MSE virgin looking for advice on Woodburning Stoves

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  • sallypoo wrote: »
    With due respect, I'm struggling to know how you have made that assessment without knowing the construction of the property and what investigation I have already made into the costs.


    As we have a timberframe house the only way to improve insulation, is from the inside by striping all the plasterboard off room by room and then replastering and decorating. Costly, time consuming and not at all child friendly.


    We are tackling this on a room by room basis. The one radiation we have in our front room will still not be sufficient to heat it even if we were to have undertaken this exercise and the gas fire has been condemed.
    Your second paragraph was:
    the house is generally poorly insulated (another project)".

    So the posters point was: maximise insulation as you work.

    Given you are asking for a stove I guess both I and the other poster assumed you were not building a highly energy efficient house (not mutually exclusive, but still...). Therefore our point was to use the money to minimise heat loss. It's the best way, surely, long term.

    But clearly you are, so congratulations on your eco build!
  • Ectophile
    Ectophile Posts: 7,276
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    I also use my stove just for top-up heating in addition to the gas central heating.

    I have a small wood store - about 1 cubic metre. A pickup truck load of bought-in wood pretty much fills it. I have tried scrounging more free wood recently, but it really isn't big enough for seasoning my own wood. I find I'm constantly shuffling the wood around in it trying to find the logs hiding at the back that are seasoned enough to burn. It would be so much better if I could sort it into this year's wood, last year's, and ready to burn.
    If it sticks, force it.
    If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.
  • I have just had a wood delivery. Another point to bear in mind that a small stove will only take small logs.

    We bought well-seasoned logs at the beginning of the winter, a small lorry load. The top-up I bought today, which were a third cheaper, are nowhere near the same quality. A greater variation in size, they do not feel as dry and a fair bit of rubbish in the load. Like everything else, you get what you pay for.
    Je suis sabot...
  • A._Badger
    A._Badger Posts: 5,848
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    I A greater variation in size, they do not feel as dry and a fair bit of rubbish in the load. Like everything else, you get what you pay for.


    If only it were that simple! I keep seeing this phrase used and I'm afraid it simply isn't true. You can pay a lot for logs and still get a load of rubbish.

    The answer isn't just to assume that the more you pay the better the quality but to find a supplier you can trust and stick with him. Even that isn't a guarantee of good quality but it's better than relying on a high price as a sign of... well, of anything at all, really.
  • Hoof Hearted - it's a story I hear several times every week from chimney customers. And one of the biggest reasons many people turn to briquettes in the first place. The bottom line is that with logs there will always be an element of pot luck in terms of both quantity and moisture content. And even buying kiln dried logs - something I wouldn't personally recommend unless desperate by the way - you may still end up paying a hefty premium for a product that's less dry than normal air dried logs (at a normal air dried price) from a good supplier.

    Briquettes are a manufactured product - and the right ingredients at the right moisture are essential for feeding the briquetting machine. You don't get briquettes with a high moisture content because the machine can't make briquettes at a high moisture content. So they are always way drier than any logs - about a quarter the level of kiln dried - hence less energy wasted driving off moisture - so more energy available as heat.
  • loskie
    loskie Posts: 1,761
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    edited 1 March 2015 at 1:23PM
    First point: If you have to buy your fuel gas is cheaper. For stoves 5kw and below you do not need an airbrick.
    Don't give yourself too much choice. Woodwarm, morso, town and country and Clearview are all good brands.
    I have a Town and Country Little Thurlow (5kw) in my living room and a Stovax Stockton 7 in the kitchen/diner. The Little Thurlow is the better of the two. Takes a good width of log and doesnt protrude too far from the wall. Similarly would be a Woodwarm Slender
    If possible I would have it proud into the room instead of recessed in a wall. You will get better heat circulation.
    Don't underestimate how much wood you will need and it does take some planning to cut, store and season logs. I work 2 years ahead and get logs whenever the opportunity arise.


    If you hubby has a chainsaw it is worthwhile attending a local agricultural college course on use and maintenance. They are too damned dangerous to be toys.
    I think wood stoves are great but they do take a lot of work. Best thing would be to have good insulation, efficient gas central heating and a stove to supplement the rest and as a nice feature.
    My heating is normally turned off when the fire gets going.
    You may be able to pick up a good used stove if in no rush.
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Heating-Stoves-/84184/i.html?_dcat=84184&rt=nc&Brand=ClearView%7CDunsley%7CMorso&LH_ItemCondition=2000%7C2500%7C3000&_stpos

    One final piece of advice. Do not buy too big a stove, better a smaller stove working hard and efficiently than a bigger stove just ticking over.
    Take a look at the Arbtalk Firewood Forum
  • silverwhistle
    silverwhistle Posts: 3,776
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    I've a 3 bedroom terrace with a woodburner in the lounge, and have only had the central heating on for a few days this winter during a visit from aged parent and the day I got back from 2 weeks holiday. You've got the right idea about collecting wood already, which is what I did from the winter before install. Joinery off-cuts make great kindling as do broken down pallets, and the corner blocks (if suitable!) are an added bonus.

    I use some briquettes, bought in small batches from a local cheapo store, to help get the fire going after which I use the free wood I've collected. Let people know you are after it.. my neighbour is pruning a massive bramley soon, the local county arb guys let me have some oak from some safety work just near my house, some interesting stumps from local suburban gardens, and so it goes.. Avoid Elder!

    Have a look at Contura for a very well built Swedish line of stoves, although their suppliers are fairly well spread.
  • Pete9501
    Pete9501 Posts: 427 Forumite
    We had a Lovenholm from Cleanburn in Norway installed 4 weeks ago following the recommendation of the local installer. We are lucky enough to have a chimney which has been taken back to the original builders fire place which is much larger than the normal sized hearth. So lots more air flows around the stove helping to heat the house and we need it. 2 bed 1930s semi with lots of original features and drafts to match although like you we are working on them.

    The 5Kw stove means you don't need extra ventilation and is sufficient to heat both upstairs bedrooms plus bathroom and 3 downstairs rooms. Once warm it takes one large log an hour. Worth pointing out that they do take a while to heat up because they have about 90kg of steel in them. You have to get this really hot before convection and radiation takes the heat around the house.

    Probably not cheaper than GCH but a nice feature to watch and would double up if the boiler fails during the winter, been there and wifey wasn't a happy when it took a week to fix.

    Interestingly we have been stripping wallpaper and had the plasterer in so lots of condensation in the house. This disappears straight away with the stove running as it takes damp air out of the house.
  • SG27
    SG27 Posts: 2,773 Forumite
    edited 6 March 2015 at 7:58PM
    If you are seasoning your own wood you need some serious log storage. I have three stores all about 1cube metre each and I probably unstack and restack each store twice a year as the dry wood is used up and unseasoned wood is added. I could do with another 3 stores really but the wife won't let me take up any more of the garden!
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