Burning smokeless fuel in a stove

highrisklowreturn

Perhaps you could fetch out my warranty for a skip-bound 1986 parkray consort - I believe after 28 years it may still be valid. Oh, prob not, looks like I'll have to have you in to do a brand new 8k install for me, in which I promise only to burn 6 pallets of the sawdust you flog on here, as I know it's renewable (sawdust briquette forests growing the world over) and won't stink the air around my house, and, with 5 packs per day to run my central heating, will ONLY cost 15 quid, unlike 3.50 now, kerching, why didn't I follow your advice earlier.

JayneC

Hi don't want to hijack the thread but I think my query is relevant, so forgive me.

I have a multi fuel boilerstove - AArow Stratford ecoboiler stove, I think. I'm mostly burning wood but it doesn't really get hot enough. I am thinking of burning smokeless fuel instead/as well but have a lined metal chimney (had to be installed with the stove as previous owners tore out the chimney breasts!!) From what I've read it seems that my chimney could be wrecked by this. Am I getting this correct? Is there any way of reducing the likelihood of that? I've already had a chimney fire, I think this was caused by the cowl breaking and covering the chimney and so the heat couldn't escape properly - I have no cowl now. Chimney sweep said it wasn't vital...

Any advice welcome

Greenfires

I don't fit stoves.

Or sell flue liners.

I don't "flog sawdust"

I make an effort not to talk like a !!!!!!.

Try it....

suki1964

JayneC wrote: »

Hi don't want to hijack the thread but I think my query is relevant, so forgive me.

I have a multi fuel boilerstove - AArow Stratford ecoboiler stove, I think. I'm mostly burning wood but it doesn't really get hot enough. I am thinking of burning smokeless fuel instead/as well but have a lined metal chimney (had to be installed with the stove as previous owners tore out the chimney breasts!!) From what I've read it seems that my chimney could be wrecked by this. Am I getting this correct? Is there any way of reducing the likelihood of that? I've already had a chimney fire, I think this was caused by the cowl breaking and covering the chimney and so the heat couldn't escape properly - I have no cowl now. Chimney sweep said it wasn't vital...

Any advice welcome

If your stove is multi fuel then the liner you had fitted should be up to the job of burning smokeless fuels

The one thing I have learned about stoves is to burn them to their best capacity. I'm always on at me mam for not having her stove hot enough, and she has to have to sweep out twice a year

If you keep the stove working then what goes up the flue shouldn't be too much bother, we sweep once a year and wouldn't get a mug of soot down and seeing as we can see though our flue, we know its not gunging up

For the best heat and lowest maintenance ( ie refills ) you can't beat anthracite ( IMHO ) but the ovals are easier to light

You will get ash. Loads of it

Basically try different fuels and work out what works for you and your stove. Each stove and installation is different. What works for me won't work for you

Greenfires

Do you have any details of the installation? Most of the fitters I know would have specified a 904 grade liner for a boiler stove - they're always harder on the chimney as the boiler takes so much heat from the fire. However - if the installers weren't so good, or if the customer was trying to get the job done cheaper - then they may have fitted a 316 grade liner instead. These are aimed more towards wood burning.

A boiler stove running smokeless fuel can kill a 316 liner pretty quickly - I went to one that was less than three years old, and the liner was in pieces sitting on top of the register plate - you could have sneezed through it.

Is the wood you're using dry - and are you operating the stove correctly? These things can make a huge difference - basically the drier the wood, the more heat you'll get from it - it only has a certain amount of energy, and getting rid of moisture takes a hell of a lot - so if it's wet then there won't be much left to warm you.

mardatha

Anthracite is hard to light as well, we use smokeless eggs, firelighters and a pile of sticks. Ours stays in 24/7 most of the year, but sometimes it does go out accidentally. We use smokeless eggs Jayne, then a shovelful of anthracite overnight to damp it down and stop it roaring in high winds.
We empty it once every 24 hours at 10am and top up with a shovelful of eggs, then top up again at 10pm with more eggs and the anthracite on top.
This heats 6 radiators and gives us constant very hot water. The livingroom is always toasty, the hall is nice and warm, but the other rooms less so. I have brick walls and big rooms with high ceilings, and we're at almost 1000ft on the edge of a moor. We tried wood and peat but it wasn't giving out enough heat.

michaelgordon

can i just ask for my own pace of mind, the people running all day, 12 plus hours are you heating a whole house? The reason i ask is the longest i have been burning was last sat when it was really cold and i was burning smokeless eggs, i had an actual fire for about 6 hours started with about 25 to 30 pieces and i topped up with a shovel which is about 10 or 12 pieces every hour and a half or so at which point the heat lasted for the rest of the night. on a normal day with either wood or smokeless i only really burn for two hours maybe three at which point its too hot 28 to 30 c an i let it burn out. i run the stove between 300 and 400 during this time.

i am only heating he one room, just want to make sure im not doing anything wrong

mardatha

Heating a 2 bed terraced cottage here - no upstairs - plus hot water We keep the stove at zero most of the time.

dee1977

Hi all, I have a different system mine is an open fire with back boiler but with a stove type fire front door fitted which works really well. I burn surefire smokeless and one scuttle does 12hrs, so we fill up twice a day when we are keeping fire lit 24/7. I think surefire/taybrite is a good smokeless fuel for longer burning times the only down side is the ash content but i can live with that, would like to know if anyone else is using surefire and their results please, Thanks Dee

mardatha

We've used it yes, it seems to burn hot. We do same as you, empty ash in the morning and put on one shovelful, then empty ash again at night and put on 2-3 shovelsful.