wood smoke on middle-aged asthma sufferers. And the verdict was that people using old wood burning stoves increased the risk of aggravating existing asthma conditions. Continue reading

The £3,000 Hobbit House eco-home that’s heated by a wood-burning stove

The incredible building featured in the video above is based on the homes inhabited by Hobbits in The Shire of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Remarkably, it cost just £3,000 to build.

Even accounting for the current slump in the housing market, we reckon that represents great value for money for the property you get. That’s why lots of people are now exploring the possibility of building a home of their own to support a self-sufficient or more sustainable lifestyle. Continue reading

What are bellows?

Bellows are essentially an expandable bag, usually with handles or casing attached, which are used to give out a blast of air.

When a pair of bellows are closed, by holding the handles tight together, there is very little air in the bag. Once the handles are pulled apart, a valve opens, allowing the bellows to fill with air. Closing the bellows again forces that air out through a nozzle and gives out the blast of air.

The most common use for bellows is to supply oxygen to fires, although you might also choose to deploy them to cheat in a game of blow football or to help blow out the candles when you’re celebrating a particularly big birthday! Continue reading