Has anyone owned a stove with back boiler for yrs?

happy_gardener

I am still on the look out for a stove....some days I think it is the 'way-to-go- and other days I hear my Mother saying how the old storage glass fronted fire she used to have was a waste..not sure if this will be the same as a modern day stove.
I wondered whether anyone has had one and had it for years and years? ...like past the guarenteed time...
I appreciate that you have be more careful with fuel burned in a stove, but at least with my current open fire....if I think it is not 'drawing' too well....I lift out the back panels of the grant thingy and remove any built up soot. If I get the stove in...obviously they will be digging out the old and putting in the new. I do not want to regret the installation. I know they are more efficient that open fires...but I know how to deal with an open fire!
I do not want the proposed stove to crack/need replacing/not heat as well...as the open fire. I am saving hard for the stove..and would not have the money to re-do anything once done.
Any thoughts??

highrisklowreturn

Stay with the fire, just had a stove installed, and whilst it's nice, I wish I'd got everything with it. Ultinately fires are better in so many respects to stoves, all that heat "lost" up the chimney is actually warming the cavity of the chimney to assist in the removal of fire debris such as as creosote etc whereas as stoves give more heat to the room they have have insufficient warmth to do this.

suki1964

happy_gardener wrote: »

I am still on the look out for a stove....some days I think it is the 'way-to-go- and other days I hear my Mother saying how the old storage glass fronted fire she used to have was a waste..not sure if this will be the same as a modern day stove.
I wondered whether anyone has had one and had it for years and years? ...like past the guarenteed time...
I appreciate that you have be more careful with fuel burned in a stove, but at least with my current open fire....if I think it is not 'drawing' too well....I lift out the back panels of the grant thingy and remove any built up soot. If I get the stove in...obviously they will be digging out the old and putting in the new. I do not want to regret the installation. I know they are more efficient that open fires...but I know how to deal with an open fire!
I do not want the proposed stove to crack/need replacing/not heat as well...as the open fire. I am saving hard for the stove..and would not have the money to re-do anything once done.
Any thoughts??

if your fire isnt drawing properly - have you had the chimney swept??

If you have a working fire then its up to you to decide if you can justify the costs of having a stove fitted. usually this means the fireplace being opened up and a flu needed for the chimney as well as a registrar plate and the hassles of getting it signed off by building control.

I have a stove because we had no fireplace, My stove is free standing with a double walled flu ( which costs a fortune) and throws out a lot of heat for very little fuel. But if I had a an open fire Id stick with that

warmhands.coldheart

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

.......stoves give more heat to the room .....

Is this not the exact point of a fire/Stove??? To actually HEAT the room !!!

Open fires are only about 20% efficient, so contrary to popular belief, you'd actually be better using the money you spend on coal or sticks to burn in a fire that heats one room on oil or gas to fuel a central heating system that heats the entire house!

Witless

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

Is this not the exact point of a fire/Stove??? To actually HEAT the room !!!

Open fires are only about 20% efficient, so contrary to popular belief, you'd actually be better using the money you spend on coal or sticks to burn in a fire that heats one room on oil or gas to fuel a central heating system that heats the entire house!

May I beg to differ? (Though obviously our case is slightly different to the scenario you describe).

That might be the case for an open fire without a boiler but our fire & high output (Grant?) backboiler is a central heating system that heats the entire house, it heats the room, the radiators throughout the house, the domestic hot water and the 'wasted' heat from the chimney heats the roofspace.

And, apart from the aesthetics, during last winter when it was lit 24/7 (apart from a while on a Saturday morning to properly clean it out) it was more cost effective than oil; plus we, unlike the neighbours, didn't have any frozen pipes.

happy_gardener

> I get my cmimney professionally swept every 6mths (whether it needs it or not).
>I have grant back boiler which warms all my radiators (12) and the water too. When the fire is not lit, then I 'click' on the oil central heating.
> When I describe the fire not drawing well....it is just sometimes the smoke comes into the room when the fire is just lit. I just open the window slightly and the problem is solved.

Like I said, the open fire is tough...we can basicially burn what ever we like...within reason...

I only was looking into the stove thing to maximise the use of the heat...which I can se goes up the chimney....

I wanted to se whether anyone had one...for say 10 yrs and loves it...or the opposite...regrets getting it in....

The open fire...when the embers die down...also makes great toast!

suki1964

Make toast on a stove as well

Stoves are easy peasy once you get the hang of yours. I regret there isnt a back boiler on the downstairs stove but me mum put that in without discussing it with us and now shes too old to be coping with the stress of the work. Theres so much heat from a stove its a shame not to channel some of it to be heating the rads.

I think you will find that once you master your stove - ie - find the best fuel for it, what adjustments to air flow are needed to get the best burn etc etc you will find that although perhaps you will pay more for the fuel ( smokeless is a lot dearer) you wont be burning so much. You really dont want to be burning unseasoned wood or housecoal

You will need an air vent in the room the stove is fitted

I cant imagine there would be anyone who regrets having a stove with back boiler - esp with the winters we have had of late, but there would be a good few like myself who regret not having the back boiler

happy_gardener

Mmmm......

suki1964

happy_gardener wrote: »

Mmmm......

Is that a good Mmmmm or a bad mmmmm?

happy_gardener

Oh...it is a 'thinking Mmmmm'.
It is not that I can't make a decision...more that I do not want to make a terrible mistake...spending the best part of £3500 and can't burn the off cutts of wood/bits of pallet boards etc...and the cost of fuel that I might have to buy is not worth it. Also I do not want the think to crack/warp etc. But I do want the heat to be more efficient...but only on the wood that I can easily get.....not bought in wood.

suki1964

Ah

Using wet wood in a stove is a nightmare tbh - Ive done it and all it does is cause the glass to get messy and forever feeding the stove to keep it at temp

However if you have a good supply of wood and have somewhere you can season it - you will get more heat from a log on the stove then you would on the open fire

I use the smokeless because I just can not get seasoned hard wood at a reasonable price. Every now and then I will get some bags of hard wood but its never dry enough to burn and I just have to stack it till it is - what I buy this year MAY be fit to burn next