Lighting, replenishing and getting heat from smokeless fuel

grumpyoldgal

Hi Suki


thanks for the photos, I've only just seen them.....wasn't around the past 36hrs. Could I ask you a couple of questions please?


1. We used wood on Thursday night......my stove thermometer arrived so I thought I'd try logs and see if I could manage it. Firstly, I find it easier to light logs , got a good blaze going, thermometer got into the operating efficiently section quite easily.
Once again, if I stood directly in front of it I was toasty. If I sat 2.5m away from it I couldn't feel a thing and was cold all night. Throwing another log or 2 on, it went into the overheating section.


So my questions are....
When burning wood - when do I close the primary air vent and what do I do with the airwash vent?
What do I do when it gets into the overheating stage?
What do you mean by closing it down?


2. Burning coal


I have managed to get my coal looking like yours in the photos. To the stage when I opened the doors I thought it would melt my glasses :rotfl:But again - from where I sit I am cold.


With respect to burning coal....
when do I close the vents? How do I use them to keep it ticking over?


Thank you so much.


I am going to contact the installer today and ask him to call next week whilst I am off. But in the meantime I am going to give coal another go today so I can start the fire earlier whilst I am off and see if that makes a difference to us this evening when we are camped in the lounge with pizza and tv!!

Swipe

It sounds to me like you are doing everything right but your stove might not be big enough for your room. What size is your room and how many KWs does your stove output?

grumpyoldgal

Thanks swipe.....I'll be furious if that is the case seeing as he recommended the size - actually recommended a smaller one but we went for his max recommendation.

suki1964

I think swipe may be right here. What kW is your stove?

grumpyoldgal

Its 4.9KW, the installer suggested the 3.7 to us but we went for a bigger one.


I have tried to ring but not picking up (it is weekend after all) so have emailed him. I don't know the size of the room but it is fairly large and has an arch to the dining room.......however our little gas fire actually didn't mind that, it warmed us up fantastically.


I just wanted to be sure of everything - including using the vents properly too which I do not think I am doing......before contacting him because deep down I have worried about this. The only other alternative that I have gleaned is losing heat up the chimney.


Any advise on the vents please? the opening and closing of them? what to do to keep thing ticking over without losing the little heat we have?


I will let you know what he says........ have already googled local bespoke joiners because I think I may need to be getting a door made for the arch.......won't be best pleased if we have been badly advised but we are where we are and I need to get it right!


x

Swipe

Just to give us an idea, what temperature is your room reaching in the area where you normally sit at peak stove output? My 5kw stove that I brought with me from my old house is undersized for my large living room 3.5m x 7m (1969 detached rural bungalow and not greatly insulated due to wooden suspended floors). On a normal winter day (6C max and -1C overnight low) it will easily hold 20C but when it's 3C during the day and -7C overnight I'd have to run it flat out continuously to maintain 20C. At those temps I just supplement it with my aircon in heat mode.

grumpyoldgal

Hi Swipe,


w
ell I need to get a room thermometer.....but last week we put the heating on a couple of nights and it was nice. The old fire made it lovely and cosy. So the answer is I don't know the temperature in the room but I do know that I don't feel comfortable like I would with the old fire or the heating (we would never have them both on together!!)


I would say the room is 39 ft long width 12ft (maximum measures) but this includes the archway which leads into the dining room, so the room where the fire is is probably 26ft long


I think I am desperately clutching at straws because I don't want to be disappointed that we were recommended a stove too small, nor out of pocket in getting a bloody door made and fitted!!


thanks again swipe x

suki1964

You have been undersold. My living room is around 24 x 17 with a low ceiling and I've a 6kw stove. I don't know if you can get this sold under ' not fit for purpose' but seriously your room, esp with the arch is not going to get warm

John_the_Boy

Definately sounds like you have a too small a stove, my room is 12ft by 16ft and I have a 7kw stove. I was told I needed a 5kw but the only inset that was DEFRA approved I liked was 7kw so went for that and glad I did.

Using smokeless last night my room started off at 16c at 6pm and by 9.30pm it was up to 22c so getting enough heat out of the stove even though the temp isn't getting much more that 320f. Guess that will be the best I can get.

suki1964

John_the_Boy wrote: »

Deniately sounds like you have a too small a stove, my room is 12ft by 16ft and I have a 7kw stove. I was told I needed a 5kw but the only inset that was DEFRA approved I liked was 7kw so went for that and glad I did.

Using smokeless last night my room started off at 16c at 6pm and by 9.30pm it was up to 22c so getting enough heat out of the stove even though the temp isn't getting much more that 320f. Guess that will be the best I can get.

As others have said on the threads you have posted on, with smokeless you won't be hitting 400 but the heat will be steady. To bump it up, get anthracite. Once you have the good heat of the smokeless bed it down with a layer of anthracite. Not only will that belt out the heat, but usually it will keep the fire in all night. I threw on a shovel last night at 9pm and the fire was still glowing at 11am, just needed a bit of kindling, a rake out and a bit of smokeless and I had a great fire going come 11.30