Log burner fire - your experience?

no1catman

Directed at those who have a log burner, and/or those who install them.

Apart from the unit was it expensive to install?
Was it simple or complicated to install for example chimney liner, and how long did it take? Is there any test for carbon monoxide/dioxide in the room?


Does it take long to light and get going?
Do you buy in old logs, or do you age them yourself, and how much wood/logs do you store?
Is there much cleaning up to do - ash and embers etc., before the next re-light?
Is there any 'woody' smell indoors or just outside?

Are you pleased you got it? Does it give you better than expected heat, less, or as expected.

Any other comments.

martinthebandit

no1catman wrote: »

Directed at those who have a log burner, and/or those who install them.

Apart from the unit was it expensive to install? Nope £2056 all in,including the unit, hearth and flue
Was it simple or complicated to install for example chimney liner, and how long did it take? Is there any test for carbon monoxide/dioxide in the room? Simple, took a day, but that was during some other building work we were having done. No detectors for CO or CO2 in the room


Does it take long to light and get going? Nope, 10 minutes using kindling and logs)
Do you buy in old logs, or do you age them yourself, and how much wood/logs do you store? I spend about £400 a year on kiln dried logs
Is there much cleaning up to do - ash and embers etc., before the next re-light? I clean it out properly once every three days, small plastic bag load of ash which goes in the bin.
Is there any 'woody' smell indoors or just outside?No woody smell either in or outside (probably because I use kiln dried logs

Are you pleased you got it? Does it give you better than expected heat, less, or as expected.Very pleased, rarely use our central heating

Any other comments.

Compared to my FiL who has a similar property to ours when you add the cost of our gas, electric and wood it works out about the same as his costs for gas and electric.

stillEuropean

We have two, one that was inherited and one that was installed. The one that was installed was a bit expensive as they had to run a flue up two floors but if you are having it installed in an existing fireplace, this may not be an issue, provided the floor doesn't need to be reinforced - ours was stone already so this wasn't a problem. The firm that we bought the stove from did the whole thing and it took less than full day.
As for the stoves, they're both easy to light provided you use dry seasoned wood . The larger the stove is, the larger the ash pan but usually we empty it every few days if it's been in constant use. This can be messy, but isn't a big deal if you're careful. If the burn isn't hot enough, the glass on the stove will need to be cleaned frequently; it's much preferable to get a good burn going to prevent build up in the chimney, which will have to be swept on a regular basis (annually) to avoid fires.
We buy enough wood for the winter but keep it outdoors to avoid bugs. This means bringing it in each day.
Definitely worth it for the added heat - keeps the fairly large room cosy, and the aesthetic value.

Aylesbury_Duck

Three relatives have them in their houses. One has a practically infinite supply of suitable wood and the tools and space to dry them for two years. They use theirs a lot and love it. The other two live in an urban area, bought them when they were fashionable and now hardly use them because they have to buy logs, have limited space to store them and find it easier to just put the heating on. They've become expensive ornaments that are really only lit at Christmas and if they're entertaining.

FreeBear

My stove, an Aarrow i500, cost around £1200 to install, but I did most of the work myself. Paid someone to fit the liner, commission the stove, and provide the required HETAS paperwork. The liner & install only took a morning to do. The rest of the work took months as I had to fit it around work & other stuff. A similar installation to this -





Lighting is easy - Bung in a fire lighter, a few sticks and then a small log or two. A shovel or two of smokeless coal helps to keep the fire going through the day. Typically, I'll get through a basket of logs and maybe a half a bucket of coal per day.


So far, I've bought one load of seasoned logs (approx 2m³) and scavenged assorted logs & pallets/crates locally. Cut, split, and stored in a 10'x6' shed where it can get baked by the summer sun. Haven't used much of the wood I piled in there last spring as the weather has been fairly mild so far this winter. Looks like I'm going to be using around 10 25Kg bags of smokeless coal and maybe 1.5-2m³ of wood.


Am I pleased with the stove ?
Well, it does keep the room very toasty (perhaps a bit to warm sometimes), provides extra warmth to the bedroom above, and helps to heat the rest of the house. A great focal point in the room, and has a certain wow factor to it. Downside to it (partly due to being set so high in the wall) is it is all too easy for hot embers to fall out and burn holes in the carpet. Also get quite a bit of ash falling on to the hearth when I clean out the fire each day.
Would I do it again ?
Yes without any hesitation, but I'd probably go for a different stove. Perhaps a Stovax Riva 55 with a ducting kit and warm some of the other rooms.

-taff

Second best purchase after an all singing all dancing electric blanket.
Keeps the main [double] room warm, and extends out into the hall. Also keep the bedroom upstairs warmer because the chimney heats up.
I thought it was pretty expensive but had three quotes and they were all pretty much the same. We've spent 240 on seasoned logs this year but it has been runing constantly since december all day and evening. We had a bit left from last winter though.
We have a CO2 monitor. Took two days to install with the knocking out and removal of the old fireplace and installation of liner etc and hearth.
We store one load at a time in the porch inside. Easy to light, paper, kindling and logs, and you get the hang of just burning one log at a time pretty quickly. There is a burning wood smell if I put another piece in that hasn't caught yet. And I can smell it outside when it is burning in certain weather conditions. Ours is a 5kw. I empty the ash either daily or every coule of days, i just take the pan out and slide it into a bucket with a tight lid then put it on the compost when the bucket is full.

Very very pleased.
Added bonus of reheating food in saucepans on the top of it, warming plates or making percolated coffee. Also warms red wine nicely if you leave the bottle in front of it for a bit. warms or dries shoes.
I use a blow torch to light mine, it's quicker than trying with a long match or long lighter thingy. That's if I haven't put one of the burn-all-night logs on it.

Davesnave

We put in a 5kW Woodwarm to replace an old 8kW stove that had seen better days, adding a new flue liner and a limestone/slate fireplace made to measure. Total cost around £3k. (Clicky: please ignore the Christmas stuff....and no, we didn't paint the wall beige to match the stone, or keep the carpet!:rotfl:)



That was just over two years ago. We think it was worth every penny, not only because we have a nicer focal point to the room, but because paying a little more for a well-engineered stove has meant better efficiency. We get more heat from this little stove than we did from the one 50% larger and we rarely clean the glass. The ash pan is emptied every 2-3 days, depending on whether we keep the fire in or not in daytime, and by country standards, it's not messy.

This fire means the oil CH doesn't contribute much to heating the living room, kitchen/diner, utility, office and hallway during an average winter. At silly o'clock on a February morning, I'm quite comfy in the office here and the fire has been the only heat source since 11pm last night.


Now the big BUT....We're rural with land and barns, so general maintenance of that means we produce a fair old pile of logs each winter anyway. We also rent out land and receive part payment in logs. None of this is 'free' fuel, because there are costs and labour involved, but for us running the wood stove makes sense.

Storage isn't an issue here. We need lots of that; far more than the average town house possesses. This is because any logs we receive from others, even commercial sources, are never dry enough. It makes a huge difference to have properly seasoned wood. Our own logs are dried/stored for at least 2 years.

So, if we lived in town, like we used to, would we have a stove? Yes, but it would run on gas! There are plenty of good models out there that do. We had one in the old place and it was great.

Sorry about that!

madlyn

All the above info has been of huge help to me, as I am also looking to have a stove fitted, looking at a multi fuel one.
One of mu friends has one and says it is the worst mistake she ever made having it fitted, and another friend loves hers.

FreeBear

A couple of bits of advice if/when you do get one fitted.


Do not use plasterboard anywhere near the stove - It is not rated as non-combustable, and the paper skin will char & burn if too close.


Avoid the use of gypsum plaster (the pink stuff like Thistle multifinish) close to the stove or flue. The stuff will crack and flake off when exposed to temperatures above 50°C. Heat resistant plasters are available such as this - https://www.everbuild.co.uk/product/heat-resistant-plaster/ - However, it is a pig to work with and impossible to "feather in" to existing plaster. Alternatively, use a lime plaster around the stove - I finished my wall with a coloured lime plaster and then polished & waxed.


Do not underestimate just how hot a wall can get in close proximity to a stove. I regularly see temperatures of 120°C just above my stove.

madlyn

I'm planning on getting a company to do everything so I hope they would be aware of this.
Is it right you have to season the burner 2/3 times before a proper fire is lit?

greyteam1959

Be warned that log burners are not the cleanest of things.