Gel Fuel Fireplace - Create Your Own In 3 Easy Steps

Breath new life into a redundant hearth or blocked chimney by creating your own gel fire. A gel fire is an easy asset to add to your living room, providing both warmth and ambience as well as the luxury of an real-flame open fire.

You can create your own gel fire in 3 easy steps.

What you will need:

- Fireplace hearth
- Gel fuel tins
- Ceramic fibre logs, pebbles or coals
- Firebasket (optional)

Prepare the Hearth

A traditional fireplace hearth provides an ideal location to build your gel fire, as it will have been built to withstand the intense heat produced by a traditional coal or wood fire, so will easily host your new gel fire. You should ensure that its clean and that there are no combustible materials present (paper, wood, coal etc.). This is especially important if your chimney is blocked, as while the gel fuel does not produce any smoke or soot, it will create a real flame fire and if there are combustible materials present to catch fire then these will produce smoke, which is what we want to avoid.

Gel Fuel Tins

You will need to purchase some gel fuel tins. There are various brands on the market and the product inside is very similar as they are all ethanol based. They are all smoke free and generally odourless. All are safe to use indoors and do not require a chimney or flue. In North America the most popular brands of ethanol based fire gel are: Sunjel, Jensen Real Flame and Fireglo. The gel fuel is sold in 12 oz tins and is widely available in hardware stores and online. In the UK and Europe the leading brands are Farmlight and FireSource, which are sold in 250ml or 500ml tins. 1 litre refill bottles are also available, which provide a cheap solution for refilling and reusing your tins.

Ceramic Fibre Logs, Pebbles or Coals

You will also need to purchase fire-resistant ceramic fibre logs, pebbles or coals to add to your gel fire. It is essential that you do not use real logs or coals as these will catch fire and will produce smoke. Ceramic fibre is a specially manufactured material designed to withstand extreme heat and is fire resistant. Ceramic fibre is commonly used in living flame gas fires and is therefore ideal for our gel fireplace. You can purchase these online or from a gas or gel fireplace specialist.

Step 1

Place your gel tins in the hearth. We recommend 3 tins, but 1 or 2 would also work fine depending on the size of your fireplace. You can experiment with the actual positioning of the tins, but generally the best way to position them is to have 2 at the rear of the hearth and 1 near the front.

Step 2

Position your ceramic fibre logs, coals or pebbles around the tins. The goal is to hide the tins so that they are not visible when viewing the fireplace from the front. Be careful not to cover the openings of your tins. Your logs, pebbles or coals should always be placed around the tins and never over the top.

Step 3

Once you are happy with the overall look of your gel fire and satisfied that the tins are well hidden you should use a long match or lighter to light the gel fuel tins. It will take around 30 seconds for the gel to reach the optimum temperature and produce full size flames.

Stand back and admire your new real flame gel fireplace!

Firebasket (Optional)

A great optional accessory for your homemade gel fire is to add a specially designed gel firebasket to the hearth. These baskets are specially designed to look like a traditional firebasket, but contain a hidden chamber where the gel fuel tins can be easily hidden and logs, pebbles or coals placed on top.