If you are handy, you can make a functional one with a few metal cans, snips and pliers:
Portable.
Fire.
More functional, not so much style. Then again, I’d never want a gas or a wood fire to burn unvented indoors. @Grey_Devil has it exactly right. Can’t see it, can’t smell it, can’t taste it, but you’re still dosing yourself with something deadly.
Looks all clever and hip, that briefcase fireplace, until the carbon monoxide sets in. I imagine all those too clever by half hipsters in ancient Rome thinking they really were on to something, heating their wine in those big pewter vats over a big fire.
ETA:
This kettle looks like it’s steel but isn’t welded into one piece, making it harder to haul around during use.
Gota to say that the fireplace in my old rental London flat or my parents house in the UK kicked out a ton of heat into the room for a 1 ft to 1.5ft wide fireplace. Where as my 3ft wide fire place in Pittsburgh can barely draw and gives out no heat. Its all for show . . .
Today I Learned.
Crazy. Cool (no pun intended). But crazy.
It really does just look like a glorified metal glasses case. With charcoal.
Mind you, you mentioned you live in UK. I live in Australia in a moderately warm part. So this is something I would never encounter.
I have one of those. They’re amazing. First thing set up at camp every time for a cuppa.
They make an aluminum or stainless steel version, obviously get the steel. Lots of weird stuff comes with it, you only need the kettle and probably the base (for ideal airflow). Mines about 8 years old now, used it 40-50 times, still going strong no complaints.
Similar problems at my brother’s house when the electric grid was down some winters ago in Kansas City, Kansas. He eventually evacuated his fam to a place with heat. His fireplace was all for show, couldn’t heat even the room it was in.
I recommended he splurge and get one of these:
(works fine without the blower mod, but I just like this guy’s DIY attitude)
I already have a pellet stove, and frankly the onboard blower is both inadequate and a bit too loud on high. I’ve never thought about an outboard blower. I have a basement I could put the blower it, and I am good with tubing… If I DIY anything I’ll post about it!
ETA: I just uploaded the image above (hard-coded) to the bOING-controlled server(s) because I’m seeing “broken link” in my own browser. When in doubt, code it out…
ETA2: Image original size must be too big so I ensmalled it. Display looks ok now from here. Gosh that was involved.
Yeah I’ve been marveling at his stuff for years now. I just found the whole idea of briefcase fireplace was a delightful little amuse bouche. It’s as if the Frank Geary of ram-jet powered bicycles decided to design a Fabergé egg.
I attended a wedding about, uhm, 20 years ago in an old stone church in the Appalachian mountains that had a woodburning hypocaust retrofitted with a gas ring. It was very cozy! You could still heat it with wood if you wanted to, everything was still in place.
