Wood burning stoves>

Foggy

I moved into a 1900's terrace a couple of months ago and it has an old wood burning stove. Anyway I lit it an hour ago and it's going fine. The lady I bought the house from said she never used it. There was a box with wood and newspapers in - dated October 2004.

I've just read this thread and I'm now wondering if I maybe shouldn't have. There's smoke coming out of the chimney and it's boiling in here. Should I be worried about anything?

A._Badger

Keep a close eye on it tonight and don't build too big a fire. Get the chimney properly swept as soon as you can - before you next light it - just in case you have any issues with the state of the chimney or the stove.

Hope that helps.

muckybutt

A._Badger wrote: »

Keep a close eye on it tonight and don't build too big a fire. Get the chimney properly swept as soon as you can - before you next light it - just in case you have any issues with the state of the chimney or the stove.

Hope that helps.

Agree with that Badger, if you have just moved into a house and dont know the history of when the chimney was swept then best advice to get it swept, better safe than sorry !

russt2000

I been reading your posts, and I infer that some of you just a a room heating
stove/fire in the living room , and you are finding it is helping to heat the house
nicely too ,not just that one room?

im up near the moray firth in Scotland and in an old 1900 house , have been
thinking I would need all radiators too {only old storage at the moment},
as I want to try to replace some windows and have a limited supply of dosh, how
much what range for a good wood/multifuel room heater ?

definately would need a lining to go in , so any good tips on reliable makes and anybody up here used a good company?

thanks
russ

Swipe

A standalone wood burner will not be sufficient to heat the whole house on a cold winter's day unless it is the size of a small furnace or has a back boiler feeding rads. However, it would be not out of the question for one to manage it at this time of year.

twiglet98

It's looking less and less likely that I can afford a stove with doors so will have to make do with my old and inefficient Rayburn Rembrandt open fire, with its broken grate and firebricks. Found an old drain grid in the shed which fits over the hole in the grate so at least kindling and wood won't fall through.

I've just phoned a sweep whose van I'd seen elsewhere in the village, and been quoted £60 to sweep the chimney for a standard 30-40 minute job, more if there's a lot of debris and it takes longer (the chimney hasn't been swept for 12 years, but only stopped drawing properly last year). He said for future reference it is 20% cheaper from January to August. He has all the relevant approvals and is on the Guild website. Seems a lot though.

savemoney

It wont heat up a entice house unelss if open plan and very small, certainly not a 3 bedroom semi which we have which has double opening doors to open plan for living, kitchen diner. This is a 8kw stove we have burnings seasoned logs

hethmar

Waynes World, you could have had no end of people fitting it with a wet system BUT it would be neither fish nor foul and as an installer of 25 years experience my OH always tries to discourage people fitting a woodburner with back boiler.

Mummy bear, I think people who live in the rural or semi rural areas with large gardens dont have a problem with sawing up and storing the wood needed.

Just read some comments re "dodgey installers". We now have to register the fitting of stoves and liners in triplicate. Once a HETAS registered person signs off a stove and liner he is responsible for its safety as a "competent person". Whilst many chimneys in this country are not lined or their original lining has disappeared over time - and they are perfectly safe - it is a fact that once people start using woodburners the instance of chimney fires go up.

The important thing is to get yourself a good NACS sweep who will issue you with a certificate of attendance each time and to make sure you have a good sweep access (which is a legal requirement). If an appliance has an output in excess of 5 Kw it is also necessary to have an external source of air to the room.

savemoney

I wont be using mine much this year due to 22% price hike in logs due to everyone jumping in on this now

TBH it's nice having one but and its a big but, you have to have some where to store logs from rain, I have a very large old garage and one wall around 75% of its length (2 logs deep) and around 7 foot in height is taken up when I buy a years supplier for Oct-Mar/April use. The there is kindling to get a couple of bags of that I just use old pallets which I break up with axe and saw.

You have the mess of cleaning the burner out which isnt that bad compared with a open fire but even with my clean burn system the door dos get tar from wood.

I had to pay over 2k for mine with chimney lining and burner etc. Plus you need chimney sweep once a year cost me £40 in August

Had I known back then what I know now I wouldn't get one

I still have a small amount of logs form last year which I use but I refuse to pay 22% given that you still have to have central heating one and when you think about it I pay this

Gas tariff Tier 1 (up to 1143 kWh) 4.192p per kWh
Gas tariff Tier 2 (above 1143 kWh) 2.314p per kWh

I go over tier one anyhow so I may as well go into tier 2 its cheaper.

I spent over £110 for logs a year for 4-5 months worth and that went up to £140

greyteam1959

Hey Twiglet98......
I think that chimney sweep is taking the p**s.....£60 quid !!
Between £25 and £40 more than enough.
But I am sure a chimney sweep will be along in a few minutes to correct me !!!