Wod burning stoves .... help please !

artydave

I've been looking at getting a wood burning or multi fuel stove, but each HETAS engineer I speak to gives my different answers !!

Amongst my questions are.....

1) Which gives better heat - a stove that works by radiant heat or one that works by convection ?

2) Why do some stoves have a similar fix box size, but some claim to be 5kw what fires and others 8kw fires?

3) i was originally looking at stovax fires, but because of the cost, i started looking at Westfire s(a danish company) stoves. Does anyone have any experience of Westfire stoves, as they are a lot cheaper ! Are they any good ? For example, the westfire uniq 5 is half the price of a stovax riva 40 ... !!

Any advice would be helpfull ....

crphillips

The heating ability of a stove is supposed to be better from a convection stove but i've seen very little difference and all stoves convect heat anyway. The convector stoves have a second layer of steel/cast bodywork that warms up from the radiated heat and then convects throughout the room.

Different designs give out different outputs. Also the output figures are not tested independently so they may not be entirely accurate.

Stovax fires are very well built which is why they're more expensive. I've installed a few Westfire stoves and they seem good. Check out www.whatstove.co.uk they get very good ratings.

artydave

Thanks.

what about 'hole in the wall' fires as apposed to free standing stoves. ome people have said the 'hole in the wall' ones are just as good as free standing ones, but others say they lose a lot of heat to the brickwork, despite being insulated around them.

Thanks for the link to the stove review site. I had already been on their and seen the good reviews of westfire stoves. I guess I was falling into the trap of getting 'one more opinion'. It just seems that some of the westfire stoves are half the price of their equivalent stovax ones .... so I did wonder where the catch was !!

Many of the westfire ones also have the option of getting a fresh air oulet direct into the stove, rather than needing a hole in the wall somewhere else in the room. Why don't more stoves, from other makers, have this option ? It seems like a great idea to me ... unless there is a catch ?

crphillips

It's basically down to thick thickness of materials used. They're not asd heavy and solid as other stoves of higher value but they're very well lined with good quality firebricks so should take the heat. They're a good option if you don't have as much money to spend. I would always go for the best you can afford though.

The hole in the wall sotves are great. We install hunreds of stoves a year and they're brilliant. They give of plenty of heat as they're well insulated if installed properly.

artydave

Thanks

What about stoves that accept a direct air supply pipe from outside. Is that a good idea or not ? I want to get a stove that heats the ground floor of the house, so ideally need one greater than 5kw output. I don't like the idea of having to have an air brick/vent into the room, causing draughts.

Also, hole in the wall fires .... I have been told that they cause crazing in the walls around them .... but nobody says how far this crazing goes.

Also, my fire opening is lined with breeze blocks. If have a hole in the fire installed, even with good insulation around it, is it likely to cause a problem with the breeze blocks ? i guess normal bricks are better at dealing with heat, rather than breeze blocks ...

dmlt

The best advice I was given was 'get the right size' as a small fire burning at full chat is much better than a large one at half chat as it will soot up your flue and be harder to keep alight and get to the right tempreture.

artydave

Thanks for the advice.

The concept of running a small stove at the right level does seem bette than running large fire at half level. I guess its a balance between runninga small stove at the right level, but not overrunning it ...as I guess that wears our part quicker ?

Also, if two fires appear to have exactly the same size firebox, but one is rated at 5kw and the other at 8kw, does that mean the 8kw REALLY is that more efficient ......or would it merely get through wood at a faster rate to achieve the higher output ? That may seem a silly question ... but as you can guess, wood burning stoves are not my area of experise....hence the reason I am on here asking questions !!

crphilips..... I don't actually live that far away ..... i am only in Ledston. when does your show room open ... I couldn't see that on your website link.

navig8r

If the first stove on this page is a woodburner,( http://www.fahrenheits.co.uk/#/gallery-2/4538175975 ) Is that a "spot the deilberate mistake" or is the floor below the front row of bricks a fireproof surface ,or has the picture for shortened the view?;)
g8r

welda

crphillips wrote: »

Cast is a !!!!!! to cut and weld..........likely hood is it will just keep on cracking elswhere if you try to weld it.

Only if you don't know what you're doing...............sorry I couldn't resist, I'll grab me welding leathers and hood:beer:

Joking apart, cast can be one of those mystery matls to weld, with correct rods and procedure, a quality long lasting repair can be made.

Regards............

Ps, and type of cast known..........

Pps, are there courses for this type of work, it is something that appeals to me, keep me home too?

crphillips

navig8r wrote: »

If the first stove on this page is a woodburner,( http://www.fahrenheits.co.uk/#/gallery-2/4538175975 ) Is that a "spot the deilberate mistake" or is the floor below the front row of bricks a fireproof surface ,or has the picture for shortened the view?;)
g8r

I wondered how long it would be until someone commented on that picture...........and i have a very good answer for you!

The stove in question is installed in a log cabin......therefore building regs don't apply.........we install stoves in many temporary buildings and we still like to make sure that they are safe and comply with building regs (even if they don't have to). With this particular installation the customer refused to have the hearth lengthened as it was 'too much effort' so i simply wrote on his recepit that this was suggested and refused by the client. Simply to cover my own a$$:-)

Please note though that buidling regs state there must be 225mm of hearth in front of the firebox. This means from the log retaining bars and not the front of the stove.......therefore it's only about an inch short anyway:-)

"Joking apart, cast can be one of those mystery matls to weld, with correct rods and procedure, a quality long lasting repair can be made."

This is very true but even the steel fabricators that do all of my work couldn't weld a baffel plate up that i took them recently.....even with proper cast rods and heating the baffel plate in an oven prior to welding. It looked like crazy paving, it was very bittle.

navig8r

crphillips wrote: »

I wondered how long it would be until someone commented on that picture...........and i have a very good answer for you!

The stove in question is installed in a log cabin......therefore building regs don't apply.........we install stoves in many temporary buildings and we still like to make sure that they are safe and comply with building regs (even if they don't have to). With this particular installation the customer refused to have the hearth lengthened as it was 'too much effort' so i simply wrote on his recepit that this was suggested and refused by the client. Simply to cover my own a$$:-)

Please note though that buidling regs state there must be 225mm of hearth in front of the firebox. This means from the log retaining bars and not the front of the stove.......therefore it's only about an inch short anyway:-)

I was going by thinking they were 9" bricks and the stove looks to be sat mid distance,4 inches or so from the front . Are the regs different for other parts of the country? when we put the stove in my Sons barn conversion the BI insisted on 300mm in front of the stove!

edit:
I can see now the 300mm is in case the stove is used with the doors open
g8r