help new multi fuel stove how much fuel

michaelgordon

So i got a new firefox 5kw multifuel stove installed about six weeks ago and put it on for the first time a couple of nights ago using some off cuts of wood that i have as i read small fires for the first few.

I have also got a lot of seasoned logs and 100kg of smokeless ovals

The logs are very big for my tiny stove so i need to cut them down as i picked one at random to test and it basically filled it and that was not even a big one so i have a lot of work ahead of me (2 builders bags full)

What im not sure on is the amount of logs / coal to use. Can anyone advise on this

i ideally want to use a mix of the two the logs for the nice flame and slow burn and the coal for the extra heat but really have no idea of quantity. I guess i could just put enough logs in to fill the sove but with the coal i really dont know

suki1964

Smokeless fuel you don't need as much of it to get the stove hot, but it takes longer to get hot

I've a 5kw stove on tend to use just one scuttle a day, more on the very cold days when it's minus outside and the stove is lit for 16 hours or more

Get a good pile of kindling burning and then put a layer of smokeless over and leave the bottom vent fully open till they are all red and you have a good flame. Then shut the vent. Smokeless should just smoulder with a haze of flame over them, not big dancing yellow flames. You add to the fire for as long as you want to keep it going for. I fill the pit, reopen the vent to let it start to catch, close it down and that's it for about 5/6 hours

Each stove will burn different. It's trial and error. Just take time to find what works for you to get a comfortable heat without having to keep fussing with the stove and the stove to work to its best ( good clean burn, no sooty glass etc)

And enjoy

michaelgordon

thanks when you say skuttle, what size are you referring too as ive seen quite a few but yet to buy one?

suki1964

michaelgordon wrote: »

thanks when you say skuttle, what size are you referring too as ive seen quite a few but yet to buy one?

Guess mines around the size of a builders bucket. Cost about 12 quid. Certainly not huge as I'm quite happy carrying it full

muckybutt

Bear in mind that if you are burning smokeless and wood together the liner if you have one fitted will rot through the acid produced.

It happens ! I have condemned three in the last 2 months, one of which was only 3 years old.

A._Badger

muckybutt wrote: »

Bear in mind that if you are burning smokeless and wood together the liner if you have one fitted will rot through the acid produced.

It happens ! I have condemned three in the last 2 months, one of which was only 3 years old.

With respect, Mucky - if that liner as only three years old it was probably made of KiKat wrapper.

There is some absolute rubbish being sold into this market by all accounts.

michaelgordon

thanks mucky so burning seperately would be ok but not together? trying to remember the lining that was fitted i think it was fleximaster. seemed thick enough when i picked up some scap and it nearly took my finger off.

Is it better to burn seperatly then

muckybutt

A._Badger wrote: »

With respect, Mucky - if that liner as only three years old it was probably made of KiKat wrapper.

There is some absolute rubbish being sold into this market by all accounts.

It was a 904 / 904 or at least that is what my customers receipt said on it ! Not the first one to go as I said, 4 months ago I even came across a twin wall s/s external liner that had gone in 4 years they too had been burning both wood and smokeless.

michaelgordon wrote: »

thanks mucky so burning seperately would be ok but not together? trying to remember the lining that was fitted i think it was fleximaster. seemed thick enough when i picked up some scap and it nearly took my finger off.

Is it better to burn seperatly then

I myself generally burn good dry hard wood, I tend to only use smokeless for an overnight burn in really cold weather or say if we are off out for the day and want to keep the heating on. I tend not to mix the two if at all possible.

michaelgordon

ok thanks for the advice will prob end up burning the coal on the really cold days and the logs when its not so

A._Badger

michaelgordon wrote: »

ok thanks for the advice will prob end up burning the coal on the really cold days and the logs when its not so

That's what I do - wood in the Spring and early Autumn, smokeless for the Winter. That said, I do burn the occasional (dry) log on top of a hot bed of smokeless and do so with my sweep's blessing.

I strongly suspect there is something amiss with the way we are installing (or being made to install) stoves. Scandinavians have been using stoves for decades and you don't hear the same sort of horror stories. Is it the near-universal insistence on the fitting of liners? The quality of the liners themselves? High sulphur fuels (as some have suggested and others rebutted)?

What a shame that there seems to be no independent, impartial research.

muckybutt

A._Badger wrote: »

What a shame that there seems to be no independent, impartial research.

Indeedy badger ! I think a lot of the liners are way below the actual standard they say they are, but it's like a lot of the stoves in one way, there are a lot of imported materials out there that "claim" to be the same quality but rarely are.

It's a shame really as it drags everyone down, at the end of the day everything boils down to how much cash you are prepared to put into a decent installation and stove.