My Log Burner Not Getting Hot.

redlady_1

Oh he did, but then I have learnt so much more about stoves, burning wood and types of wood from here than I ever could learn from a manual. Not to mention how to get the best from him.

There is no better way I feel to learn about something than from those who have experienced/used it. Manuals also tend to cover the suppliers backs.

Open fires remind me of growing up and tin baths!

JAN1_3

If you get a wood burning stove buy a cast iron one you will save a fortune on fuel costs. We have had ours for 25 years. Next door had a steel one and it used more fuel in one day than ours used in about five. Keep wood as long as possible or all you are doing is boiling water.

navig8r

Do you have the makes of the stoves in question?are they heating like for like spaces to the same temperature?You may have got a particulary good cast stove and your next door neighbour may have a poor steel stove so its difficult to generalise on the one experience.
There are some good and bad stoves in either material and sorting the wheat from the chaff can be daunting
g8r

AGBAGB

JAN1 There's too many variables to generalise on the benefits of cast iron over fabricated steel. Material wise, the cast iron will be more brittle, and can crack if abused, badly designed, poorly manufactured or low quality iron. These are the things to consider with cheap imported stoves.
Burning efficiency has nothing to do with the materials, it's down to the design, instalation, fuel and how it is used.
You are of course perfectly right about the need to burn seasoned logs.

A._Badger

AGBAGB wrote: »

JAN1 There's too many variables to generalise on the benefits of cast iron over fabricated steel. Material wise, the cast iron will be more brittle, and can crack if abused, badly designed, poorly manufactured or low quality iron. These are the things to consider with cheap imported stoves.
Burning efficiency has nothing to do with the materials, it's down to the design, instalation, fuel and how it is used.
You are of course perfectly right about the need to burn seasoned logs.

AGBAGB is right. Steel has many advantages (and one or two disadvantages) in comparison with cast iron. Efficiency has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with what a stove is made out of. It is how it is designed and made and fired that count.

crphillips

True....steel is as good as cast, if not better. All the top makes of stoves are steel bodied.

The only thing with using steel is that it allows manufatcurers to make them of very thin material but pay £300 for any stove and it's going to be rubbish. Cheap cast is as bad as cheap steel.

Dunsley are steel and very solid, heavy stoves....same for Charnwood, Clearview, Esse....etc.

dream41166

I have a stockton 4 and it really kicks heat out, its steel body and a cast door. it gets very hot very quick and as I am lucky to get free wood I dont take notice of how much it uses but if I fill it up it burns for about an hour or so before filling again but it is sofe wood. I have only turned my central heating on twice this winter to test its ok and the house has been warm ( how many people had to have there windows open on christmas day to let the heat out ?) I love my log burner , best thing I have ever done . ::)

Swipe

dream41166 wrote: »

I have a stockton 4 and it really kicks heat out, its steel body and a cast door. it gets very hot very quick and as I am lucky to get free wood I dont take notice of how much it uses but if I fill it up it burns for about an hour or so before filling again but it is sofe wood. I have only turned my central heating on twice this winter to test its ok and the house has been warm ( how many people had to have there windows open on christmas day to let the heat out ?) I love my log burner , best thing I have ever done . ::)

A 4 KW stove was able to heat your whole house in the coldest winter in 30 years? What do you live in, a matchbox? I have a 5.5KW stove in a 20sq metre room and I struggled to maintain 20C on the coldest nights last winter when temps dropped below -5.

soursweet

Found this on jamesthesweep.co.uk's it may help the site is a wealth of information

Steps to maximum wood burning efficiency


Burn seasoned wood as this burns hotter and more efficiently; it helps decrease the amount of creosote build up in your stove-pipe and saves you money.

Make your fires small and hot. This burns volatile gases more quickly, producing fewer safety hazards and air quality problems than a fire that is over-damped. Smaller, hotter fires mean more frequent loading and tending the stove. Install a stove thermometer on the stove flue. This will help you monitor the temperature of the gases as they leave the stove. Optimum range for most efficiency and least pollution: about 300 to 400°F.

Remove excess ashes. Too much can clog your stove’s air-intake vents and cut down on the amount of oxygen needed for wood-burning.

Check your chimney stack. Burn your stove at different rates then go outside and check the emissions. The absence of smoke indicates that your stove is burning cleanly and effectively.

Inspect your stove. Once or twice a year, depending on how often it is used, your entire stove and chimney should be swept and inspected. Look for warping, check the baffle to make sure there are no gaps and check for creosote.

Choose the proper size stove. A properly sized wood stove will do its job efficiently even on the coldest days. Wood stoves that are too big need to be damped down, which increases creosote production.

Buy the most efficient design you can afford. It will pay for itself in the long run.

Burn only the fuel your stove was designed for. For example, do not burn coal in a wood stove unless your stove was designed to handle both wood and coal. Rubbish should not be burned in your stove either. As well as increasing the chance of starting a chimney fire, some plastics and other rubbish emit harmful gases.

lamplighter2

if you want good wood to burn on your stove the best is beech,ash,hazel,cheery.as it is summer get some in now and store either in a shed or a lean to with roof and part sides to stop rain getting in and leave untill the winter this will alow it to dry out, also split logs are better as they burn better whole logs are ok but you need a hot fire to get them to catch.
oak and any dense wood burns very slow and has a tendency to go out if the fire is not hot.
i use coal to start to get a hot bed then load with logs, nice and cosy in the winter.
hazel is a very good wood and burn very fast beech and ash burn slower but produce a good heat do not burn fir wood unless you want to tar up your chimney