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[LostxInxThought]

So, after a long break from DF I've started a new fortress, and had an idea for my dining hall - A fireplace, I'm not sure of the feasibility of this, though, my plan at the moment is to have a magma pump-stack bring the magma to the dining hall level, then use a flood-gate system to drip a little magma (ideally just 1-2depth, to avoid flooding the fireplace in magma) into the fireplace and light whatever is inside it on fire, to add fuel, I'll put a pit/dump zone a few Z-levels above the fireplace to drop fuel in from a safe distance, to keep the fire from burning the dining hall and nearby dwarves, I'll have the fuel 1/magma mix 1 Z-level below the hall, then on the level of the hall some glass or gem windows (also keeping the smoke from spreading into the dining hall to avoid unhappiness and collapsed lungs, etc.) and will bring the smoke up to the surface (or to a cavern, depending on what level I put the fireplace)

my biggest concerns, at the moment, are:
What is a good fuel source? I don't know how long materials burn, so, about how long can I expect a fire to last in a contained manner this way, and ~how much should I expect to dump into the fire to keep it burning indefinitely?
Will I need a full-time team to keep it burning?

[Di]

one bar of coal for quite a long time, one bar of coal in a box for even longer (Long means several months)
However I don't think all the smoke will leave through chimney, probably you'd better put glass between fireplace and rest of dinning hall

[LostxInxThought]

wow, the fires can last months?
I've experienced a few fires, but, mostly they've gone out-of-control and burned up a good chunk of my fortress, so I never timed how long it took for a single piece of coal/coke/whatever to burn, too busy trying to put the fire out and save what dwarves I can.
and yeah, I plan to have windows of some sort between the fireplace and dining hall, so the dwarves enjoying the fire won't inhale the smoke - which I don't think can travel through windows.

Thanks for the help, I can make plenty of coal on this map.

[CapnUrist]

Lignite will burn indefinitely; without water, it will never extinguish.

[martinuzz]

I think it's a solid dwarven idea. Use coal, or lignite in a bin (do make that out of magma-proof material)
Post a screenie when done please

[LostxInxThought]

Lignite will burn indefinitely; without water, it will never extinguish.

good to know, I have more lignite than any other fuel source so far (save, of course, the magma itself) so I'm certain I can spare a few pieces for a relaxing fireplace (possible multi-purposed into prisoner-removal if I get it working as planned)

[Z1000000m]

You can also use graphite for bonus points.

[Mystery]

This is the best plan anyone has had, ever.
You win money if you can use a retractable bridge with a lever to make smoke signals.

[darkrider2]

I dropped coal into magma to get rid of it (I had a surplus of coal if you can believe that), and it burned for half a year.

I also heard a bar of lignite in a magma proof bin, will burn the ocean away if you drop it in... proof is sketchy though, and on a different version of DF, still worth trying.

[LostxInxThought]

Slight snag, the save got corrupted (no backup) so, this will have to wait until I get another fortress to the magma sea... :\

[Scraggletag]

Lignite doesn't burn forever, just about 9 months or so.

The important thing is that lignite, coal and graphite don't have melting points. You can immerse lignite items in magma and they will only catch fire instead of melt.

Fire causes wear on items and eventually they get worn away completely. But artifacts can't wear out. So an artifact made from lignite, bituminous coal or graphite will burn forever. I guess even a wooden artifact would burn forever too; haven't tried it yet though.

You will probably have to engineer a strange mood (by forbidding all stones except flammable ones) to get what you need. Once you set the artifact on fire and place it in your fireplace it would make a handy place to dispose of goblin corpses prisoners.

Also, make sure to place some doors adjacent to the dump/pit zone. Otherwise your haulers will all get bad thoughts from choking on smoke underground. I think they only get that thought if they're in the same tile as smoke, which shouldn't happen often if they only have to open the door for an instant to drop an item or prisoner down into the fireplace.

[JacaByte]

"This is the Burning Cheese, a lignite toy hammer. All craftdwarveship is of the highest quality. It is engraved with images of dwarves surrounded by dwarves. The dwarves are on fire. The dwarves are screaming. It is on fire!"

[Makigall]

So what happens to smoke in a completely enclosed environment?  Say that cozy fireplace with a lever controlled hatch at the top.  Will the smoke leak out of that?

And the followup question, what happens when i trap goblins in a sealed hallway above that and then open the hatch?  Do goblins eventually die from the smoke?

[LostxInxThought]

So I decided to go back to 40d for this - having a magma pipe and not having to pump through the caverns will make life easier for me, and make life longer-lasting(maybe) for my dwarves

[LostxInxThought]

So I'm thinking of a more, !!FUN!! way to start my fires - instead of magma, which is relatively easy to manage, I want to try and use an untamed fire-imp to start the fires for me.
two questions before I do this, though - does a fire imp's innate body temperature cause things (mostly coal, coke, lignite, etc. etc.) to ignite, or will I need to use cats and goblins to make him fireball the fuel?

and, will I need to trap again the imp between refuelings, so dwarves don't run away from the dump site? (a channel a few Z-levels up, leading into the smoke-exhaust tunnel)

I think imps are immune to smoke and fire, since they live in magma..