Multi-fuel stove not really heating the house.

Williwoodburner

I have heard that inset stoves dont provide as much heat as a normal stove.
Makes sense when you think about it, with an inset there is no airspace around the stove to heat up and dissipate into the room, although I have also heard that a stove in a big inglenook can take a long time to heat up the room.
A lot of heat is also lost in an inset because the stovepipe is not exposed, which in a normal stove would also provide heat into the room.

Was your friends stove a normal stove or an inset ?

Willie.

Dunroamin

When we had a multi fuel stove we kept it in all the time rather thsan just lighting it in the evening when we got in from work and letting it go out overnight. I thought that this was the way everybody ran them and wonde whether this is your problem, that the stove's having to heat up the house from scratch every evening?

mardatha

Hi Tabbycat I live in a very cold high place and I have an inset multi-burner stove. We find wood is useless for real heat, you need coal.
Also the stove needs to be on longer - ours runs 24/7 most of the year, turned to zero to save coal. When it's on longer then the walls absorb the heat and it makes a huge difference to the temp of the room.
Ours runs 6 radiators plus all the hot water we can use, but if we tried letting it go out and then relighting it, it uses more coal than if we just let it burn low all the time.
Hope that helps, because there's nothing to beat a nice fire

suki1964

I would think also that it's because it's not burning long enough. My stove would need lit a good hour before the heat was noticeable and 2 or 3 hours before the room temp was toasty. But once to the toasty stage easy to maintain with very little fuel - I use a bucket full in a day - 12 hours of burning at least

Try running it 24/7 and see how you go. It's trial and error with what fuel - I like esse for the slow long burn. A small amount keeps the fire in for hours

Leif

Williwoodburner wrote: »

I have heard that inset stoves dont provide as much heat as a normal stove.
Makes sense when you think about it, with an inset there is no airspace around the stove to heat up and dissipate into the room, although I have also heard that a stove in a big inglenook can take a long time to heat up the room.

As I understand it a convector stove has an airspace built in to the fire, which allows high efficiency but more metal work hence it is more expensive to make. They are quoting 87% efficiency for this stove.

highrisklowreturn

mardatha wrote: »

Hi Tabbycat I live in a very cold high place and I have an inset multi-burner stove. We find wood is useless for real heat, you need coal.
Also the stove needs to be on longer - ours runs 24/7 most of the year, turned to zero to save coal. When it's on longer then the walls absorb the heat and it makes a huge difference to the temp of the room.
Ours runs 6 radiators plus all the hot water we can use, but if we tried letting it go out and then relighting it, it uses more coal than if we just let it burn low all the time.
Hope that helps, because there's nothing to beat a nice fire

What kw is your stove? And does anyone know if I could use my stove, a 6.4kw waterford stanley, with optional 22,000 btu back boiler, to heat my water and 6 rads (I would have the thermostat off on maybe 4 of them, so would only want 2 to heat up in the living room)?

rustyboy21

Leif wrote: »

My guess is that it is one of these:

http://www.stovax.com/hearthmountedfires/hearthmountedfires/hearth_wood__multi_fuel/stockton_fires/stockton_7_inset_convector.aspx

I used to go to a pub with something like that fitted, and it was very warm. But they do cost more than a conventional stove, no doubt because there is more engineering involved.

Edit: Pipped to the post by another forum member!

Thaks Leif and the fish dude


You know I was thinking it could be one of them, but at the time I couldn't find it on their website.

So fitting seems ok, must be down to the fuel your using or the way you are working the primary and airwash control. Also as everyone else has said you do need to let them run continuously.

It is a convector, so this shouldn't really make it any difference to a normal stove and it's installation is the same as a normal stove.

Have a good read through the user instructions again, It will tell you how to operate it and what to use. Don't deviate from what they say to use on it, that is how they got the heat output rated in the first place. Also looks like they don't recommend a fan of any sorts as may make it spill fumes.

As I have said before I don't sell stoves , but do try to keep up with things. These are like the old parkray and baxi insets from years ago, They do kick out the heat, if you get to know how to use them

mardatha

Mine's is a Parkray Cumbria, it says this -

• Total output: 13.5kW
" You can burn coal, wood, or long-lasting smokeless fuel, and enjoy a roaring fire while the hidden boiler quietly warms your home. The Cumbria can run 8 or 10 radiators as well as providing hot water, which you control using the waterway thermostat. Country living has arrived in the 21st century..."

Tabby_cat

Hi All,
Many thanks for all your helpful thoughts and comments.

I think I need to go back to the installer. You guys have given me some ammunition to help.

On this model there is a primary air intake and a secondary, which we understand. But there's also a tertiary air intake which I think is probably set too high. It is located out of the way, underneath the stove and once set by the installer shouldn't need to be moved. When we shut down the primary and secondary air intakes I think it may be burning fairly high as logs don't seem to last all that long. If we go out for a meal say, it's OK for 2.5 hours with primary and secondary fully closed, but won't last much longer. Does that sound right to you? We haven't been able to perfect overnight burning yet and my guess is it's down to this tertiary air intake.

As ever, many thanks for your time/thoughts/comments.

mardatha

Tabby I don't know anything about logburners, sorry - please ignore my input as its for coal only. We find logs don't give enough heat so have never used them