What stove have you got?

Leif

I have a Charnwood C4 in the sitting room. It's a 5kW stove and is a luxury since I have central heating, although it does act as a backup in case the heating goes down in cold weather. At the moment the nights are about 0C and the stove is nice to have. I had it installed in March, and didn't get it running until a week ago. I spent more than 6 months wondering what to do with the fireplace in my house. The local stove shop were very helpful, even explaining how I could open it out to burn wood. In the end I asked them to install a stove. Expensive, not financially sound (1), but nice to have.

(1) However, it might help the resale value of the house as and when I sell.

muckybutt

Ive a Charnwood Cove II boiler model 11 - 13 kw depending what you burn on it, 3-4kw to the room the rest to do the central heating.

had it on since 3pm today as its blinking cold out in the sticks today and getting colder ... currently -3 outside, down to my socks and pj's inside, currently ticking over with a load of hardwood on it at 350 deg, another hour or so and it'll be banked up with solid fuel to keep it in over night and the heating on all night

Ectophile

Williwoodburner wrote: »

In my opinion more important than the make/model of stove is the quality of the wood or fuel.

Keep warm.

willie.

Very true. The first year I got my stove, I started off by buying sacks of logs from garden centres and garages. Many of the logs were either poorly seasoned or damp and didn't really want to burn however hard I tried.

I then ordered a load of logs. They arrived wet, and when I put them in my (rather damp) garage, they all went mouldy.

That spring, I ordered a proper ventilated wood store, and a load of logs from a different supplier who was recommended to me.

The difference was tremendous - the stove now burns properly and puts out a fierce heat after it's been running for a couple of hours.

muckybutt

Ectophile wrote: »

Very true. The first year I got my stove, I started off by buying sacks of logs from garden centres and garages. Many of the logs were either poorly seasoned or damp and didn't really want to burn however hard I tried.

I then ordered a load of logs. They arrived wet, and when I put them in my (rather damp) garage, they all went mouldy.

That spring, I ordered a proper ventilated wood store, and a load of logs from a different supplier who was recommended to me.

The difference was tremendous - the stove now burns properly and puts out a fierce heat after it's been running for a couple of hours.

ewwwwww nets of logs from garages and garden centres....might as well have burnt your money on the fire.

Once you have a decent load of wood and a supplier you can trust you never go back.

Williwoodburner

Slightly off topic but sure we have all heard the old poem "wood to burn".
Load of rubbish in my opinion, was obviously written a long time ago when people were burning on open fires.
With the temperatures reached in modern stoves any wood will burn good if seasoned properly, some just takes longer than others.
I think many new users buy wet or green wood and have problems and think there's something wrong with the stove.
My advice is if you have to buy wood, get next winters now and stack it outside in a windy spot and put some corrogated sheets on top to keep rain off.
Keep warm.

Willie.

Swipe

I've got an Esse Montrose II. I bought it 15 years ago.

muckybutt

thats an impressive wood pile willi :T

SEE

Williwoodburner I'm jealous

grahamc2003

Williwoodburner wrote: »

Slightly off topic but sure we have all heard the old poem "wood to burn".
Load of rubbish in my opinion, was obviously written a long time ago when people were burning on open fires.
With the temperatures reached in modern stoves any wood will burn good if seasoned properly, some just takes longer than others.
I think many new users buy wet or green wood and have problems and think there's something wrong with the stove.
My advice is if you have to buy wood, get next winters now and stack it outside in a windy spot and put some corrogated sheets on top to keep rain off.
Keep warm.

Willie.

Puts my mind at ease a bit. I've sometimes felt a bit inadequate since I've never really identified the wood I've burnt - decided for myself that it didn't matter one iota. I was originally advised not to burn pine due to resin or something or other, and avoided doing that for a while (that and oak is about the only two I can identify). But the resin is of course a great fuel, and now I realise it's a great wood to burn in a hot stove.

I think there are just three or four important factors, and everything else is relatively unimportant .... dry wood, hot stove, correct amount of air, no smoke.

One thing I wonder about is the universal advice to have a few inches of ash on top of which wood burns, and the necessity, or lack of, of a grate (can't remember which!). I tried burning on a thick bed of ash once, and it gave a very poor burn - I always burn wood on a grate with unimpeded airflow. Appreciate if anyone knows why this (successful) method of woodburning is somehow not optimal.

My stove is an AGA Little Wenlocke, which really blasts out heat when it reaches about 450F, the temperature I like to run it at. There was another thread somewhere with lots of pictures of peoples' stoves, including mine. i'm exploring the possibility of installing a Broseley Evolution 26 to drive central heating, but it's a real monster. Anyone got one?

Williwoodburner

grahamc2003 wrote: »

One thing I wonder about is the universal advice to have a few inches of ash on top of which wood burns, and the necessity, or lack of, of a grate (can't remember which!). I tried burning on a thick bed of ash once, and it gave a very poor burn - I always burn wood on a grate with unimpeded airflow. Appreciate if anyone knows why this (successful) method of woodburning is somehow not optimal.

Hi Graham,
the reason is not particularly that it burns better but that the ash bed helps to keep temps up and at ember stage.
This insulates them in a hot bed of ash rather than falling through a grate, so you can get longer between loads.
Bit like being wrapped up in a hot fluffy duvet. :money: