Wood burners

freeman3030

Hi all,
I've been thinking a lot this week at work about wood burners, it's probably been because of the sudden onset of cold weather last week.
When we bought our house a year ago, as we renovated it we kept any timber off cuts and old wood to use as fuel as we've always intended to get a wood burner installed. We currently have an open fire, but I'm petrified of it spitting and starting a house fire.
The thing is, I have no idea what I'm looking at or where to even start to look. I've been looking at them online and think I would prefer an inset burner (I'm not against a free standing one, but I think inset burners look a bit more modern).
When looking for one, what should I be looking for? Are there any standards they should meet? Also, the inset burners I've been looking at are around the 75% efficiency mark, is that good?
It's so confusing!

glasgowdan

I wouldn't get bogged down in details of the actual burners. They're just a box you light a fire in after all. Go to a local store and pick one you like the look of, but before this try and get a couple of fitters in to give you a quote and detail the work needing done.

Cash-Cows

You shouldn't burn treated timber in a stove. It will tar up your liner / chimney and damage the stove. Burn well seasoned hard wood only.

suki1964

Have to agree with glasgowdan, just go look around some stores


There's a lot of snobbery around stoves


Go see for yourself, then if you want a review go look at stoves online

I've got a cheap Chinese tiger+ which is around eight years old now and so far it's doing a grand job being used daily from sept to March Looks as good as the day of install ( self installation) and is very controllable

One thing I would advise is getting a multi fuel as seasoned wood is expensive and you can burn a whole lot of wood in just one evening

Davesnave

glasgowdan wrote: »

I wouldn't get bogged down in details of the actual burners.

I would, as some of them are carp, but you certainly dont need to pay top dollar. You do want to be sure the spares are there when it needs a part in 5 years time.

I agree that fine detail over efficiency figures isn't something to worry about too much. The best inset stove will always be a bit less efficient than a free standing one because more heat goes into the chimney brickwork, but then you could argue that's a heat store and it'll be given back for longer once the fire dies down.

Maybe take a look at Fireline Stoves, which is a brand the guy who's fitting my new stove sells most of, because they're reasonably cheap and don't result in many call-backs. I'm having something posher, because I can, but still under 1k and made locally, so a bit of prejudice there as well!

Cash-Cows wrote: »

You shouldn't burn treated timber in a stove. It will tar up your liner / chimney and damage the stove. Burn well seasoned hard wood only.

Treated timber nowadays is not the same as treated timber years ago, when they used to put arsenic compounds in the treatment, or tar based products. Whether you burn it is up to you, but I know farmers who have burned old fencing stakes for years, without significant issues with their flues. But then farmers do all sorts of things they shouldn't....we won't go there!

Obviously, in the old days, putting arsenic-containing ash on the veg garden wasn't the best of ideas.

As for hardwood only.....well just think what those living in colder areas like Canada or Scandinavia have lots of, and it isn't hardwood, although they have that too.

Lots of things influence what happens in a flue, besides just the wood, as I found out after removing the boiler in my stove. What a difference. Clean glass for a start.

suki1964 wrote: »

I've got a cheap Chinese tiger+ which is around eight years old now and so far it's doing a grand job being used daily from sept to March Looks as good as the day of install ( self installation) and is very controllable

One thing I would advise is getting a multi fuel as seasoned wood is expensive and you can burn a whole lot of wood in just one evening

Err....you're sure it's not your cheap Chinese Tiger that's gobbling the wood? Some of my friends use very little wood in an evening in their Morsos and Woodwarms, compared with me and my old stove, which is why I've just ripped it out for something better.

However, my wood is either free or cheap, and I know supply can be hit & miss elsewhere, so it's definitely worth not tying yourself to wood alone.

I also agree that people can fit themselves if they have the skills.This web-site gives great coverage of that topic:
http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/

It also gives quite a lot of info about various stoves that are sold via the site.

There's also: http://www.whatstove.co.uk/woodburning-stoves-and-multifuel-reviews

which is OK. It is obvious from the vastly conflicting views that some people have issues that are more to do with the fitting than the fire itself, so it can be confusing at first.

Finally, if you are getting someone else to fit, get at least 3 firms to quote, if you can. I chose someone who has fitters within the firm rather than employ sub-contractors. One of the sub-contract guys I spoke to also knew his stuff, but they couldn't guarantee I'd get him, and I do think the appriasal and installation is really important.

Lbuk

I picked one I liked the look of that was about £1000 but someone else was paying so I don't know if that's cheap or not. It's got self cleaning glass which I think is a godsend and has a lot of glass so I can actually see the fire. If I have it burning from 4pm it'll probably gobble about 8 "logs" or chunky pieces of wood before bedtime and I tend to run it hot (or what the point). I don't know how that tallies but we get through about 1m cube of logs over winter excluding kindling sticks. 2 min job to get it going too.

greenbee

In the meantime, if your chimney has been swept, buy a fireguard and use the fire. I have a jet master (badly installed about 30 years ago, needs redoing or replacing) on which I'm burning old floorboards and conifer logs (with the occasional bit of willow to confuse things) and using old fence panels as kindling. It spits a LOT but has a clip on fireguard. Which means I have more time to save up and do other things before I need to decide whether to replace it and with what.

Gloomendoom

freeman3030 wrote: »

We currently have an open fire, but I'm petrified of it spitting and starting a house fire.

If you haven't already got a fireguard, you probably have good cause to worry.

Grenage

Fireguard, or have a glass of water handy, just in case.

Gloomendoom

A glass of water isn't much use if you have gone to bed.

Years ago, when open fires were the norm, they used to show public information films just before the telly shut down for the night. One was all about the perils of not using a fireguard.

G_M

freeman3030 wrote: »

Hi all,
.....We currently have an open fire, but I'm petrified of it spitting and starting a house fire.

So take sensible precautions ust as you do with everything in life.

If you get a stove, you should still have an alarm or run the risk of CO poisoning.

Driving is dangerous, so you wear a seatbelt etc.

Get a decent fireguard (mine cost £150 from a charity shop) and don't go to bed leaving it blazing away with newly stoked up wood.