Wood Burning Stoves

anotheruser

Hi

I have a couple of questions about wood burning stoves.

We have an open fire at the moment and burn wooden logs. Although the chimney sweep says coal is more efficient in terms of heat per money spent.

Looking at a log burner then, what makes these so much more efficient? I guess it limits the amount of heat that goes up the chimney, redirecting it into the room instead?

Will you not just go through twice the amount of logs?

Can you burn coal in them?

How much do they cost to install? I realise prices will vary but a guide price would be good.

Thanks

savemoney

You can burn coal usually in multifuel stoves

You can get around 80+ (probably low 80's) fuel efficency depending on make/model you have to check that out yourself

I burn wood briquettes made by Verdo that about as good as it gets in terms of heat output for wood. Expensive yes but they take a lot less space than logs and kick out far more heat. Verdo also sold in packs in Home bargains £2.79

Had my log burner now for 8 years its great but definately not cheap to buy, install and fuel unless you have a very cheap source of fuel

I think I paid about 2.5k in all that was 8 years ago mind you

sevenhills

savemoney wrote: »

I burn wood briquettes made by Verdo that about as good as it gets in terms of heat output for wood. Expensive yes but they take a lot less space than logs and kick out far more heat. Verdo also sold in packs in Home bargains £2.79

I think I paid about 2.5k in all that was 8 years ago mind you

Some people that have wood burners get free wood from local places, old pallets or felled trees.

FreeBear

With an open fire, I was using around 10 bags of house coal each winter - It was always difficult to keep the room warm...

Installed a multifuel stove some 18 months ago (spent around £2K in that room). Used around 2 cubic metres of wood last year, and managed to keep quite warm - Insulating the ceiling and killing off the draughts as part of the renovation has also helped.

Had a little bit of coal left over from the open fire which I've burnt in the new stove (I know, shouldn't do it, but...). A bucket full seemed to last longer, and there would still be glowing coals in the morning - I really ought to get some smokeless coal in ready for the snow.

Davesnave

Money spent on a well-designed woodburner, properly installed, will eventually be recouped, provided it's used a lot. Things can go wrong, as one look at the What Stove? site will testify:

https://www.whatstove.co.uk/

We inherited a large old burner, which was using the existing 9" concrete chimney, replacing it with one roughly 2/3 as large, using a new 5" flue. We get the same heat now from much fewer logs and I don't need to clean the stove glass either.

However, the dryness of the logs is also the key to getting good efficiency. As we have loads of storage space, we keep ours for at least 2 years and seasoned, bought-in ones for a year.

If we had gas and didn't get a lot of free or cheap wood, I don't think we'd bother with the stove, except on special occasions. We had an efficient gas coal fire in the old house, which was fine and not messy, like logs. The newer ones are even better.

Edited to add: Our new wood burner cost £1k, the install around the same amount, and a posh new fireplace and hearth was a further £1k. We managed to work with the installer and did the prep and install of the fireplace ourselves, otherwise we'd have paid more and had less choice regarding the way it looks.

savemoney

Indeed they do but I doubt its a huge percentage. I used to burn free pallets myself but it gives off far too much heat, so much so that my laminate flooring buckled, I managed to get it to level off. I gave up using pallets as its messy in your car and also time-consuming to break them up. I do get odd one each year which break up for kindling

I like the briquettes because they last I burn about 6 a day I break them up a little.

I don't get sufficient heat to heat whole house, it's nice and warm little too warm sometimes 24-26c downstairs and may take chill off a little upstairs

sevenhills wrote: »

Some people that have wood burners get free wood from local places, old pallets or felled trees.

Heedtheadvice

More efficient: a far better burn using plenty of oxygen to get a hotter flame and secondary burning. Burns more of the fuel efficiently potentially.

Better flue generates better draw of air without a great hole for heat to escape up.

Design allows lots of radiant heat through from glass and convection from stove structure that is not drawn up an open flue.

Better burn efficiency uses less fuel for similar useable heat output.

Multicultural stoves can burn most things - but watch out for fuels with paints and preservatives in them such as some second hand wood that can create residues in the flue.

If I didn't have gas fire/central heating and lots of timber available I would not hesitate to get one!:rotfl:

Edit: multicultural stoves? Bet that causes a chuckle!

SG27

My stove has solid doors so sometimes run it with the doors open for so I can see the flames. It uses probably 3 times the logs and theres very little control over temperature. Its much more efficient with the door shut and airflow controlled.

FreeBear

Heedtheadvice wrote: »

If I didn't have gas fire/central heating and lots of timber available I would not hesitate to get one!:rotfl:

Many people, myself included, have gas central heating - For most, a wood stove is more of a lifestyle decision rather than for primary heating.

Something that has been touched on - One does need plenty of space to store fuel, preferably under cover.

andrewf75

We paid just over £1000 to get ours installed. We got the burner from a friend for free.
Clearly much more efficient than an open fire, but whether its sensible to get one or not depends on where you live, access to fuel, storage, how much you use it etc

anotheruser

Thanks all.

Storage for coal / logs isn't a problem as we are prepared with our open fire anyway.

Will probably stick with that for a few years until I save up the pennies for a burner. Prices can vary for wood. One place charges £90 but the wood is better quality, dried for at least 2 years and the wood is bigger chunks. For the same amount, I could pay £50/£60, and although it's been dried, it's not proper hardwood like the other stuff. The logs are also smaller.

Thanks again.