I’m currently shopping around for a wood burner for our extension build that will begin in a few weeks. It’ll be really for aesthetic appeal rather than a primary source of heat, something that will be a feature in the room and provide some cosy heat in winter – and something for me to tinker with and get back to my caveman roots.

I’m amazed about the price range. I’m after a more modern/contemporary design and have seen prices vary from a few hundred quid to just over £1k. All are dual fuel and similar sizes/heat outputs. So what’s the difference? Are there any quality standards to look out for? What is the difference between a £350 wood burner and a £1000 wood burner likely to be?

I don’t mind shelling out the £1k for one if there are real benefits to them – its sort of what i’ve budgeted anyway, but if I can get away with £350, then that’s the RockShox Pikes i’ve been saving for!

Cheers.

The chimney/flue will make the woodburner seem cheap.

Jam bo, do you mean that the flue kit will not be included in the cheaper stoves?

I have also budgeted a good £500 for the flue installation over and above the cost of the actual stove and flue kit, so about £1500 in total. I’m hoping it’ll come in for less than that as it can be installed as the extension is being built rather than retrofitting it afterwards.

I think your way under.

Agreed, a good burner and twin wall flue system would start from circa £2.5k. Others will be along to say you can get cheaper – you can, but if you want something that burns well, good design and well built, they won’t be the cheaper stoves.

Depends how close to the house it’s going. We just put in a single storey sun room, with a wood burner in the corner nearest the house. The pipes had to go 600mm above the roof line, had to be double skinned…and with installation (and a £900 stove) the bill was near enough £2800

I got a flue kit, with a length of stove pipe, appropriate fittings and the correct twin wall flue sections for a single storey installation through the loft and roof. It cost about £700 supply only.

My stove was about £500.

Personally I would stay away from the really cheap stoves but if you are not using it a lot then why spend a fortune? I think the biggest difference will be long term durability. You pay a premium for a “designer” stove, same as anything really.

Installation costs vary across the UK, but it’s not a hard job really and can be done DIY.

http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/

OK, cheers, i’ll have to wait for the final quotes to come through. I was assuming that since the extension was being built it would be more cost effective to install than retrofitting. Its a single story extension so the flue just goes straight up, through the roof and continues up the exterior wall to above the roof line, so hopefully about as simple an installation as possible. I guess the only complication comes where the flue has to penetrate through ceilings and roof’s. The Pikes will have to wait a bit longer!

I guess the only complication comes where the flue has to penetrate through ceilings and roof’s.

It’s greatly simplified by the fittings available, the roofing is probably the most difficult bit.

Speak to your builder and see if he will install it as part of the extension build and get the building officer to sign off the install. It may be a cheaper and better way to do it. I have heard some horror stories about the HETAS installers.

Give the building officer a ring first to discuss.

Not all HETAS installers are the same! And TBH I’ve seen too many supposed competent builders not show one ounce of best building practice / common sense whilst trying to install something as straightforward as twin wall flue!

Get the flue installed during the build, or at least the section from above the stove through ceiling and roof, leaving enough pipe exposed with some plastic sheet covering the hole and secured by means of the flue joining clips so the flashing and tiles can be done, it’s much less disruption and mess and the flue can be properly routed and fixed through any joists and rafters with the appropriate clearances, the exterior flashing can be fitted whilst the roof is being finished, which means roof battens can be adjusted easily and thereby, properly. If it’s a pitched roof obviously. When it’s time to install the stove, the rest of the external flue can be fitted and bracketed 🙂

My last piece of advice would be to avoid the cheap stainless steel flue systems. They do not perform well and can cause lots of burn issues. Check out SpecFlue for the better quality systems. 🙂

If you can avoid putting your stove on an external wall and put it on existing (soon to become internal) wall more of the the heat produced will stay in the house.

Mucker, that’s exactly where its going. A pillar of the current back external wall will be left in the middle of the wall for the steels to be supported on, so the stove will go there, slap bang in the middle of the space. the flue will just go straight up, with a kink I think as its a gable end roof, so it needs to exit the roof one side of the roof apex, then up the back of the house. I have no desire to take any shortcuts as my dad narrowly avoided his house catching fire from his wood burner flue, so i’ll not be taking any chances.

I’ve got a £3.5k log burner and a £250 log burner. Other than cosmetics there’s no differerence. Which is why I bought another £250 log burner…

But as above, the flue is the expensive bit. If the log burner you like the look of costs a bit more then it doesn’t make much odds to the total cost.

Just spec the extension to take a stove, and then buy a stove once it’s complete.

We brought a log burner at an antiques fair for £100, cheapest quote to get a chimney and flew and get it fitted in our log cabin, £1200. Always a sting!

Efficiency, ease of lighting and fueling, the possibility of cooking on it, and the ability to burn any type of wood cleanly matter more than aesthetics. And as above, a well-designed, safe flue that draws well is just as important as the stove.

As others have said, get the builder to install the external part of the flue at least so it just leaves you to connect up to the ceiling/roof junction later on.