Beginner stove tips - First burns

muckybutt

Williwoodburner wrote: »

Sounds a bit dangerous to me, a hearth is suposed to be made of non combustable material, ie stone or slate.

It is dangerous :eek: for gawds sake do not use any kind of combustable material as a hearth.

Some of highrisks posts are good, some bad .... that one is BAD

muckybutt

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

Stick to oil or gas then.

Why do you always have a pop if someone pulls you up, you should surely know that a combustable hearth is a stupid idea ? even covered in foil its still combustable.

highrisklowreturn

It isn't going to combust anytime soon or in any circumstances I can forsee.

MarshallMellow

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

1. Leave stove for two days after installation to allow cement to dry.
2. Use paper and a lot of kindling to make a fire, with a few bits of firelighter chucked in.
3. Add coal in small amounts at first where kindling fire is greatest.
4. Once coal lights add more coal around it and build up fire from there, until it's spread across stove, at which point you can 'choke' it with coal.
5. Wait 60-90 mins for the fire to hit full pelt, then turn the air vent down a quarter.

For a 6kw stove you would only be using 3/4 of a bucket of coal for one night's fuel, meaning you could draw out a 25kg bag over 3 days.

When it comes to what fuel to buy, I would recommend standard anthracite, sold in Northern Ireland as burnglow. I can buy this for £6 a bag from the local coal merchant. Personally I don't find Phurnacite necessary - the "-cites" suki alluded to are all types of Phurnacite which is essentially the dust from Anthracite, a naturally smokeless coal, compacted into ovals. Whilst I'm sure it burns and ignites much quicker than standard Anthracite which I would buy, I would doubt it gives a higher heat output.

When buying anthracite you can buy the standard stuff I get for reasonably cheap or buy Esse A which is a better type of anthracite. I believe Esse probably does burn a bit hotter; but the trade off comes in that it comes in smaller sizes, is harder to ignite than standard anthracite, is more expensive, and is arguably easier to get through than standard anthracite. As I see it, it would be pointless to be spending money on Esse despite its quality when its 33% more expensive than Burnglow which I buy, which comes in larger lumps, is easier to ignite owing to its being 'dustier', and which 'fills' the stove easily because it comes in bigger sizes.

Don't buy anything with coke in it as this will in all likelihood invalidate your warranty. Housecoal is a false economy.

Get a hearth - personally I just use a bit of kitchen work top (made of wood), covered in reflective foil. It does the job, and has saved me another £150.

For some reason, my earlier post has been removed, but I think it is important for people to know that this is a terrible idea. I'm 99.9% sure hr threw this in as an icendiary (excuse the pun) remark, it should be obvious that this is as good a money saving idea as chopping your feet off to save on shoes & socks!! The rest of the post was very helpful though, so thanks.

highrisklowreturn

I'm simply stating what I have, not what I would recommend. At the end of the day having any sort of fire in a house increases your risks of burning it down. You might as well require people to take lessons in using bread knives next lest they hurt themselves.

suki1964

MarshallMellow wrote: »

For some reason, my earlier post has been removed, but I think it is important for people to know that this is a terrible idea. I'm 99.9% sure hr threw this in as an icendiary (excuse the pun) remark, it should be obvious that this is as good a money saving idea as chopping your feet off to save on shoes & socks!! The rest of the post was very helpful though, so thanks.

Your post earlier was removed because it had no place here on the fuel forum as you well know

suki1964

Whilst I understand some people need to cut costs to the bone for themselves, perhaps posting what they do isnt always the best way forward on these forums

We all have our wee ways but I think that when posting on a public forum we need to post the " regulations"

Btw my own hearth is a home build, marine ply and tiled

Bprudent

smcqis wrote: »

Im getting the stove in next week and is there any tips you have gather that would be useful for me apart from th obvious like experiment with whats best and use dry wood etc

What about first burn, should it be a small fire to "season" the stove?

Hi
I have used solid fuel stoves for the last twenty years. I am a BIG fan of these because if properly looked after they last for many years and give excellent results.
If your new stove is a room heater say installed in a lounge, you need to know whether it is set up as for multi fuel including coke and wood or alternatively set up to burn only wood. The latter has the grate absent such that the ashes sit on the bottom of the unit as opposed to a stove set up for coke which has a mechanism to allow for raking the fire to allow for the ashes to drop into a removable tray beneath the grate holding the hot fire (fuel).
Assuming that you have a multi-fuel stove:
Never attempt to burn house coal on it. Buy only fuel designed for stoves (not open fires which therefore excludes house coal). I only ever tried it once and nearly burnt my face off when opening the stove door and flames soot and smoke blasted out!
Yes I would have your first fire going gently to season the stove and fittings. Bear in mind that the flue joints may be of fire cement or more likely with a professional installation of high temperature silicone. Both substances require some time to set and from my experience best set after allowing some time after the initial installation followed by a gentle heat up.
In respect of safety aspects, personally I consider it essential to have the stove mounted on a non combustible platform. That would for me exclude any wood or wood composite materials.
Out of interest I currently have a 5KW stove in my lounge. It runs on Britecite or Supacite. A 300KG delivery of fuel (costing about £100) lasts for two months in winter having the stove lit every night for about 12 hours before it goes out.

suki1964

Can I please appeal to whoever it was who reported marshmellows previous post to highrisk to come clean ? As at a time when I'm having to cope with both my father and mother in law dying I really could do without the mail box of abuse

MarshallMellow

suki1964 wrote: »

Can I please appeal to whoever it was who reported marshmellows previous post to highrisk to come clean ? As at a time when I'm having to cope with both my father and mother in law dying I really could do without the mail box of abuse

And you accused me of taking this thread off topic! Out of respect for the forum, I sent you a PM, which you could have replied to. You chose a public venue for this. Directly or indirectly, you were responsible for the posts being removed, and I still stand by the fact that they were valid posts putting some of what hr says into context, and not an attempt at bullying as you put it.
As a side note, I'm sorry for what you are going through, it must be very tough.