??? wood burning stoves ???

BOBS

yeah .... i think it has a lot to do with the controls..... we have two round ones at the bottom and then another 'slidey' one at the top..... having fun playing with them to get the hang of the darn thing lol .....

tom4872

Savemoney, who do you buy your logs off? I have just got one fitted from Oldstone Fireplaces in Antrim and we love it. Anyone know where I can get a load of seasoned wood as cheap as possible?

mardatha

for 3 years we thought ours was a coal burner but recently found it does wood as well. Its absolutely fantastic, heats the whole house and we live in a very high open village with bad winters. I would sooner give the husband away than my stove !

jen2007

Hi everyone, sorry for jumping in, but I was just looking into wood burners and was wondering if any of you would be able to help me.

I recently moved into a house that has a back boiler (I think its a baxi bermuda 401??). It currently has a really ugly gas fire fitted to the front which I absolutely hate and we're thinking of replacing.

Now, at the risk of sounding really stupid I was wondering if we could have a wood burner installed with our existing back boiler or if its a different type of back boiler that you need for wood burners? And is it a really big, expensive job? Because funds are tight and I was looking into it because I thought it might be cheaper in the long run to have a wood burner installed (plus they do look fantastic)

The_Economist

Hi jen2007,
sorry to say it is a different back boiler. No you dont sound stupid for asking the question. If you dont ask you will never know.

jen2007

Thanks for getting back to me so quick. I suspected as much to be honest. The heating in our house is rubbish and I've looked at getting a replacement gas front which are all as ugly as the one we've got, so it did seem a bit too easy for that to be the answer.

I think we're probably looking at a costly replacement. Who do you go to, to get advice about these sorts of things?? Trouble is, at the moment we're not sure what we want to replace it with and having no knowledge whatsoever about these sorts of things its difficult to know where to go to get unbiased answers. Guess I'll just have to keep trawling the internet for answers.:rolleyes:

The_Economist

jen2007 wrote: »

I've looked at getting a replacement gas front which are all as ugly as the one we've got

As far as i know you will have to change the whole lot not just the fire front. Under the currant rules, again as far as i know you will not be able to get a back bolier and fire front fitted unless you can prove that you cannot have a combi bolier fitted some where in the property. But you can have the exsiting one fixed if spares are available.

jen2007

So if the current rules say I have to get a combi boiler does that mean I couldn't have a wood burner to heat the water and central heating? Because I can't see any reason I wouldn't be able to have a combi fitted as it could probably go somewhere in the kitchen. Why is a combi the preferred option? I think the back boiler we've got was probably fitted because they run forever and it's an ex housing association house and they don't like to replace anything they don't have to. Its doesn't seem very efficient or cheap to run and we've got two water tanks, one in the loft and one in an airing cupboard in my daughters bedroom. It's all a very strange set up to me

Andy_Davies

suki1964 wrote: »

My parents were told the same and the only time the glass stays clear is if they use anthracite, wood (unless its beech) just smokes up the glass straight away

Either the wood is wet, or the fire isn't hot enough - seasoned wood burnt at the right temperature should result in clear glass.

Ours starts to blacken when we first light the fire but once it gets going the glass clears

Andy

The_Economist

jen2007 wrote: »

So if the current rules say I have to get a combi boiler does that mean I couldn't have a wood burner to heat the water and central heating? Because I can't see any reason I wouldn't be able to have a combi fitted as it could probably go somewhere in the kitchen. Why is a combi the preferred option? I think the back boiler we've got was probably fitted because they run forever and it's an ex housing association house and they don't like to replace anything they don't have to. Its doesn't seem very efficient or cheap to run and we've got two water tanks, one in the loft and one in an airing cupboard in my daughters bedroom. It's all a very strange set up to me

You will only have to look at getting a combi boiler if you want to replace your existing heating system. Back boilers are not fitted any more. You can have a wood burner to run the heating and hot water. But if you do your home work you will find that this can be hard graft and expensive to set up.