Although the concept of generating heat via electric power has been around since the early 1900’s, Electric fires which mimic a “real flame” have been a regular feature in homes across the globe since the 1980’s. Electric fires provide many advantages over their gas fired or solid fuel counterparts; low maintenance, easy to install, portable and efficient, it is easy to see why it is still a popular choice for home owners till this day.
Heating via electric power can come many guises, we still have traditional methods such as oil heaters whereby an electric element heats the oil within a radiator style unit. These units are convenient and portable however they do not offer much in terms of style. The oil within the heater can also take some time to initially warm up and cool down when closing the unit off, so they are not very practical for instant heat at the flick of a switch that is offered by fan assisted electric heaters.
Fan assisted heaters simply work by passing the air generated by a spinning fan through a heating element which then produces the hot air. The heating element begins to glow rapidly giving you a fast and convenient source of heat at the flick of a button. This effective technology has been around since the 1950’s and most if not all modern electric fires on the market today still use this technology. From stand alone fan only units which are again practical but offer no style to units which look like real fires and stoves, the heating element is still fundamentally the same.
So, if the heating element hasn’t evolved much over the years where has all the development in electric fires gone? The answer is in the flame effect…
Most electric fires will generally operate on two main settings, flame effect only or flame effect + heat. Research has shown that most users will tend to use the flame effect only “most of the time” with the heating turned on to supplement the primary heating source for the home. Taking centre stage of the living area, the psychological effective of seeing a real fire flame coupled with the low cost of running the unit on the flame only option makes this the most popular operation so development has been primarily focused on this area of the electric fire.
We were first introduced to a “real” flame effect in the early 1980’s with the use of a spinner. A spinner is basically a small circular piece of tin which has sections cut through, it balances on a small pin which helps it to spin once the heat generated from the bulb beneath begins to warm up.
Illustration of a metal spinner and the resulting flame effect.
The bulb may be coloured or have a coloured film (orange, red or green) inserted in between. The flickering flame effect is produced when the coloured light passes through the rotating spinner and fuel bed and reflects on to the black surface above. This was ground breaking for its time and many retailers struggled to keep up with early demand.
Fast forward ten years and the next generation of electric fires saw the introduction of the ribbon effect. Although spinners are now completely phased out, many manufacturers still use the ribbon method in various ways for their fires. Again the light from a bulb is pushed up through a fuel bed of coals, logs or pebbles and toward a set of fire coloured ribbons which are shaped and arranged in a flame like structure behind a dark transparent Perspex screen. The ribbons then move behind the screen in a flame like way and different methods to make the ribbons “dance” have been used to great effect.
With most electric fires offering no more than 2kw of what is essentially hot air, it cannot really be considered as an effective source of primary heating. With the rise in popularity of the natural gas fire and developments in modern flueless gas fire technology the electric fire industry has carved out its niche in offering the unique selling point of having a flame effect without the heat. Central heating systems are now common place in most homes so the fireplace is no longer required as a source of heat but firmly remains the centre piece of the home.
Demand for electric fires had levelled out during the 2000’s as they struggled to keep up with their very realistic looking gas fired counter parts. However one of these manufacturers Dimplex has developed and released their patented technology called Optimyst. This technology moves away from the traditional two dimensional flame effective offered by the spinner and ribbon technology, a new method of sending rays of light through steam generated from water (yes you may be thinking water and electric is not a good idea) has taken the industry by storm.
Dimplex has a long history in the electric fires market with an impressive portfolio of innovative products which have placed it as a market leader in both sales and product development.
The Optimyst technology works by heating filtered water in a small tank hidden under the fuel bed which then produce flame like steam, fire coloured light from LED’s is then beamed through this steam and the results are a very realistic impression of a three dimensional naked flame.
The steam also produces what looks like smoke emanating from burning embers with some fires even offering a sound option where you can choose to hear things like a roaring flame to a gentle crackling of burning logs . We have seen this technology effectively used in inset fires, stoves, baskets and modern wall hung units across the Dimplex product range as well as being offered to selected partners for their proprietary units.
A more detailed description can be found in an earlier blog post here: https://www.superiorfireplaces.co.uk/opti-mist-cold-smoke/
This advancement in technology has certainly breathed new life in to the electric fire market and demand has again began to rise for electric fires with almost every retail showroom having this on display in some form or another. Demand has also surged from industry as well as home owners with many designers choosing to use these units in public spaces within hotels and restaurants because they offer a safe alternative to a naked gas flame without compromise on style and appearance.
We have a wide range of electric fires on display including Dimplex Optimyst and Dimplex Optiflame (Dimplex ribbon technology) in various traditional and modern fireplace settings for you to choose from. Our expert team of fireplace specialist take a consultative approach and are at hand to offer you the best advice with choosing the right product, installation and maintenance.