Beginner stove tips - First burns

highrisklowreturn

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.

As you can see, I didn't just post that to be controversial:

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=f4ip82" target="_blank"><img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/f4ip82.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

Swipe

@HR - Why not just do what I did and buy 4 riven flagstones from your local builders yard for around £10. They will be much safer and look a damn sight better.

MarshallMellow

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

As you can see, I didn't just post that to be controversial:

No you didn't.

Back to topic, does anyone make and use the paper briquettes? Would these be used as an alternative to kindling or as actual fuel?

suki1964

We made a huge pile of them one winter which we are still burning

We use fhem to extend the life of the fire on nights when you don't want a fierce heat Like this weather the house soon gets toasty and stays toasty so piling on the coal would cook you. A brick burns for about 40 mins to an hour as long as you don't poke at it. Makes a huge mess of ashes

highrisklowreturn

Swipe wrote: »

@HR - Why not just do what I did and buy 4 riven flagstones from your local builders yard for around £10. They will be much safer and look a damn sight better.

What's a riven flagstone and would they cut it to shape for me?

Swipe

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

What's a riven flagstone and would they cut it to shape for me?

These are riven flagstones and they come in all sizes and very easy to cut if you buy the cheaper prefabbed ones. I have 4 60x60cm ones cemented on top of each other.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=655&q=riven+flagstones&gbv=2&oq=riven+fl&aq=0S&aqi=g-S3&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1070l3251l0l6965l8l8l0l0l0l0l242l1485l0.5.3l8l0

highrisklowreturn

Nice. Any tips on a make shift register plate? Would putting reflective foil around where stove pipe enters chimney stop heat loss and put the heat back into room?

Swipe

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

Nice. Any tips on a make shift register plate? Would putting reflective foil around where stove pipe enters chimney stop heat loss and put the heat back into room?

Forget the foil idea. Why not get a square metre of some thick aluminium sheeting, borrow some tin snips and fabricate your own? Ask around, lots of people have old peices of scrap metal lying around in their garages or try you local scrapyard.

highrisklowreturn

That's the problem. I wouldn't know where to start. I'm up the creek without a paddle now as essentially I only have an open fire, in a box. Whilst the stove is good enough as it is when the temperature is still in double figures, it is pretty lame on cold nights where the temperature falls below 5c. Having been asking about I've been told by others it's because I didn't get a register plate on. I was on the phone today to another sweep who of course gave me the spiel that he wouldn't put a plate in but would condemn the installation as it doesn't have stainless steel lining (yawn). Then I spoke to another stove dealer who said that my problem is that I don't have a plate and that the area above the stove needs to be completely airtight. The problem is now I don't think my original installer, who is a sweep, sounds keen on the idea. In honesty I don't think he wants to bother as it would be a pain in the !!!! having to cut the sheet metal to fit around the stove pipe, then seal it up. It certainly isn't something that I could do, although I've contemplated buying a sheet of fireboard - £15 - painting it with heat reflective paint, attempting to cut the hole in the middle, then cutting it horizontally, then fixing it in with some type of sealant. However I'm not an expert and don't want to cause a f up.

grahamc2003

I got my register plate made up by the local blacksmith. Before that, I didn't even know I had a local blacksmith!. For £100, he made to measure a thick (probably 1/4inch) plate and cut the hole out, delivered and fitted it (he used 3 supports, which were fixed to the chimney with screws embedded into epoxy stuff squirtred into drilled holes), then positioned my stove and stove pipe. He left me with a big tub of fire cement to seal everything up.

The only thing he did wrong was putting the hole in the middle of the plate - I wanted it a couple of inches forward of centre to gve flexibility of the stove position, and the possibility of using the rear flue exit.

The register plate needs to quite rigid, since it isn't supported on the front edge, and possible has to support whatever may fall down the chimney (unlined, like yours) without flopping too much (and therefore breaking the airtight seal).