Cheap Chimeneas? It Ain’t Worth it!

Do we sell cheap chimeneas? Actually no, we don’t. While the chims we sell are great value, they don’t fall into the cheap end of things, the ‘don’t last for long’ side of life, the ‘it’ll do for now’ style of living. Everything we sell is very good quality. We like to please our customers first time, every time, and the only way to do that is to keep our standards as high as people expect. So what, exactly, does ‘quality’ mean in our context?

Buy quality clay chimineas – Cheap is a false economy

You can pick up a small clay chiminea for very little money at garden centres and superstores. But there’s a reason they’re low cost, and it’s all about quality. Cheap chimineas come with thinner clay walls that can crack more easily. Because of this you need to take a lot of care when lighting yours, especially the first time. You’ll need to ‘cure’ it very carefully indeed, lighting a tiny fire and heating it up really slowly, and you’ll need to add a layer of protection to the chim’s belly to help prevent thermal shock. It may last you a season, maybe several, but it’s unlikely to perform as well or last as long as a quality item.

Chimalin AFC clay – A brilliant invention

Plenty of our quality chimineas are made from a specially-developed clay that took eight years of hard work and experimentation to perfect. It’s called Chimalin AFC and it’s as tough as old boots, incredibly good at resisting the thermal shock cracks that can happen to any clay chiminea when it’s treated mean. This clay delivers an even longer life, heats beautifully, and looks great for even longer.

Thick, sturdy cast iron – So much better than thin and flimsy

Not all cast iron is the same. When thin, poor quality cast iron rusts it can eventually rust all the way through. It doesn’t have that lovely, super-heavy classy feel you get from quality metal. As you can see in a post we’ve written about one customer’s Toledo chiminea, the good stuff lasts for ages and looks stunning, even when you’re not the best at maintenance and leave it out in all weathers.