Woodburning stoves - or the gas versions?

Colliewobble_2

Hi all,

Hope you could offer some collective advice! (An please excuse any typos, my ancient laptop is on its last legs!:()

I've been hankering after a woodburning stove for some while now (a friend has a Morso Squirrel in her cottage!).

I live in a 1930s semi, the chimney breast has been plastered over but I've knocked it and the void is still there. I've *only* got central heating, which is warm enough, but I lack the 'cosy' feeling of a focalpoint hearth.

Friends in suburbia have been installing woodburners, and as my front room isn't very wide, I think knocking back into the chimney breast to create a sort-of inglenook would be more space efficient than putting in an 'external' (IYKWIM) fireplace and additional hearth.

I'd love to have the option of knocking off the CH and just having the fire on of an evening, as I hate sleeping in wrm rooms.

However, the storage of logs, cost of flue lining, waiting for the fire to heat up etc puts me off slightly (and I'd have to pay on top for someone to open up my chimney breast also).

I've done a heck of a lot of research into this, I know I'm in a smokeless zone and so would need a Defra approved stove, and I know I'll have to factor in a professional HETAS fitter, flue linings etc, but also I notice that some of the more 'well known' stove manufacturers (eg Morso, Esse, Franco Belge etc) do gas versions of their woodburners.

Does anyone have experience of these gas stoves? Are they any good? At all effective at heating and do they look at all realistic? Or would I be better off just biting the bullet and going woodburning/multifuel?

Many many thanks in avance, I'm just a tad confused!!!

CW

muckybutt

Having had both a gas stove and a proper stove I would personally go the real fire route.

To save extra pennies you dont have to have your chimney lined, it makes it easier to sweep and clean and might improve draw but if the chimney is in good enough condition then I wouldnt bother.

The gas one we had was a catalytic one ie it didnt need a chimney. Extremely energy efficient something like 98% I cant remember exactly, never seemed cosy though - nice and warm but just didnt have the ambiance of a real fire.

Doozergirl

muckybutt wrote: »

To save extra pennies you dont have to have your chimney lined, it makes it easier to sweep and clean and might improve draw but if the chimney is in good enough condition then I wouldnt bother.

I agree that a real fire is worth it; make sure you are allowed open fires - that you aren't in a smoke free area, or if you are that you have appropriate smokeless fuel.

No proper fireplace installer would install a new woodburner without flue liners though. And it's expensive - £1200 is quite a typical amount.

With regard to space, you do need an amount of hearth in front of the fireplace for building regs so you may find that you don't save much space at all with a woodburner over a insert/surround type of open fire - maybe 6"? And in terms of cost, if the chimney is suitable, it won't need lining for the open fire and cost of installation can look more like £300.

bryanb

Colliewobble wrote: »

Does anyone have experience of these gas stoves? Are they any good? At all effective at heating and do they look at all realistic?

CW

Yes I have a gas one, Heats very well and quickly. Plus I don't have the filth involved with burning wood etc.
On the minus side I don't keep warm by sawing wood.

Eton_Rifle

I have a Morso (I can't remember which model but it has double doors) and agree with your thoughts and the comments of those above.

It certainly puts out a roaring heat - it's in our old dining room and we put a sofa and armchairs in front of it but you couldn't actually sit in them when it was on! You could just about bear to sit at the dining table if you closed the stove doors.
With the doors open, the heat goes right through to the siting room and beyond and heats up that whole section of the house very well.

It just eats logs up so a large storage area is best so you can get a full or half lorry-load delivery to get the best price.

We placed a metal dish on ours and kept it topped up with water so the air wouldn't get too dry.

We also discovered that you need a chimney sweep who knows what he's doing with these things. We had a sweep come one year and he was fine with the regular open chimneys but he only partially removed an old bird's nest from the stove chimney because of the L-shaped section behind it (he had no idea what to do with the stove and didn't know how to access the chimney properly) and of course we had a chimney fire which was rather frightening.

sunshinetours

In answer to the original post I don't think you will ever match a real fire for ambience and heat output (if set right) but I don't think it is a cheap option either way unless you have a good regular supply of decent firewood when the balance would swing in favour of the real stove

We've looked into this several times and still haven't jumped yet but likely will be going the balanced flue gas route. Yes some of the gas ones do look very realistic and you can even open the doors on some (purely for aesthetics I think). If gas prices keep rising then they will become more expensive to run but the laws of supply and demand tend to indicate to me that so will the cost of wood. However having some secondary source of non piped in fuel (gas or electric) obviously makes sense if things get really bad and we have no electric or gas supply!

If you go the gas route make sure you get one that can heat the room comfortably, so don't underspec it for a smaller output model

Keep us updated as interested in this

Thanks