Wood burning stoves>

hugh3s

welda wrote: »

11kw is massive for room dimensions, and yes, heat will dissapate leaving doors open, main point you have to consider is this, 11kw will consume a lot of wood per evening, stoves run better when they are run at full pelt, I have a small 5kw, I know what it is like feeding it on a really cold night.

Small is beautiful (so the wife says:)) gives the wood pile a tad more longevity over a season.

I have to agree with you re;BC, these jobsworths get it too easy ticking boxes!!

Ok cheers, what size room does that serve?

I'm a little confused at the ratings, i may just save myself a big wedge and buy an Esse 300 inset, which will fit straight into the fireplace opening. Its says it 3kw normal, but 5kw with anthracite, when people say "my stove is an 8kw/3kw/12kw whatever", do they mean normal or burning anthracite?

According to whatstove.co.uk, you dont even require a flue with the esse 300, so seems v.good.

hugh3s

aliballi wrote: »

I'm no expert &hope you don't mind me replying, but I have been looking into this, myself. From what I can gather 904/904 is recommended as it has far longer life, longer guarantee & allows one to burn coal as well as wood.

I've been looking at where to buy & have come across The Greener Company, which seems very competitive, unless anyone else knows of anyone better?

Thanks for the pointer, that website does seem really good. Im just not too sure now after reading hethmar's reply above about dodgy flue liner from the internet.

welda

hugh3s wrote: »

Ok cheers, what size room does that serve?

I'm a little confused at the ratings, i may just save myself a big wedge and buy an Esse 300 inset, which will fit straight into the fireplace opening. Its says it 3kw normal, but 5kw with anthracite, when people say "my stove is an 8kw/3kw/12kw whatever", do they mean normal or burning anthracite?

According to whatstove.co.uk, you dont even require a flue with the esse 300, so seems v.good.

I don't have room dimensions, here is info from a previous post.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/29913813#Comment_29913813

8>3>12kw will be max output, irrelevant what fuel you're burning. Personally I wouldn't fit an inset stove, too much heat is lost into surrounding stonework, even inglenook type installation, I reckon a portion of heat will be lost in a similar way?

My stove sits out from fireplace, basically I can view all round, I feel this way (for me) heat dissapates into room and, this of course is where I want it to go!

hugh3s

Looking for further advice. I live literally next to the forest, 10 yards from my front door. I know seasoned/cured wood burns better and more efficient, but since this wood available to me will be free i dont need to worry about efficiency. What is the shortest amount of time i could possibly get away with to let it dry out before chucking it on the burner. I'm hopefully having one installed this wkend and will be pained to pay for wood when there are fallen trees right on my doorstep.
Also, I've read somewhere that smokeless fuels can only be used in 904 liner, is that correct?

BargainGalore

I would say a 8 months at least, most of that in Spring/ Summer

If you use wet wood your more likely have less heat and worse of all tarred chimney and possible chimney fire if not regularly maintained

If its a thick forest I bet small branches that have fallen the wood maybe dry

You can get meters not expensive to measure water in wood I got one of ebay for around a fiver

hugh3s wrote: »

Looking for further advice. I live literally next to the forest, 10 yards from my front door. I know seasoned/cured wood burns better and more efficient, but since this wood available to me will be free i dont need to worry about efficiency. What is the shortest amount of time i could possibly get away with to let it dry out before chucking it on the burner. I'm hopefully having one installed this wkend and will be pained to pay for wood when there are fallen trees right on my doorstep.
Also, I've read somewhere that smokeless fuels can only be used in 904 liner, is that correct?

crphillips

The 904 or 316 debate is always a bit of a tricky one for me.......many of my customers see the price of lining a flue and fitting a stove as quite expensive and if i did all my installations in 904 grade liner it would put us well over the £1000 mark with VAT. But i don't like to skimp on quality.

316 never used to be for wood only.......it always used to be a multi fuel liner......a few years back i think Docherty had issues with how long their liner was lasting when people were burning smokeless fuels so they starting selling it as liner for burning wood only. You'll also find many other online retailers will say this as they're selling Docherty liner. It's cheap but it's not good.

I use Shiedel Rite Vent liner which is far superior. I get my liner from Specflue which is the biggest and best retailer in the country. They're fairly cheap but they won't compromise quality for cheapness.....i can buy Docherty liner around £3 per metre cheaper than what i pay for my liner which would save me about £15,000 per year. I chose to loose the £15,000 per year and use the better gear as i had issues with Docherty liner rotting after just 3 years.

Rite Vent's 316 liner is rated as multi fuel and comes with a 10yr guarantee for use with wood and smokeless fuels and they will honour this warranty.

Obviously 904 grade is better and if you've got a spare £200 knocking around that you don't mind spending on the installation and if your going to be in your property for over 15 years then go for it. I've had no issues with Rite Vents 316 grade and fit it to 95% of our installations. We only use 904 grade when it's a cooker, stove with back boiler, customer say they wan't to burn any old rubbish or slumber for long periods or if they simply request 904 grade. Most of our customer will have moved on in 10 years and don't see the point in spending more money on a liner that only the future owner of their house will benefit from.

Don't go for the 11kW stove by the way.....it's way too big. Your best buying a stove nearer what the room requires and running it up the top end of it's range.....the biggest mistake i see people make is buying a stove thats too big.

Swipe

hugh3s wrote: »

Looking for further advice. I live literally next to the forest, 10 yards from my front door. I know seasoned/cured wood burns better and more efficient, but since this wood available to me will be free i dont need to worry about efficiency. What is the shortest amount of time i could possibly get away with to let it dry out before chucking it on the burner. I'm hopefully having one installed this wkend and will be pained to pay for wood when there are fallen trees right on my doorstep.
Also, I've read somewhere that smokeless fuels can only be used in 904 liner, is that correct?

If you can find branches that have fallen from previous years (showing signs of rotting) they will be fine to burn straight away.

hugh3s

Thanks again all for the info. Sorry to be a pain, but what would you guys recommend for my room dimensions of 4.5 x 4.5 x 2.4m? A stove size calculator says 3.5kw, but I presume that will be for a modern house with 300mm cavities and a nice fat amount of insulation. In winter this freezing stone house will sit at 8-9C, and even with the gas CH running full pelt will reach 13-14. I want a multifuel burner that not only heats the living room, but will circulate as much heat as possible to the rest of the house. Roof insulation is to the max, and it is impossible to exclude all draughts in these places.

welda

Go for a 5kw max, any higher than this, you will have to install an air vent somewhere within the room, meaning more cold entering room. Air vent is a compliant requirement.

crphillips

For your room size i'd normally recommend a 5kW but given it's stone built and cold i think you should go for 8kW....this will leave you plenty in reserve.