Question for people with wood burning stoves

cliffski

So... Today we got our wood burning stove installed. Its a clearview one, which was one of the most expensive. Professionally installed at huge expenses, in an old (1700s) house. The stove was chosen with advice from the company who did a site visit, proper flue installed, blah blah.

Anyway, our first evening with it, and the heat output seems very low. I'm wondering if this is normal for the first usage of a wood burning stove? It's pretty tough to get it higher than 350 degrees F, unless you open all the airflow stuff which is supposed to be mostly closed when it runs.
I'm guessing this is partly because its a new stove, on new cold stone hearth in a cold brick fireplace, and the stove is new and totally empty. I've heard stoves burn much better when they have a bed of ash inside them. I'm also wary of putting too much or too little wood in the thing. It seems to eat wood fairly quickly, but should it be half full of wood as we look at it? a quarter? less?

I'd hate to think this is as hot as it gets To anyone who has a clean-burning stove, what was it like when freshly installed? does it take a while to 'run in'?

savemoney

Not sure but I was a told when I got mine dont let it run too hot for first few times to allow cast iron to harden up

Mine gave off a lot of heat but problem is it doesnt travel very far and certainly doesn't heat the whole hous even when room its in can be 24-26c when full going. It does take time to build heat up I say around 1 - 1 /12 hours

Interesting on BBC working lunch today they had a article on stoves, it couldn't say for certain that they are economical given the cost to install although attractive as they are a good asset to sell house. Unless of course you have a source of cheap wonder costs can be £2-3.5k to have plus chimney sweep each year £30-£40 and fuel on top

I must admit I fell for the cheap costs to run a few years back when gas prices jumped up. Now I find log prices last year jumped up due to demand on log burners

Cheap anything but, but nice to have

hermanmunster_3

Hi

we had a stockton inset 7 convector put in just before xmas. We started with logs but didn't get much heat partly because they were not really seasoned I think - also got through loads of them - also glass got really yucky. The snow came down ho ho - so I bought bags of smokeless coal (we are in a smokeless zone). the heat was fab from this and everywhere gets warmed up - I chuck on the odd log now and again to add to it. When it does get up to temp you can shut down the air inlets etc - the glass now stays fine. Not sure if the fire just improved with use or whether we got better at it or we got the fuel right.

I cleaned the glass with vinegar ash and newspaper.

We had a look at Clearview but TBH they seemed so keen on lining the chimney (and the staff in the shop pestered us!!! :mad:) that we decided to go for a different one, the chimnet is lined a few feet up to a smoke box - otherwise the good old edwardian chimney does its bit

savemoney

Yes you must used seasoned logs. If it does multi fuels (coal) that gives off more heat than wood

Despite door glass being clean burn it does get tarred I use a product called bar keepers friend to clean glass its brilliant multi purpose cleaner and doesn't scratch

I burned pallet and some of the wood and broke some of it up for kindling, got a nice big axe from Aldi for £10

Dont burn wood that has paint, or preservative on

If you sue wood make sure its dry it can be outside but must have something to cover the top to allow air flow. I kept mine in a old garage but kept door open during day unless it rained. I built a large store area to keep logs in from wood from B&Q and old pallets to keep it from falling down on my toes

hermanmunster_3

Like the sound of the wood store! I have splendid axe - just not enough weight or welly to effectively chop, though getting much better with practice!!! - very good way of keeping warm!!:rotfl:

Have nwo got a nice store of logs to season a bit more - just had to find a good supplier, have a good room in the basement (old loo I think) for them.

Love the stove - very glad we had it put in.

feesh

It depends on the stove (we have two and one, the newer one, is much more efficient than the other).

I have been told that having a stove in the house is like having an extra person - you have to get to know it and learn what type of wood it likes and how much air it likes too! It's so true - our stoves are completely different in character and it took us a few months to get to know what they like!

It also depends a LOT on the wood - our older stove just doesn't like the wood we have for it. We tried for weeks and weeks to find a supplier who could promise that their wood had been properly split and seasoned. Eventually we went to the local National Trust place and picked up a tonne.

However, our older stove doesn't do that well with it - it burns OK (with the vents fully open) but doesn't give out much heat. We think it's because the wood wasn't actually that well seasoned. You need to buy your wood at least a year in advance, and season it yourself if you want to be absolutely certain of well-seasoned wood, we have found.

However, a few weeks ago we brought a load of wood inside and left it in the lounge to dry out a bit more indoors - that seems to have done the trick as it was chucking out a lot more heat last night that normal.

But failing that, my tip would be to buy a few Blazeaways artificial logs for this year and get some wood ASAP to start seasoning now for next year.

Also, your Clearview should be as efficient, if not more so, than our newer stove, therefore I would have expected it to cope better with poorly seasoned wood. Have you got a good draw of air wooshing up your chimney? Was the installation signed off by a HETAS approved installer, or if not, did you get the Building Inspector round to sign it off?

PS this forum has a wealth of information http://www.thegreenlivingforum.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=21&sid=0dfe4117599575348e8415047bc82cb1

feesh

Forgot to mention too, that some stoves like to have a bed of ash and they get a bit better once they've been run a few times. Our older one likes no ash (as it seems to need as much air as possible) but our newer one does like a wee bed for the wood to sit on.

deano72_2

the trouble is people think that a woodburner is the ans to all there heating problems...i got a 10kw one & thought it would heat the whole hose,but was bit dissapointed at first.you live in an old house so i spect it will be bit drafty so make sure you get rid of drafts.most of my down stairs is open plan so has a big area to heat.they eat wood so dont think you can get away with the odd log,try build a nice base then put plenty of logs on it from the begining,i find the logs will last longer if you put a bunch on at a time rather than the odd 1 at a time.im doing £100 pm on logs at the mo,but will be getting out there in the summer & making use of the countryside.if you want max heat,then coal is your ans. ps i bet you will notice the difference if you dont have it running!

cliffski

Thanks for all the replies. I think its running better on day two, so I suspect the bed of ash is what it really needs to get going. We have a ton of wood on order which is seasoned, but right now we are burning through the £3.60 bags of logs from the local hardware store. I'm guessing they are probably a bit crap, so looking forward to burning the good stuff.
The bumpf with the stove says not to put anything on the top until its reached 475 degrees once, to 'bake in' the paint finish, which we havent quite managed yet, so I havent boiled any water on it yet

hethmar

Hi cliff, just read this post. OH fitted a Clearview 400 today for a customer and says within 10 minutes it was running at 500 degrees. You should have a thermometer on the stove and have it running at about 450 degrees apparently. Did you have the lining insulated? (Would add that this stove is OH's favourite and he reckons the best on the market).

cliffski

Thanks for the post, the stove is a clearview 500, and we haven't had it higher than 400 degrees. There is a thermometer attached to the side of it (the recomended one). I guess it may be a tad hotter at the front?
Right now my chief suspicion is that we are burning wood that isn't dry enough.