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Log burner advice?

Planning to add a stove to our home and been doing some research and totally confused. We have decided we want a log burner rather than multifuel as have. Good supply of logs so suspect this will be all we use! 
Our local suppliers have multiple different makes but we have read good things about charnwood but also liked the look of the stovax. 
We like the look of the charnwood country 4 but have been told the charnwood C4/C5 are slightly higher spec although I can't see much difference when I've had a look? 
We also liked the stovax Sheraton. 
Does anyone have any strong opinions/preferences/ideas about which we should go for? Thanks for any help!

Comments

  • FaceHead
    FaceHead Posts: 737 Forumite
    500 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Both cheap and expensive stoves (I've found) work fine. Making fire is hardly cutting edge engineering. 

    The majority of the time the stove is not lit, and it's basically an ornamental piece of iron. And when it is lit, the point of it is to be nice to look at - you probably have adequate central heating so I assume this isn't really about putting out a load of heat to warm a house. Choose one that you like the look of, and don't worry too much about specs.
  • FreeBear
    FreeBear Posts: 16,408 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Which stove you go for is down to personal choice. What I would say though, is be very particular about the materials & finish. For example, don't go lining the alcove with plasterboard as the stuff is not rated as non-combustible, nor will it tolerate the heat. Same for the chimney breast above the stove - Think twice about using gypsum plaster to skim the walls as it will flake & crumble if exposed to temperatures above 50°C.
    I have an inset stove and have a temperature sensor embedded in the wall - Regularly see it going above 150°C and have seen it hit ~180°C. You can get heat resistant plaster (a cement based product) that will tolerate high temperatures, or you can use a lime plaster.
    Her courage will change the world.

    Treasure the moments that you have. Savour them for as long as you can for they will never come back again.
  • tetrarch
    tetrarch Posts: 266 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm a very happy Stovax owner. We got a VERY large burner just before the regulations changed

    https://simplystovesuk.com/product/stovax-riva-f76-freestanding-wood-burning-stove-in-storm-metallic/

    It was our only source of heating of any sort for six weeks and it made things bearable. Having a stove is a learning experience - it is actually quite controllable and seems to be very well made

    We actually chose Stovax partly on recommendation, but mostly for aesthetic reasons. The Stovax-branded tools are gorgeous, but hideously expensive

    Regards

    Tet 
  • knightstyle
    knightstyle Posts: 7,075 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Having had and installed several stoves over the years I think you need to consider the following.  Will the stove be just for wood? I have found that a mix of wood and coal will stay in for 12 hours but wood only about 6 hours but many stoves are not suitable for coal.   Next can you have the flue exposed up to the room ceiling? If so you will get much more heat into the room than a flue that goes out of the back of the stove into a wall.  8kw is enough to heat a large room, anything more and you will be too hot.
    You also need to be able to control the air input down to almost nothing so poor door seals mean the wood burns too quickly.  Best stoves have dampers on the flue as well as under grate controllable air input. 
    Finally never burn unseasoned wood or wood with lots of bark and sweep the flue every year.
  • phoebe1989seb
    phoebe1989seb Posts: 4,452 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 6 January 2022 at 2:57PM
    We have a Dovre Vintage 50 (Stovax) 9kw wood burner and a Charnwood C7 multi fuel stove. Both were installed in 2018 shortly after we purchased our current (middle of nowhere, rural) property.

    I think we've only used the Charnwood to burn something other than wood once (we also have our own supply of seasoned wood) and found it a bit of a faff as the configuration of the stove had to be changed to put it into multi fuel mode.

    We love both stoves for different reasons - with its huge window the Dovre is a real focal point in our big, high-ceilinged kitchen (as well as throwing out more heat than we'd expected!) whilst the Charnwood is quite dainty and fab at heating our living room. Plus it has the optional log storage stand underneath. We recently knocked through between this room and the attached extension and the C7 still heats the enlarged space amply.

    The two stoves heat the rooms so well that we never put the rads on in those spaces 😁

    However, both our stoves are cream in colour - the Dovre is enamel and wipes clean very easily, but the Charnwood has a textured surface that picks up the dirt. When purchasing the two stoves the sales person warned us we'd regret buying a cream Charnwood, saying many previous customers had resprayed theirs black 🙄 We bought a can of cream spray paint (specifically for painting wood burners) and occasionally give ours a touch up....






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  • FreeBear
    FreeBear Posts: 16,408 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    knightstyle said: 8kw is enough to heat a large room
    Anything over 5KW in an older house will require an air vent to the outside (newer builds will need an air vent regardless of stove size). Quite a few stoves now come ready to be connected to a duct so that fresh air is drawn in from outside. This avoids having an air vent in the external wall which can often be a source of cold draughts and let road noise in.

    Her courage will change the world.

    Treasure the moments that you have. Savour them for as long as you can for they will never come back again.
  • 7 replies till we got to this, thought it would have been sooner?

    I've got a Varde Fuego 2 stove, a lesser known Danish company, was quite expensive but had a modern look. Works well though
  • flashg67
    flashg67 Posts: 4,072 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    We went for a Charnwood country 6 on the recommendation of our fitter who was firm about about not fitting a budget stove if we wanted it to last! We  burn a mix of solid fuel and logs, so do have the multi fuel grate fitted, but for you, for logs only, it may not be worth the extra expense, but if you do fit the multifuel grate, as the name implies, you can then use either fuel. . As above, we had to have a vent drilled through the wall, but it hasn't noticeably caused a draft in the house.
  • theonlywayisup
    theonlywayisup Posts: 16,032 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    We have a WestFire, well we have a couple as we have holiday lets.  Beautiful looking, easy to control and very efficient.  We have a plentiful supply of logs and season them ourselves.  You will have to have storage for logs - lots overlook that and end up with a pile of logs covered with a tarp. 
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