Woodburner installed - thanks everyone for advice

highrisklowreturn

Ok so should I get a hot plate or something put in? I can't get an eco fan as they're too big to fit in the space above the stove. Seems all my heat is either immediately above the stove, or right in front of it.

antdad

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

Where could I get an angled diffuser from and would it be difficult to install?

Sorry it's not called diffuser its a convection chamber but if you have little or no gap at the rear of the stove you're wasting your time.


http://www.backwoodsman-stoves.co.uk/TOPICS/INSTALLATION/Installation06.html

http://www.backwoodsman-stoves.co.uk/TOPICS/INSTALLATION/Installation07.html


If I were you I'd increase the size of the hearth and have the stove repositioned so the heat rises directly into the room however if you don't have a rear outlet on the stove you might not be be able to.

highrisklowreturn

I've got a rear flue outlet however I'm not keen on repositioning the stove as it would drastically cut back on space in the room, not look 'right' with respect to the hearth/fireplace etc. I am interested however in how this convector plate idea works. I was toying with the idea yesterday of trying to make something out of aluminium foil and something which resists heat but don't wish to do this as I'm not an engineer and don't wish to do anything which could screw up. I can't also get an eco fan, as I only have 15cm from the top of stove to where the stove pipe disappears, meaning I couldn't use it to throw the air back into the room (if I did have the extra 10cm it could be ideal as I could buy two of these).

All this is disappointing as even today, with one log and a bit of peat, the heat above the stove was just perfect and what others have been describing for how good these machines are; whereas the heat at the front was no more than a 2 bar heater (if that). Indeed, even last night with a good amount of smokeless homefire coal in it still wasn't so much as heating especially well where I sit, let alone the entire room as promised.

grahamc2003

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

I am interested however in how this convector plate idea works. I .

I think the explanation given in the link Antdad supplied really misses the point.

For a start, the warm air will (and obviously does) circulate into the room, witrh or without the 'convector plate'. It may help convection a little, but I doubt by any noticable amount.

Where is would help greater is in reflecting (if silver and shiny) or emitting (if black) radiant heat into the room. (I think the first person to mention these things was thinking in terms of radiation, and not convection, since that's partly what the shape of the 'throat?' in a normal open fire does).

But all this is advanced stuff imv, final tweaks to extract every little bit of heat, and you haven't got to grips with the very basics yet - i.e. you have to generate some heat for it to be reflected or convected into your room, and it appears to me you aren't there yet.

Serioulsy, have you got a register plate fitted? If not, you'll lose about 80% of the potential heat of your stove, and it'll be less efficient than even an open fire.

antdad

grahamc2003 wrote: »

I think the explanation given in the link Antdad supplied really misses the point.

For a start, the warm air will (and obviously does) circulate into the room, witrh or without the 'convector plate'. It may help convection a little, but I doubt by any noticable amount.

Actually with the stove tightly enclosed it really doesn't circulate hot air very effectively at all and the OP's experience so far tends to confirm that.

In my case I had a similar setup (with a register plate) and I was deeply disappointed with the performance, that was greatly improved when I repositioned the stove partially forwrd into the room (10") and further improved with an angled "convection plate". Without the plate, the hot air tended to stall and just sit under the fire place which I monitored with a laser thermometer.

A large % of heat from these stoves naturally radiates from the top plate and straight up the flue especially if the flue is top mounted, all you are doing is heating the surrounding brick work or losing the heat straight up the chimney. If you keep the stove positioned as is a convection plate might make a small difference but your stove is so tightly enclosed I think you will continue to be dissapointed, stick an oil heater in a cupboard and leave the door open and see what how effectively it heats that room.

highrisklowreturn

I think you hit it on the head. Have two ideas - to cover the gap above the stove with foil or some other type of reflective material; and to perhaps install an eco fan. I don't have sufficient room however for the fan - I only have 15cm above stove and minimum I could find for an eco fan is 23.5cm in height. However I could maybe get around this if I could solder something which would convect heat into the bass of the eco fan which could be attached to the rear of the stove, giving a perfect angle to blow heat into the room. The only consideration then is if the fan will blow a sufficient amount of heat into the room - but I could maybe buy two of them, for either side of the flue.

Ironically the heat immediately above the stove gives the type of temperature I was expecting and told by the evangelists I could get out of a stove.

suki1964

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

Ironically the heat immediately above the stove gives the type of temperature I was expecting and told by the evangelists I could get out of a stove.

Why do you insist on being so rude to people on this forum who have gone out of their way to help and advise??

A 5kw stove as you have been told time and time again is ample for the size of the rooms you want heating. It is not our fault that you have a bodge job of a fitting - trying to put a free standing stove into a tiny opening like that is madness.

A stove is in essence a metal box - its the metal that gets hot and generates the heat. If you have all the stove surrounded by fireplace -it doesnt take a genius to work out the room is not going to get warm and that all the hot air is going up the fireplace

antdad

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

Ironically the heat immediately above the stove gives the type of temperature I was expecting and told by the evangelists I could get out of a stove.

You are getting the heat out of the stove just not into the room because of the poor installation.

Answer two questions:

How much gap is there between the rear of the stove and the rear chimney wall?

What is the stove pipe attached to when you look up into the chimney, is the pipe attached to a steel plate that completely fills void between pipe and chimney wall? Is it sealed?

highrisklowreturn

Think it's sealed in with firerope and cement. Maybe two inches to the back wall behind the stove.

hethmar

Oh course, the stove may have something to do with poor performance. You do tend to get what you pay for.