Advice Needed On A Multi Fuel Wood Burner Please?

silvasava

Thanx Navig8r - the flue is double lined but I'm not sure of the dimensions -however, not a problem to replace. I did look at the Machine Mart stoves on the web to get some idea of price but at the moment dont know where they are made, but take your point!

navig8r

Those stove would be near the bottom of my list If I were buying a stoves.
g8r

silvasava

Thanx again g8r - I was also trawling the 'net last night & there's an outfit in the West Country that has a good website & lots of info so I had crossed MM off my list. We're not going to be doing anything until late in the summer as we have other projects that take priority. I did notice a few second hand ones on a couple of sites - is there anything we should particularly look out for - safety aspect?

navig8r

It seems as if you are in no hurry so may have time to look at new ones,make a short list and then look for one of them second hand.
Auction sites on the net can be a good source,especially in the cheaper Summer months but you need to know the right questions to ask.Rather than give general pointers,if you do see a particular model send me the item number or if on a website the link and I can advise you what to look out for and questions to ask.
g8r

crphillips

Yeah avoid the cheap machine mart ones....they're not upto much.

A good guide price for a decent stove is about £100 per kilowatt of output so if your buying a 5kW stove expect to pay £500-£600 for something decent that will perform well. Anything around £300 isn't going to be very good.

A._Badger

That's a pretty loose rule of thumb, actually - especially with larger stoves. You can buy a British-made 14kw Hunter Herald for under £1,000 and the Villagers are even cheaper. An 11kw Aarrow Sherborne also goes for not much more than £800, online.

As for steel versus cast iron, as the OP asked, it's a moot point. People say cast iron retains its heat longer, which is true, but then it is also slower to warm-up. Cast iron can be cast into nicer shapes, but modern designs tend not to be and it can also suffer cracks due to clumsy use or faulty casting.

I have had both in my time so don't really have an axe to grind, but the last one I bought (having done a huge amount of research) was a British-made steel stove. I have had no reason to regret that purchase.

The main ones to avoid are cheap, Chinese (or other) stoves off eBay and other sources. If you look closely, you will often see that various brands are actually selling the same cheap stoves under many different names. You will always be safer going for a major brand, either made here or with a long-established UK dealer.

Hope that's some help.

bigedy33

We are thinking about getting an open fire installed in our small terrace. We would love a wood burning stove however our fire place is only 32cm wide so we cant find one small enough.
My main question is can anyone advise what wood can be burnt in an open fire. The reason I ask is that Im a stone merchant and therefore get a lot of broken unusable pallets at work. Most of these look untreated but as Im completely in the dark about this subject i dont have a clue whether they are or not. Also we come across a few empty crates that carried Indian paving, now I also dont think this wood was treated but I do know that the containers are fumigated before leaving India so Im guessing these would be suitable to burn in an open fire.

All advice really welcome

Thanks

Igol

Depending how old the house is, you may find that the actual fire opening is a lot bigger behind the plaster and it has been reduced to fit the current fire.

I burn pallets all the time, no use on an open fire as they can spit and chuck burning wood across the room but they're fine in the stove and more importantly they're free.

5, 4 , 3......

hislop11

I have been reading various postings on here and I have not read one which mentions a co2 monitor.I am hoping everyone is aware that if you have a stove fitted this is a requirement by law,if anyone says otherwise steer clear this stuff is a silent killer, no monitor no stove.As for the liner they are expensive but fit a quality one with a 25 year guarantee it is worth it for improved efficiency and safety incase the chimney is leaking.Only since we have had a home visit to fit a stove where we told that our chimney was leaking and should not even be using our gas fire.

grahamc2003

hislop11 wrote: »

I have been reading various postings on here and I have not read one which mentions a co2 monitor.I am hoping everyone is aware that if you have a stove fitted this is a requirement by law,if anyone says otherwise steer clear this stuff is a silent killer, no monitor no stove.As for the liner they are expensive but fit a quality one with a 25 year guarantee it is worth it for improved efficiency and safety incase the chimney is leaking.Only since we have had a home visit to fit a stove where we told that our chimney was leaking and should not even be using our gas fire.

Really? I didn't realise a c02 monitor was required, even though stoves kick out loads of the gas.

I know a co monitor is a requirement, quite rightly too. I just wonder though how many of them are still working after a year or so when the batteries run out.