Wood Burners

towl

Pennylane wrote: »

I don't have a woodburner but was talking to a friend recently who acquired one in a house she moved into.

I don't know if other people are aware of this but she was storing wood against the sides of the woodburner and it very nearly all caught fire! I suppose when you have one fitted you are told how to store wood by these or at least get a booklet, but, like I say, it came with her house & was a few years old.

She was lucky she was in at the time and smelt this burning smell and the logs were actually smouldering! :eek: :eek:

Got to be honest, common sense would tell me not to leave my wood resting against the stove. You can imagine how hot they get what with them being a fire!

Pennylane

Towl - yes, I agree. But it's absolutely true! She actually revealed this info when we were at another friend's house looking at ..... HER new woodburner. :rolleyes: And she told her to move her wood too! So, if my ramblings save just one person from causing a house fire then I'll be satisfied.

I was having a discussion with someone on another thread the other day about advising people to carry out repairs on household appliances and saying that for SOME people this is not a good idea. :eek: When we give people instructions how to do things, we must NEVER assume they know the basics.

The_Economist

(quote)Lotus-eater. We've always had villagers and now a charnwood. (quote).
A charnwood is what I'm looking at getting. How would you rate them. I am thinking of getting an 8kw one.
Does any body Know what sort of life cycle a wood burner has?

Lotus-eater

Its excellent, I would advise not to go for one too big. The idea that bigger is always better, in woodburners IMHO isn't true.
One thing to remember is that due to regulations if you have a stove over 5kw's you need a permanantly open air vent in the wall.

Life cycle? Till the cast iron gets broken I suppose, a lifetime I should think.

dizzie

We have two stoves - a black multifuel one in the lounge and a reclaimed Jotul woodburner in the kitchen. Whilst they can both throw out a lot of heat, they are very different in terms of performance; the one in the lounge is very hungry on wood and needs topping up every few hours, whilst I can put a bit of wood in the Jotul, almost completely close the air vent, and it will still be burning 8-10 hours later.

One of our stoves is also plumbed in so it contributes to the hot water system. We find them very economical to run.

My tips/recommendations (from my own experience):

1. Install on a good sized hearth to protect your carpet or wood floor. Embers do fall out when you open the doors sometimes!

2. Burn dry, seasoned wood - not freshly cut stuff...or the chimney/liner will get choked up in no time.

3. Get chimney/liner swept regularly - at least once a year for most people...or that black soot may suddenly be crashing down the chimney and making one heck of a mess!

4. It is possible to buy a chimney sweeping kit, or attachments that go onto drain-rods if you want to do it yourself....but be careful how you go if you have a cowl on your chimney (in my first vigourous attempt, I knocked our cowl clean off and it came crashing down, narrowly missing one of the cars in our drive :eek: ! )

5. If you are going to burn wood, think about where you are going to get your supplies from. Some outlets sell tiny quantities for £3 and more, which then makes stoves expensive to run. We go to a local woodyard and buy up their scraps/offcuts, which costs us about £10 for a trailer-load. Needless to say, you can often be disappointed in winter, so we tend to fill up the woodstore in summer (when, under normal circumstances, most people aren't thinking about winter fuel).

6. Carrying wood into and ash out of the house is more messy than just sticking on the central heating. Line your woodbasket to stop the bits falling through it when you carry it.

7. They can get very hot, so whilst it is lovely to get up close to a stove when you've just come in from the bitter cold outside - be aware that leaning/sitting on them is not a good idea - they will happily burn big holes in your new fleecie top or synthetic trousers!

And all of those those things learnt..... I wouldn't swap mine for all the tea in China! :T

The_Economist

Loads of great advice, thanks everyone :T .
Sorry i have another question, does anyone know of or had a HETAS certified fitter to fit there wood burner plus all the other required parts. Or do i need someone that has a corgi cert.

Lotus-eater

Heatas engineer to fit a woodburner, search google for a list, if you need it connecting up to a CH system, you may need a plumber as well, depends on the heatas engineer.

HugoSP

The other thing to be aware of is the temperature that the flu gets to.

I once set fire to a piece of newspaper by touching it against the flu.

As for the wood smouldering whilst being rested on top and beside the woodburner - yes I can confirm this.

I can also confirm the dangers of having a poorly fitted rayburn. The twin walled flu had this panelling around it. Once I got the fire going so well that the panelling caught fire, noticeable via a glowing red circle about 2 inches wide. I ripped a hole in the panelling and started chucking buckets of water at it. Eventually it stopped glowing. I also starved the air supply to the rayburn.

Actually it's a wonder I'm here at all really - I seemed to have lived through them all.

Igol

Depending where you live getting hold of a HETAS engineer may be difficult. There arent that many in around here according to their website
And your ordinary plumber tends to panic when confronted by something that isnt gas.
Main thing is that you need 12" from any combustable material [HugoSP..? ] Building regs.
And as already mentioned bigger isnt aways better. Do the calcs and get one with the right output for your house, I've had to open the window to shed some heat they get that hot and mines the right size!