What to look for in a multifuel stove

theballboy

Ok, Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this post and even more if you respond

Basically, We are going down the multifuel stove route and I have seen a massive variation in prices of stoves ranging from £600 (13kw) to £1600 (13kw). This leads me to believe that either some people are ripping the bag outta selling these or there exists major specification differences.


So my question is this -


What are the main things to look for in a stove?
ie - KW or BTU?
What its made of?
ie. steel or cast iron?
Quality of make - are there stinkers out there?
Do warrnties operate well in this envirnoment


Cheers

theballboy

Alos starting to notice that although different kw outputs basically = the amount of rads that can be served, there seems to be a variation between them in terms of output to water and output to room

A._Badger

theballboy wrote: »

Ok, Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this post and even more if you respond

Basically, We are going down the multifuel stove route and I have seen a massive variation in prices of stoves ranging from £600 (13kw) to £1600 (13kw). This leads me to believe that either some people are ripping the bag outta selling these or there exists major specification differences.


So my question is this -


What are the main things to look for in a stove?
ie - KW or BTU?
What its made of?
ie. steel or cast iron?
Quality of make - are there stinkers out there?
Do warrnties operate well in this envirnoment


Cheers

Wow! A lot of complicated questions there - even if they seem straightforward.

1/ A stove's quoted output (given in KW of BTUs) is not a particularly reliable figure as makers 'test' their own stoves under ideal conditions, using the fuels of their choosing. It seems likely some of them massage the figures, too.

Consider it as a rough guide to the actual output you will get, not a 100% gold plated guarantee.

It does matter, however. Too large a stove will be misery to live with. You will have to underfire it to keep the room temperature down and that is bad for both stove and chimney. Stoves work best when driven hard, so use the calculators to find out what size you need, but only consider them an approximate guide, too.

No two rooms are alike and the difference between a modern, well-insulated house in a warm suburban street and a 400 year old cottage in the middle of a windy marsh is considerable.

2/ Steel or cast iron? Take your pick. Cast iron retains heat longer but takes longer to heat up. It is prone to cracking. Steel, OTOH, is prone to warping if too thin a gauge is used.. A well made stove of either is fine. Steel is most decidedly not an inferior material, though. Ask a shipbuilder!

3/ Yes, there are stinkers out there - mostly Asian-produced cast iron stoves that don't fit together properly, thus defeating the whole point of a stove. Avoid eBay sellers. Avoid brands with no reputation.

Buy from a reputable manufacturer with a history. One day you may need spare parts! Ask around for recommendations. Read whatstove.co.uk but be aware that someone who has spent an extra £1,000 to buy a brand with snob appeal is never going to be persuaded that he could have got the same performance for less. Think of Porsche 4x4 owners!

4/ Legally, warranties end-up with the retailer, so that's worth bearing in mind. If a stove performed poorly, proving it did could be very hard. Installers might blame the stove maker and vice versa. The only answer is to buy a good stove from a reputable dealer but that includes Internet retailers. The stove industry is fighting tooth and claw to keep the retail margins high. That might be a worthy aim were there fewer useless retailers just out to sell you whatever they happened to stock, regardless of its quality of suitability.

As always, ask around. Personal recommendation is worth a lot.

Hope that's some help.

alleycat`

A lot will depend on your motivation for having the stove.

Are you looking for a central heating stove or just one that will heat the room / general area of location?

Are you looking to use it as a primary heat / hot water system or just as an additional heat source to the home?

Are you in a smoke control zone?
What fuels are you planning to burn?

If we start from first principles of what you are trying to achieve we can try to give you some of thoughts moving forward.

theballboy

Its gonna be a one for all primary heating system job to heat hot water and all house rads.no smoke free zone operational
Have source a supply of seasoned ash who will deliver a large trailer at £80 a pop

Greenfires

Are you on mains gas? If so it will almost certainly be cheaper to use that. This is coming from a big woodburning promoter by the way!

Is the supply you've got reliable and regular, and is it properly seasoned. Boiler stoves always run dirtier than dry ones anyway as the boiler takes so much heat out of the firebox - so you need the wood to be decent. You'll also need a fair old volume of it - obviously "a trailer load" could mean absolutely anything from a large wheelbarrow to an artic - but you're going to need quite a few trailer loads to run a stove of that size right through the winter whatever.

Edited to say you'll also need an installer who knows how wet systems operate - a lot of them don't - and to be honest, they can be a real misery and cause you all sorts of headaches if they're not set up right.

alleycat`

As greenfires has said, central heating based stoves are a more specialised area so be careful who you talk to about it.

I love my stove but if the choice was mains gas or feeding a 13KW monster stove i'd be inclined to go mains gas every single time.

I'd also seriously look into something like a pellet stove system, with solar heating, if you have the right setup (and no access to mains gas).

I suspect Oil would even be cheaper / easier over the long run (depending on the size of house, number of occupants, etc).

I think Mucky has a boiler stove but it is only for a couple of Rads (might be wrong about that?).

Edit:- I think this is Muckys stove?

theballboy

A._Badger wrote: »

Wow! A lot of complicated questions there - even if they seem straightforward.

1/ A stove's quoted output (given in KW of BTUs) is not a particularly reliable figure as makers 'test' their own stoves under ideal conditions, using the fuels of their choosing. It seems likely some of them massage the figures, too.

Consider it as a rough guide to the actual output you will get, not a 100% gold plated guarantee.

It does matter, however. Too large a stove will be misery to live with. You will have to underfire it to keep the room temperature down and that is bad for both stove and chimney. Stoves work best when driven hard, so use the calculators to find out what size you need, but only consider them an approximate guide, too.

No two rooms are alike and the difference between a modern, well-insulated house in a warm suburban street and a 400 year old cottage in the middle of a windy marsh is considerable.

2/ Steel or cast iron? Take your pick. Cast iron retains heat longer but takes longer to heat up. It is prone to cracking. Steel, OTOH, is prone to warping if too thin a gauge is used.. A well made stove of either is fine. Steel is most decidedly not an inferior material, though. Ask a shipbuilder!

3/ Yes, there are stinkers out there - mostly Asian-produced cast iron stoves that don't fit together properly, thus defeating the whole point of a stove. Avoid eBay sellers. Avoid brands with no reputation.

Buy from a reputable manufacturer with a history. One day you may need spare parts! Ask around for recommendations. Read whatstove.co.uk but be aware that someone who has spent an extra £1,000 to buy a brand with snob appeal is never going to be persuaded that he could have got the same performance for less. Think of Porsche 4x4 owners!

4/ Legally, warranties end-up with the retailer, so that's worth bearing in mind. If a stove performed poorly, proving it did could be very hard. Installers might blame the stove maker and vice versa. The only answer is to buy a good stove from a reputable dealer but that includes Internet retailers. The stove industry is fighting tooth and claw to keep the retail margins high. That might be a worthy aim were there fewer useless retailers just out to sell you whatever they happened to stock, regardless of its quality of suitability.

As always, ask around. Personal recommendation is worth a lot.

Hope that's some help.

Thats great help thanks


House is only 10 years old but its a nightmare to heat. Very open plan really. 4 bedroom detached and heating it runs us around 500lts oil every 6 weeks in winter months which I cant keep going to.


Been looking at a locally producing company called Henleys - based here in Ireland and buying through a local stockist. Claims a 5 year guarantee for body of the stove (cast iron) and 1 yr riddle grate
16kw for £700 and 21Kw for £850 which seems pretty good to me although cant find many reviews on them

theballboy

Greenfires wrote: »

Are you on mains gas? If so it will almost certainly be cheaper to use that. This is coming from a big woodburning promoter by the way!

Is the supply you've got reliable and regular, and is it properly seasoned. Boiler stoves always run dirtier than dry ones anyway as the boiler takes so much heat out of the firebox - so you need the wood to be decent. You'll also need a fair old volume of it - obviously "a trailer load" could mean absolutely anything from a large wheelbarrow to an artic - but you're going to need quite a few trailer loads to run a stove of that size right through the winter whatever.

Edited to say you'll also need an installer who knows how wet systems operate - a lot of them don't - and to be honest, they can be a real misery and cause you all sorts of headaches if they're not set up right.

No gas available where I am im afraid


I had originally discounted the idea of the multifuel stove due to outlay vs clawback but its making more sense at the minute
Oil heating only warms our house for the time its on, loses heat very quickly


Its a large trailer I think 9ft by 11ft ( dont quote me but I remember it being quite big - of seasoned ash and regular)


Cant keep going to £300 oil fills every 6 weeks - ridiculous

alleycat`

theballboy wrote: »

No gas available where I am im afraid


I had originally discounted the idea of the multifuel stove due to outlay vs clawback but its making more sense at the minute
Oil heating only warms our house for the time its on, loses heat very quickly


Its a large trailer I think 9ft by 11ft ( dont quote me but I remember it being quite big - of seasoned ash and regular)


Cant keep going to £300 oil fills every 6 weeks - ridiculous

Ouch, £2,600+ is a load, i can see why your upset about it.
I don't know much about Oil consumption but it sounds high to me, unless your houses are a darn site bigger than mine

The worry with that wood is have you got somewhere to store it?
Is the supply reliable all year around or are you going to need to store a metric shedload for winter if/when he can't get to you?

Greenfires

I think I'd probably be tempted to look into wood pellet boilers rather than a "display" stove with a back boiler myself - along with any options for improving the existing insulation.

Many people get a bit of a surprise when they get themselves a stove as they have no idea how much wood it will get through. Many think the log stores on ebay and the like are just the ticket - and they are - for about a week! Feeding something between 16 and 21kW would be like chucking buns to an elephant I'd say!
We actually had a complaint last year about our briquettes as the chap disagreed with what we'd said about a pallet full lasting most average customers all winter. A bit of further digging revelaed he was running something like a 16kW stove - and obviously expected it to use the same amount of fuel as a 5 - 6kW one! (which is the generally accepted average size)
The trailer you mentioned is likely to be smaller than you guessed - 9 feet wide would certainly be illegal over here. Which of course means even more trailer loads to keep you in heat.