Wood Burning Stoves

I have an open wood burning fire basket and wondering is
a wood burning stove better giving out heat.

If so what wood stove would you recommend and do i have to
instal a flue into my chimney breast.

I like mine better than an open fire. Not as much mess, very control-able and we seem to get loads of heat out of it. It's a Stovax and I think you get a decent one for £350-600. We did not line the chimney in that room but have lined 3 other rooms chimneys ready for stoves.

C

Wire baskets are the most useless contraptions ever.
You will probably get ten times (yes really) as much heat out of a small woodstove.
It's worth buying a modern clean burning stove, – (which might cost three times a cheapo iron job from Machine Mart, but is well worth it). Look at Clearview, Charnwood.. er several others but I can't recall now.
Flue? Dunno, you'd need to inspect it or get it checked.

I heat a 4 bedroom house with only a 4KW woodstove.

Whatever you decide to get, size it properly. An adequately sized stove is usually a lot smaller than you think and an oversize stove will get too hot, you'll have to keep turning it off and it'll literally burn through your wood (excuse the pun)!

Its best to line the chimney to avoid the oils leaching through the plaster.
Its not a difficult job, but it is messy and helps if you have a head for heights – standing on top of the chimney stack to feed the liner down.

We've just put in a 8kw Franco Belge Savoy, but were limited, as we already had the register plate and pipework at the bottom for a 5" flue. Go for 6" and choose something which is big enough for the room you need it in.

The kw calc is room (height x width x depth) / 14.

So a room 5 x 5 x 2.5 would require a 4.5 kw stove (approximately).

Remember that an open chimney and fire looses 70-80% of its heat upwards and out the room.
A modern woodburning stove spits out 70-80% of its heat into the room.
More controllable, warmer, less fuel needed.
And as Padawan says, got go too big – they spit out huge amounts of heat.
I miss mine *wipes tear*

I like mine – and having had a look at mine my parents installed one at their house.

Cold winter afternoon, dark beer, wood burning stove… almost as good as being out in the mud on the singlespeed… better if you've just come back from mud and now have fire and beer.

Am I rambling yet?

and plonk one of these on top Brilliant! really helps, we used to get superheated air up by the ceiling and cold feet, now it's all hot 🙂

Open fires can actually be negatively efficient as the heat goes straight up the chimney and cold air is sucked in to the room to replace it. A wood burner can be 80% efficient as you have a big old lump of metal in the room which is 250' or so. This acts as a very powerful radiator. Mine is a Clearview, it's very clean, very efficient and at around 5kw I heat a 3 bed house with it.

avoid an aga multi-fuel stove for room heat, last place had one and it was useless for heating the room, the open fire in our current place is better. the aga would be fine for a back boiler system, but it's double skin didn't lend it to throwing heat out.

Villagers are a safe bet, we have a double door one in the bunkhouse at work and I had one in a previous house which heated the whole thing at full tilt – which was just as well as it was the ONLY heat source.

Lining wise, depends on the state of your chimney as goff mentioned and if done by the book will have to be verified by a heating engineer of some sort who will smoke bomb it and look for leaks. If lining an installer we chatted to said get the cheap liner if you don't expect to be there more than 10 years, otherwise the expensive liner is the fit and forget. Easy lining is drop weighted rope down chimney, at bottom, thread through a 6 1/2 – 7" dia cut traffic cone, tie to liner and heave. Clamp at the top then cut to fit at the bottom.

Got a Euroheat upstairs (5kW job) which is really very, very good indeed. Downstairs is an Arrow Acorn (3kW I think), which is okayish. The Euroheat costs a shed load though! Both chimneys are lined, you don't have to have it done, but it is really needed if you aren't sure of the state of the chimney (can get em tested). I think it is considered best practice though.

IIRC they should be installed by a "competent person" not just thrown in willy nilly. And if you go over 5kW building regs state that you must supply secondary ventillation (this was a problem for us since putting secondary ventillation into a 350 year old town house with meter thick walls is not easy… or really necessary since we have single glazed sash windows…)

But yes, they are ace. I am burning reconstituted wood in mine – like big kitty litter (made using the same tech as wood pellets for boilers). Ace things, really, really dry – very little ash, and they fair belt out the heat, to the point they work out pretty economical in use (1 bag lasts me 2 – 3 days at the moment, so £9 a week to heat the house… not too shabby!)

Oh aye – don't burn wet wood, it needs to be really well seasoned to get the best out of a stove, more so than an open fire really… and it saves tarring up the chimney/stove glass.

A bit cheeky but I havee hardwood firewood available:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ot-hardwood-firewood-freshly-felled-in-3m-lengths-by-the-lorry-load

A good stove is great 🙂 Heats the room really well and it'll still be warm the following morning if you run it well.

I am a convert 🙂

we've been playing with fire lately so to speak. got our chimney swept and have cobbled together a grate by modifying an old bbq. doesn't exactly meet building regs but we thought it's a cheap way to try out all the practicalities (storing wood, disposing of ash etc)

having tried an open fire i'm definately keen to get a stove. we get bugger all heat considering how much wood it takes to keep it going. i think the cold draught theory is right. on the plus side, we haven't spent a penny and have a real crackling fire to gaze at! it is quite nice

anyone know whether it's worth routing a bit of ducting direct from outside to overcome the cold draught problem?

Lets get back on track – Morso squirrel.. fab.

This is my current ace mudfest bike of choice. It really does fly along. Bankrupt surplus saracen frame, one month old. Changed to trailraker tyres though.
Knocked out chimney and bodged the slate up myself.
Stove and installation and lining not cheap at all, but IMO worth it.

I've got a Morso Squirrel. Had to be a multifuel smokeless job due to living in the city centre. (smokeless zone) Heats the house really well, (two bed mid-terrace with 3m ceilings)Gas bill has been halved in a year an we don't burn that much timber. Only problem was the Stove was around £750!

We have a coal burner in the kitchen and that heats the whole side of the house.

Needs topping up every 12 – 15 hrs, and a 25kg bag of coal last around a week & half.

Awesome piece of kit, and I'm loving the Ecofan 😀

Wood is better 🙂

I think its a Morso Squirrel that we've got too (smaller version of the Owl?). Its excellent.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/chimmney-liners

dunno about the stove but in my opinion you MUST line the chimney. when we reroofed we took the roof off near the chimney and found it all blacken from the previous fire. there had been a crack in the brick work and i dread to think what would have happened if a spark or ember had got into the roof an caught. not worth thinking about, get it lined.

i got one of these installed last year, and i am most of the time in shorts and with my moobs out. perfect for keeping you warm over the winter months. I got it online with free delivery, at a bargin price.

I didnt need to get my chimney lined.

modern ones are a lot better that the older ones, and the ones with thicker cast iron are also better to readiate more heat.

Stovax here, chimney lined, purrrfickt!

Modern stoves are highly efficient and regas the fumes well keeping the glass door clean

I have found difficulty with decent supplies of firewood with a very wide range in quality and price. You really need seasoned wood so the chimney doesn't clog up with tar. Look for stuff of below 25% moisture content if possible! For the three or four tonnes a year I burn I'm seriously looking at a decent moisture metre to keep an eye on quality before I purchase from merchants

TS

Stovax and Aarow stoves in our place (more info in that chimney lining thread linked ^^)

Can not reccomend the Clearview stoves strongly enough. they are pricey but very good and they do what they say on the tin – as in never get a dirty glass.

Chances are unless you are house hearing or have a large room the smallest will size will be just right.

A mate of mine has a second hand norwegian stove. ugly, no glass front but very effective and takes much longer logs.

MadBillMcMad

Yep, second for Clearview, my Clearview Pioneer is on the go at the moment, brilliant stoves, the airwash keeps the glass very clean, i just clean it once a month to take the ash build up off but thats it.

Like others have said, you might not think you NEED your chimney lining but at some point you WILL need it doing if you live in an older house as the internal pointing will be shot and you can end up with creosote leaching through into the walls and plaster, especially if it has not got a proper cowl on to stop water coming down.

Another key to it is a good quality of wood, we have a local supplier that seasons all his for 12 months in barns and is from a 200 year old managed woodland, £120 a ton delivered which is 2 cubic meters, we only use ours at weekends so thats a fair few months use.

If we moved it would be the first thing i would have done to any house regardless of age.

ref lining or not lining, speak to a chimmeny sweep.i found that imho there is very little info out there on this subject, but eventually was told "ask a sweep,he will know" our local one came round, swept the chimmeny and from waht comes out he can tell roughly the condition of past fires etc.also can tell you about liners etc.

also as mention what you burn and the conditon its in matters.good seasoned wood may be expensive but usually burns longer and hotter.again our sweep put us in contact with a good local "dealer" 😉
sorted.

anyone know whether it's worth routing a bit of ducting direct from outside to overcome the cold draught problem?

It would definitely be illegal.

Morso Badger here heats the whole house, 3 bedroom semi, to a toasty warm or even to way too hot. -3 here tonight I've been sweating in a T-shirt.

slight hijack,

I like the idea of a wood burning stove in our lounge, so my query is two fold:

How safe are they with young children about?
Any suggestions on designs to fit into ten year old house?

Must be better than an open fire?

Harry, you would need to guard it as they get hot enough to cause instant heat burns. Not good with toddlers.

They can chuck out an awful lot of heat, so in a lounge make sure you don't got too big.

Have you got a chimnney? If not your looking at an extenal double skin flue. Not cheap.

I love the idea of wood burners , especially as i have access to tonnes of dead wood at work.

My query is i don't have a chimney, i am end of terrace and my lounge has a long wall that is the end of the house , we have a gap of a metre or so between us and the next house. Is it possible to have a burner then?

We have a Morso Squirrel in smaller room and a Morso Panther in our main room. Bought ~ 1993 and still going strong. Cannot live without it!.
Before taking the plunge a canny friend went from open fire to stove. He said his open fire keot the front of him warm, the room was cool, his stove heated all of him and the room too. Do it!
Relatively new kids on the block, Clearview, have a huge following and good reputation, they burn clean and keep glass clear. The cheaper stoves are often steel plate which are ok but can warp if get very hot. More expensive ones, Morso, Jotul etc are often cast iron which means less chance of warping and retain their heat better. When I originally looked, I felt the doors were finished better, they felt like they 'pulled in and sealed' when closed, the cheaper ones rattled! You pays your money, you takes your chances….

Lining. I wouldn't want a stove without a lined chimney. Since installing our Panther ( '93 ) and Squirrel ( 06/7 ) the whole thing is now covered by building regs. This means you can d-i-y it but you also need to pay for the installation to be inspected. We had the squirrel put in by a competant and approved firm who also was then able to issue the certificate.
The lined chimney is also backfilled with insulation. That means the size is right for a stove ( not necessarily the same size for an open fire ) so it draws and makes your stove much more efficient. Noticable by less fuel required etc.
Also, our house ( 1850's stone built with brick chimney ) has been there a long time. When we did our first stove, we had a 'Cico' liner which was cement/pearlite liquid put into the chimney after first stuffing a large balloon down it. Next day the balloon is taken away leaving a perfectsize hole for the stove to draw up. * It also sealed all the joints in the brickwork* as a lot of the joints over time had started to break down. Not good if you're pushing exhaust gases from combustion up though the house, when the chimneys go thorugh the walls which are bedrooms.
Lining is expensive but it makes the stove more efficient, makes your house more sale-able as/when you move, and there is, to my mind, a significant saftey issue solved.
But it is your money!
…. do get one they are just something else, as all of the above people will testify.
cheers
Q

We've had an open fire in the lounge for as long as I can remember, but an open grate does gobble up logs, and does a "reasonable" job at warning the room, but after reading this whole thread I'm already saving for a clearview wood stove! 😆

thank you for all you help on this and will let you all
know what I may buy.
But thank you again 😉