Woodburning Stove

chocbutton

Hello,

I've been lurking on here for, quite honestly, 5 years - sad that I didn't post before now.

Anyway, my question is: are woodburning stoves as efficient as we all hear about?

I have an open fire and we seem to go through 1.5 to 2 bags :eek: of coal a week (depending on the wind). My sister, on the other hand, has a woodburning stove. She says a bag of coal will last them 2 weeks. But, I don't think they light their stove as ofen as we light our fire. We light it pretty much every evening and don't turn the heat on. So, I'm wondering if a woodburning stove would be more efficient for me?

What does anyone think?

Thanks
C

RAS

Hi

You need a multifuel stove, not a wood burner.

About 85% of the heat from your fire goes up the chimney.

Depending on your multi-fuel stove, about 5-30 percent of the heat will go up the chimney; the lower amounts being for the most expensive burners that can be used in areas where smoke control regulations are in place. If you are using an open fire, you should not need to meet these requirements and even a much cheaper stove would be a good idea.

casperlarue

We have a 12kw multifuel stove in our lounge....which is quite a big room 3.5m x 7m with high ceilings. OH fits double glazing for a living so we always have a free supply of old wooden windows to use.

We calculated that it would cost us the same to pay for coal or wood for the stove or have the central heating on. The cheapest and longest burning coal we have found is 25kg for £7.50 and in the really cold weather we were getting through minimum 2 bags a week.

Coal and hardwood burn hotter and for longer than softwood, but you need to give the stove a good couple of hours to get up to temperature.

As you have an open fire you already know about the dust and ash! And they're a labour love...always needing attention so they don't go out!

Seakay

The other advantage of wood burners/ multifuel stoves is that the stove itseld is heated up and tehn you benefit from that heat as well as that of the fire itself. My woodburner is enamelled and holds the heat for quite a while. I am also able to benefit from free fuel in terms of pallets and untreated wood found in skips etc. Pine burns very quickly, but free is free! Don't be tempted to use treated wood - you chimney will gunk up very quickly and could be in danger of catching fire, even with yearly sweeping. I used to burn everything I could find and was told off by my chimney sweep!
My sister is in a more rural area and can collect dead wood from public land etc.

chocbutton

Hi,

Thanks for all the info.

It would appear from what casperlarue said that 2 bags/week seems to be norm. Which is what we're burning with the open fire as well.

So, all in all, it looks as though I might be better sticking with what we have at the minute if there's no long term gain.

Thanks for all you help
C

RAS

Er... no.

casperblue gets 12KwH or of her stove. Doubt if you get 2KWh, maybe just 1 depending on the wind.

quintwins

if you have the space and time i'd recommend a paper bricket maker and if you go to a local printer offer to supply a green bin and get 2 and make one away each week and bring the empty one back they'll bite your arm off for it, my hubbys and printer and they pay to get there paper taken away i really wish i had a fire so i could use it (i love a fire) i would still use some coal tho just for that nice homely feel, i really miss my fire , it's def worth shopping about for these i paid £14 for mine and it's the same as the £20 ones on ebay, only issue is you need space to store them and to dry them but once you get up a good stash of them they shud last you all winter (space premiting)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVGUui9XdgI

chocbutton

Hello Ras,

I was being really dippy there - forgot about the rating! Nitwit.

So maybe the multifuel stove is the way froward after all.

I may try quintwins's idea for next winter actually. That's a really good idea.

For anyone else who's like a fire/stove etc, my parents have an open fire with the back boiler, meaning the get roasting hot water if the fire is lit at all.

I've had friends there when I was younger who thought we were all mad when we all suddenly jumped up to run taps in the kitchen, bathroom etc. The hot water inside the back boiler was literally boiling and quite often we had to run the hot water off which seemed sacrilege! :eek:

Thansk
C

quintwins

chocbutton wrote: »

Hello Ras,

I was being really dippy there - forgot about the rating! Nitwit.

So maybe the multifuel stove is the way froward after all.

I may try quintwins's idea for next winter actually. That's a really good idea.

For anyone else who's like a fire/stove etc, my parents have an open fire with the back boiler, meaning the get roasting hot water if the fire is lit at all.

I've had friends there when I was younger who thought we were all mad when we all suddenly jumped up to run taps in the kitchen, bathroom etc. The hot water inside the back boiler was literally boiling and quite often we had to run the hot water off which seemed sacrilege! :eek:

Thansk
C

you'll be best to start in summer realisticially they need about 3 months to dry from what we've read anyway

and i fotten wonder why all taps aren't mixer taps and roasting hot tap and a cold one seems still my kids always wash there hands in cold water just incase cause our water gets roasting hot yet there is never enough for a propr bath i can't wait to move lol

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

grahamc2003

chocbutton wrote: »

Hello,

I've been lurking on here for, quite honestly, 5 years - sad that I didn't post before now.

Anyway, my question is: are woodburning stoves as efficient as we all hear about?

I have an open fire and we seem to go through 1.5 to 2 bags :eek: of coal a week (depending on the wind). My sister, on the other hand, has a woodburning stove. She says a bag of coal will last them 2 weeks. But, I don't think they light their stove as ofen as we light our fire. We light it pretty much every evening and don't turn the heat on. So, I'm wondering if a woodburning stove would be more efficient for me?

What does anyone think?

Thanks
C

Before I bought a stove, I read some reliable technical literature about the realistic efficiencies of stoves and open fires. I can't remember the source, but general impression was that stoves are about 7 times more efficient overall than open fires, typically *there'll obviously be differences between particular stoves and particular open fires.

After I ripped out my poorly performing open fire and installed a multifuel stove, I'd say the efficiency gain is pretty much as predicted.

Th gain comes from several factors. Operated properly, a stove burns all the fuel, by being hot enough such that any smoke burns when it finds some oxygen. The side effect is that the chimney keeps clean too when complete combustion takes place, and therefore no smoke exists which can condense into creosote or form soot by deposition.

A second major gain is the limitation of warmed air escaping up the chimney. An open fire tyically shoves several times the amount of air necessary for combustion, and a stove operated correctly limits the air to just enough for complete combustion. Warmed air from the room going up the chimney is of course replaced one way or the other by cold air from outside.