Aga Little Wenlock multi fuel stove

citroennut

aargh! Have just bought an aga little wenlock and about to have it installed. Think I may have just made a costly mistake.
Thanks to everyone who has posted with advice, hopefully if I use your methods all will be well.

A._Badger

Yes, I thought the same about a Grenadier. Then, finally, after hours and hours wasted faffing around with wood and paper and having worked out how much money I'd spent on firelighters and kindling, I gritted my teeth and bought one.

I've not regretted the purchase for a moment!

A._Badger

No need to worry about your Little Wenlock, citroennut - they are a bit over-priced, I think, and possibly not as advanced a design as they might be (you pay an Aga-brand premium) but they are really solid, easy to drive and belt out prodigious amounts of heat!

The only problem I had with mine was that it ate firebricks, which Aga charged a lot for. I never did fathom out why it went through them so quickly before I moved to a new house and a different stove.

I'd grown so fond of my Little Wenlock, though, that I took it with me and it's currently sitting in the garage while I work out what to do with it!

stoveman

A._Badger wrote: »

No need to worry about your Little Wenlock, citroennut - they are a bit over-priced, I think, and possibly not as advanced a design as they might be (you pay an Aga-brand premium) but they are really solid, easy to drive and belt out prodigious amounts of heat!

The only problem I had with mine was that it ate firebricks, which Aga charged a lot for. I never did fathom out why it went through them so quickly before I moved to a new house and a different stove.

I'd grown so fond of my Little Wenlock, though, that I took it with me and it's currently sitting in the garage while I work out what to do with it!

The Aga Little Wenlock is extremely under priced in my opinion. Compared to a morso squirrel or a franco belge Bmontfort or dovre 250 is a steal at £480 (from woodburner Warehouse) especially now they released the new wenlock classic which now has a dedicated airwash system

The wenlock is a decent stove and performs well under the right conditions. Did the engineer mention trying a anti downdraft cowl? Chances are he wouldnt cos they dont normally want to et back on the room and change it

A._Badger

I was working from memory of when I bought my Little Wenlock (about five years ago) when I did a lot of comparison shopping and it was, clearly, expensive for what it was, then - but I bought t anyway as I wanted a British-made stove.

I agree, at today's price of £480, it does seem better value than it was (of course, it was a Coalbrookdale in those days - aren't they now being built in Ireland?).

The Classic version wasn't on the market then and the addition of a proper air wash does seem to bring it up to date and make it better value.

hardwick

Hi again! Citroennut don't be discouraged about your purchase, I'm sure it will be a good investment for you... today I found a coal merchant who sold me some Homefire Ovals and they have worked very well indeed... today I have found that keeping the wheel thingie at the bottom fully opened, pulling the handle out to keep the grate open and keeping the door slightly open really makes a draught so that the flames really catch until it really gets going worked very well indeed and once the fire catches it's lovely although it was abit of a pain having to stand there for 20 mins or so. Stoveman, I asked the engineer yesterday about a draught thing for the chimney and he said they would do that as a last resort but he thought the chimney was working well - who knows, if I continue to have problems I'll get another engineer to give me a second opinion. Thank you all for your comments, you've been very helpful and I really liked the video clip Welda suggested, will be putting a grenadier on my Christmas list (I should be so lucky!!).

ventureuk

stoveman

Can I pick your brains....

We have a 1930's bungalow with an entire loft conversion and extension, it's a solid brick property with huge chimneys at each end. The old lady who had it before had coal fires then gas fires, neither chimney is currently lined but both have gas fires fitted and run without problems. We're in the process of preparing one chimney to have a Franco Belge 'Monaco' 6kw fitted, the old gas fire has been removed, the fireplace opened and will soon be lined with fireboard and plastered up. I intend having a local quarry make me up a stone hearth when the plasterer has finished then get in a HETAS engineer to fit the stove/pipe/plate. I can see up the chimney and it's clean as a whistle by the way.

Having shopped around for fitters I'm confused, I've had conflicting advice....fit a liner/don't fit a liner see how it goes, liner quotes from £350 to £950, new chimney pots/no new chimney pots, fit a UFO cowel/leave the existing cowel see how it goes.

I get the impression as well as sizing the job they're sizing me for ££. I've let off three smoke bombs in the hearth and on a bitterly cold day the smoke heads skywards straight away with no signs of leak into the house.

I'm tempted to go without a liner and no change to the cowel (new pots is just unnecessary) if there are then any problems change the cowel fit a liner later.........I'd welcome your views.

Ventureuk.....on a cold Pennine hillside.

citroennut

Thanks to everyone who has replied. Your advice is very much appreciated and I now feel reassured about my little wenlock. It's the classic model by the way. Hoping to mainly use wood and only use coal occasionally, well that's the intention but we'll see how it goes! Thanks again.

citroennut

Just a quick update to say that little wenlock is now installed and is working well and is absolutely brilliant with excellent heat output. Would highly recommend.

stoveman

ventureuk wrote: »

stoveman

Can I pick your brains....

We have a 1930's bungalow with an entire loft conversion and extension, it's a solid brick property with huge chimneys at each end. The old lady who had it before had coal fires then gas fires, neither chimney is currently lined but both have gas fires fitted and run without problems. We're in the process of preparing one chimney to have a Franco Belge 'Monaco' 6kw fitted, the old gas fire has been removed, the fireplace opened and will soon be lined with fireboard and plastered up. I intend having a local quarry make me up a stone hearth when the plasterer has finished then get in a HETAS engineer to fit the stove/pipe/plate. I can see up the chimney and it's clean as a whistle by the way.

Having shopped around for fitters I'm confused, I've had conflicting advice....fit a liner/don't fit a liner see how it goes, liner quotes from £350 to £950, new chimney pots/no new chimney pots, fit a UFO cowel/leave the existing cowel see how it goes.

I get the impression as well as sizing the job they're sizing me for ££. I've let off three smoke bombs in the hearth and on a bitterly cold day the smoke heads skywards straight away with no signs of leak into the house.

I'm tempted to go without a liner and no change to the cowel (new pots is just unnecessary) if there are then any problems change the cowel fit a liner later.........I'd welcome your views.

Ventureuk.....on a cold Pennine hillside.

Even though the smoke test is coming back ok I would still recommend installing a liner as it will eliminate tar building up in the chimney and will make it easier to sweep.

You imagine sticking a 6" sweeping brush up a 6" flexible liner pipe and then imagine trying to sweep a space of 12" wide with a 6" brush.

You will also find that the liner heats up very quickly therefore the draw works quickly where as if you install into an open chimney then if the chimney is cold it can sometimes take a while for it to get going and draw properly.

Another reason for a liner going back to the tar build up is it will eat away at the mortar and can sometimes seep through the brickwork and come out of the walls and will look gastly.

Also if tar builds up in an open chimney it can run down and drip onto the fireplace and will stink, where as if you have a liner it can only drip into the stove and burn away.

Hope this helps.

Below is a list of items required to install based on the monaco and the prices you could expect to pay.

Monaco = £685 (best price-contact me if you want to know where) - £730 (most places)
5" Stove pipe = £30-50
5"-6" adapter to flexible liner = £40-£50
6" flexible liner (highest grade-904 grade) = £35-45 per meter
chimney clamp = £15-£20
Anti downdraft cowl = £50-£75

Installation cost of around £200-300