Advice/tips needed on wood burning stove/boiler

sleepybookworm7

Hi,

If we can raise the initial outlay, we are thinking of buying a wood burning stove and possibly boiler for all our heating/hot water needs.

Anyone have any experience of doing this? Do you save enough to warrant the big initial outlay? Any models better than others?

All advice greatly appreciated

DaiGonzales

Hi, I'm not sure about the potential savings or specifics about plumbing a back boiler into your hot water but have recently been doing some research about wood burning stoves as I'd like to put one in when we move house (hopefully we will finally complete in the next few weeks).

Anyway not sure if it's a consideration - do you live in a smoke control area?

If so the bits I've read suggest the Dunsley Yorkshire Stove is decent.
http://www.dunsleyheat.co.uk/yorkshirestoveCH.htm

There also seems to be a weight of opinion that says stoves work better with the chimney lined (not just on sites that sell the flexible liners either!) so I'm factoring this in for ours.

The bit I'm not sure about is if I should do the fitting or get somone in. The chimney opening would need enlarging and therefore probably a lintel or arch of some sort putting in above so it might be beyond me. Will have to get some proper quotes after moving and find out how much the damage would be!

Hope this is vaguely helpful.

thebaldwindowfitter

i fit double glazing for a living and all the old timber frames i take to a few different people who use it for firewood and they recon it saves them a fortune one guy also gets offcuts from timber yard and fence panel manufacturer.ive been in one of the house when the fire had been turned off at 10am and the house was stiil warm after 3 pm when i was there

Igol

If you click on my user name and view the posts theres a 4 page thread that covered woodburners, should answer a lot of questions for you. I heated the house on mostly pallets last year from the local industrial estate so my heating costs came mostly from the diesel when driving over to pick them up

ozskin

my dunsley baker is on its way, linking it into my existing hot water/CH system so will supplement and hopefuly take over from oil boiler, will let you know the costs paybacks

knightstyle

Get one that had the back boiled built in from new, not retro fitted as new ones have a larger surface area in the firebox. Check the chimney and fit a suitable liner right up to the top. Try to avoid burning wood that is wet or lots of bark. If burning old wood avoid too much paint. Tell your insurance company.

DaiGonzales

Anyone ever had their chimney opening size increased to be able to fit a woodburner and do you know if a lintel was required or any rough idea of cost to do the work?

I will get quotes once we've moved in (next week) but can't wait to know if we'll have enough money to do it!

ozskin

yes just done it lintel required, costs how long is that string piece