Wood burning stoves>

Leon_W

I bought a set of chimney brushes 10 years ago for £15 and do it myself. It isn't difficult.

Greenfires

Hi all,

My first post here - hope I can contribute a little to the forum!

I've not read the whole of this thread yet - but I will do! Just a couple of points to make so far though. There's a common misconception that stove installers insisting on liners are just trying to screw more money out of the job! There ARE cases where this is true I've no doubt - but to answer the "my chimney has worked perfectly well for the past 80 years" gang - the conditions inside a chimney serving a stove are COMPLETELY different to one serving an open fire. With an open fire you'll have around 5 cubic metres of air a minute charging up the chimney when the fire is on. This air will take the majority of the heat from the fire with it, and also the air will have to be replaced with fresh air from the outside. So - you have a hot chimney and a great deal of draught going up it.

When you fit a stove - the only draught going up the chimney is what's going through those tiny vents in the stove. Also, due to the baffling inside the stove, the majority of it's heat is put into the room rather than the chimney. This means a much lower chimney draught and a much cooler chimney - perfect conditions for all the smoke coming off that "bargain load of logs" to condense in the chimney and build up, sometimes to the point where it will catch fire, and sometimes to the point where it blocks the chimney completely. Those deposits can also start eating away at the mortar joints in the chimney, and eventually migrate right through the wall to appear on your nicely re-decorated bedroom wall, often accompanied by a very tarry smell. No, it won't happen in every case - but we see it often enough - and guess who gets the blame when it does happen? Yep - the poor old installer!

This is why many installers will insist on fitting a liner - it's not just a ploy to make more money. The factors above are also the reason why some open fires can actually have a negative efficiency - that's to say that overall, they will actually make the house colder due to all that air being sucked in from outside to replace what's going up the chimney.

The efficiency rating of a stove is usually nothing to do with the installer or the manufacturer by the way - stoves are tested independantly in laboratory conditions as part of the CE process.

Price of logs next. Please don't think there are loads of guys getting rich out of firewood! When I say "firewood" I mean logs that are ready for the fire - I don't mean the nets of ridiculously priced softwood logs you could hang on the washing line to drip dry that are often found on garage forecourts and DIY stores. These things have no place in any stove - and are NOT firewood. I also don't mean the logs that the local odd job man cut up in Mrs. Miggins garden last weekend - I mean proper seasoned ready to burn logs.

The price of cordwood has gone up hugely in recent times, as has the price of haulage to the firewood merchants yard - which he's probably paying business rates on by the way. The cost of fuel for his chainsaws or firewood processor has also gone through the roof, as has the cost of running his truck to deliver the logs to you once he's sat on them making no money at all for a couple of years in some cases. There's an awful lot of work gone into those logs sitting in your woodstore - and they're costing more and more to produce. The only thing that hasn't gone up is probably the amount of profit the log guy makes. So please don't think that just because "well trees grow all over the place" that it means that logs will, or should be cheap!

The price of a chimney sweep varies quite a bit around the country - I've seen £80 quoted in some parts. Cheapest isn't always best though - if your sweep turns up in his wifes car with a set of B&Q rods and a single brush - you may be better spending a bit more with somebody else who is equipped for the job. My vacuum alone cost over £700 for instance - but it's specially designed for doing chimneys. There are also enough second hand sets of rods and brushes on ebay to suggest that it's not a job for everyone by any means! A good sweep can offer you a lot more than sticking a brush up your chimney - I probably spend at least a third of my time talking to customers and showing them how to get the best out of their stoves and their fuel - because I have to say, a lot of them really don't have the first idea!

Right - that's me for now - more chimneys to go and sweep! I'll have a read through the rest of this post later though.

Cheers all,

Andy

highrisklowreturn

Nice advice Andy.

johnpateley

Hello Folks.
I am trying to decide which of these stove /cookers to buy and can find very little information on the Broseley and Magnum in actual use.
The Esse Ironheart is widely praised but is not as pretty as the others.
The Broseley and the Magnum are both similar and I suspect come out of the same factory somewere in deepest eastern europe!
the Broselely appears better finished and is slightly dearer.
Any information greatfully received.
Many thanks John

w50nky

Some possible reviews here if that helps.

http://www.whatstove.co.uk/

muckybutt

LondonLogCo wrote: »

There's a good write up on Wood & log burners & heating here.

Drop this below into a search box

Mark

Read the forum rules specifically the part that says "No-one should use their website's name, web address or email address as their username."

Post / user reported

daveloz1

Hello all I need some help please....

Just installed a Multi fuel stove, installed 10 foot 6" liner with cowl on top of chimney all done well.

Now I lit it last night after fire cementing all joints and register plate and in a unused fire place in the bed room some smoke enters the room and it stinks I have put my hand up the unused chimney and its slightly warm....

Now the twin wall installed liner cant leak so why is this happening do i need to blank the chimney off for the non used chimneys?? I have a stack and its 4 pots next to each other... thanks for any advice.

By the way I have stopped using wood burner for now until this is solved:(

Going2getanotherAga

daveloz1 wrote: »

Hello all I need some help please....

Just installed a Multi fuel stove, installed 10 foot 6" liner with cowl on top of chimney all done well.

Now I lit it last night after fire cementing all joints and register plate and in a unused fire place in the bed room some smoke enters the room and it stinks I have put my hand up the unused chimney and its slightly warm....

Now the twin wall installed liner cant leak so why is this happening do i need to blank the chimney off for the non used chimneys?? I have a stack and its 4 pots next to each other... thanks for any advice.

By the way I have stopped using wood burner for now until this is solved:(

If you're sure that the flue/liner is clear?, could be that your cowl doesn't have enough height, & moderate to strong winds are causing the bottle blow effect!. Might even be a poorly design stove!.
Did you set your liner at a slight angle?.

daveloz1

Hi well a plumber come out who does flues sorted it i can see the cowl sticking up from the chimney stack but thats all i can see... someone said if another flue is open it can cause downdraft which as well as air smoke would enter too so im thinking of getting him back to block the open unused flues

Going2getanotherAga

daveloz1 wrote: »

Hi well a plumber come out who does flues sorted it i can see the cowl sticking up from the chimney stack but thats all i can see... someone said if another flue is open it can cause downdraft which as well as air smoke would enter too so im thinking of getting him back to block the open unused flues

Plumber you say!. Well definitely sounds like someone needs to come have another look for you.
Your cowl for a multi-fuel needs to have at least 3" air clearance from top of pot to lid. At least 4/5inches + would be better, & a good wide open mesh/grill. Not a fine mesh, otherwise it'll just tar up & cause thick stubborn blockages in the liner.
Good luck getting it sorted!.