Are multifuel stoves cost effective nowadays?

Gloomendoom

A 3kw fan heater would probably a more cost effective.

Williwoodburner

thebigossu wrote: »

Can anyone give me some advice / info?

I have a victorian semi with a cold front room (single block and original sash window). I want to install a multifuel stove to help heat the room (4 metres by 3.5 metres) and maybe a bit of the rest of the house.

I am looking at the clearview pioneer 400 and the Charnwood Cove 1 (I prefer the look of the Charnwood but accept that the Clearview is a better stove). Could I burn them both overnight (probably using anthracite?) so that:
a) I don't have to keep lighting it in the morning
b) It helps with some heating overnight

All opinions and advice welcome.

Hi, both the stoves you mention are quality British made stoves, i'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed with either of them.
However they are at the top end of the market, Clearview sometimes described as the Rolls Royce of stoves and have never heard anyone say anything bad about one except..... the price. :eek:
I would also say that there are lots of other makes around the £700 mark (about half the price), which would also give good service.
Stovax, Yeoman, Jotul, Esse, Charnwood Country, Villager, Burley and Broseley to name a few.
Town and Country are also very well liked but again expensive.
However if money isn't an issue, you have made a good choice.

Sorry I have no experience burning anthracite, but believe it is quite easy to keep in overnight.
Prehaps another person could assist with their experiences.

Hope this helps. :money:

Willie.

suki1964

Anthracite is easy to keep burning over night.

I have to admit I dont leave my stove going at night but I do leave it during the day in the winters whilst out to work - 8 hrs - and will come home to a cosy home and a few embers still glowing hot enough to ignite some sticks ready to rebuild the fire

Anthracite also leaves clinkers rather then a pan full of ashes so ash pan wont fill so quick

DrMopp

I have no central heating. I am rural, there is no gas or mains water.
I get through 30 cubic metres of seasoned wood per annum, which is bought in the year before and stored in a double stable to keep dry. I also get through 6 tonnes of anthracite/maxibrite ovals per annum.

I have two multifuel stoves 1 either end of the house. a Herald 14 (Hunter) £950 - very cheaply made IMO. Had to replace several parts in one winters burning! The other is a basic villager, had it for 13 years, never replaced anything! but I believe it is not efficient on anthracite, better as a woodburner only. They are rated at 14/15 kw each, but you would have to burn them flat out on wood to attain that, so they are probably doing 10kw each at the most on the coldest days.

It is a detached 4 bed cottage up a windy mountain, large rooms (24 feet by 16 feet downstairs x 3) very cold house. solid stone so no cavity walls. No upstairs heating at all and two rooms have 10ft ceilings.

It costs me around £2500 per year for heating. My leccy is another £700 ish

It is not cheap. You need an awful lot of storage space and it requires considerable work, transporting, stacking etc. Basically nearly every weekend over the summer is spent stacking wood.

It causes dust everywhere, firewood needs topping up hourly but anthracite keeps in overnight.

I feel like cinderella most days. sweeping ashes on the hearths.

I worked out I spend at least an hour per day tending to fires.

Its Dickensian. Seemed fun when I was in my twenties. Now I am downhill to fifty with arthritis in arms and legs from all the heavy lifting, its hard work.

Our fires start up in September and usually run to April but this year it is supernaturally cold here and the fires are still burning, costing even more!

However, I can cook on my stoves, stews etc. I don't own a tumble dryer because the upper air is warm, I hang washing on an airer.

If I am cold, I put on a jumper; still cold, light one fire; bloody freezing light two fires.

Its not a lifestyle choice here but normal life.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

A._Badger

For the sake of balance, I bought a Hunter Herald 14 a few years ago, on the advice of a sweep/installer. I've run it every day in our extended winters, flat-out, and not had a single problem with it.

I do tend to agree with DrMopp about the prospect of old age with a stove, though. Having said which, as the weather turned colder yesterday, I re-lit mine, having been able to rely on the (hated by me) oil central heating for a few days. It took just an hour or so for by blocked sinuses to ease and the old sense of well-being you get from a heat point source to return, so I think I'll struggle on for a while yet.

I still don;t think they are a cheap option, though.

thebigossu

Thank you all for your words of wisdom.

A 3kw fan heater would undoubtedly be cheaper to install, cheaper to run and a lot less hassle to clean but, unfortunately, it doesn't quite do it for me.

Will have a look at the other models suggested - quite like the Charnwood Country 4 - but i really need to make a decision.

DrMopp I salute you.

lostinrates

I am another who only has a stove. Sadly just the one, and also in a big rural house. I am not old, but i do have health and mobility problems and am alone here several days a week.....when i often do not find it easy, and occasionally impossible to ferry wood or get to light the stove. Most winter mornings, however well i bank the stove, we have ice on the inside of the windows. We know our stove is insufficient and are looking to install heating and other heat sources.

Further more, regardless of efficiency in general our stove (a clearview) is set in a bog inglenook, that gets warm alright, but that is also where the ulk of the heat stays. A fan might help this, but i am not commited enough to want to get one. I cannot wait till we restore the open fire. While it might be less fuel efficient generally (though i also do not find this) it is no good burning less fuel and being cold.

I quite enjoy having ice on the inside of windows, and i am very hardy, used to open fires and ranges, but the idea of using this into my old age, or recommending one to my elderly mother is simply not realistic in my experience. It might simply be my stove, but i understand clearview have a good name, so i think it might just be me!

Williwoodburner

A._Badger wrote: »

I do tend to agree with DrMopp about the prospect of old age with a stove, though.

I would second this, running a stove on own produced wood is a lot of work, have thought when a bit older may have to buy fuel :eek:.
Ok for a few years yet.

Wouldnt be without the stove, so -

If buying logs still a bit of work stacking, and fetching wood for the day, wondered about wood briquettes v smokeless/anthracite, which is the better option ?.
Has anyone compared these fuels ?.
:beer:

Willie.

A._Badger

Williwoodburner wrote: »

If buying logs still a bit of work stacking, and fetching wood for the day, wondered about wood briquettes v smokeless/anthracite, which is the better option ?.
Has anyone compared these fuels ?.
:beer:

Willie.

To be honest, lugging buckets of coal (anthracite, smokeless, whatever) is still no fun. I switch my stove between wood and smokeless and each has its problems and its rewards. But both are labour intensive - solid fuel not least because of the need to keep emptying the stove of ash.

A._Badger

lostinrates wrote: »

I am another who only has a stove. Sadly just the one, and also in a big rural house. I am not old, but i do have health and mobility problems and am alone here several days a week.....when i often do not find it easy, and occasionally impossible to ferry wood or get to light the stove. Most winter mornings, however well i bank the stove, we have ice on the inside of the windows. We know our stove is insufficient and are looking to install heating and other heat sources.

Further more, regardless of efficiency in general our stove (a clearview) is set in a bog inglenook, that gets warm alright, but that is also where the ulk of the heat stays. A fan might help this, but i am not commited enough to want to get one. I cannot wait till we restore the open fire. While it might be less fuel efficient generally (though i also do not find this) it is no good burning less fuel and being cold.

I quite enjoy having ice on the inside of windows, and i am very hardy, used to open fires and ranges, but the idea of using this into my old age, or recommending one to my elderly mother is simply not realistic in my experience. It might simply be my stove, but i understand clearview have a good name, so i think it might just be me!

That's a really interesting post, LIR.

I'm another in the 'drafty country house with an inglenook' club and I recall a less tha amusing exchange here some year or so ago with one of our 'experts' about iglenooks. Mine, just like yours. traps and stores heat and also delays the warming of the room. The upside is that it acts as a storage radiator for the mornings (I let my stove go out overnight).

I tried a fan and didn't find it of much help in my situation, though other users have said they work well, so perhaps its dependent on your particular installation, I don't know.

I also share your feelings about open fires. For all the claimed theoretical efficiencies of enclosed stoves, I can't help feeling that open fires seem to radiate heat out into a room far better - especially with a well-designed fire. Of course, they also smell and sound better, but that's just an aesthetic consideration.

One thing I am sure of is that the glossy 'lifestyle' magazine adverts portraying stoves are misleading, as are those who claim they offer cheap heating. I have never regretted buying one, but people need to be realistic about what they are getting into and not let themselves get conned by fashion trends.