Almost no heat from new multi fuel stove

BornToHoliday_2

Hi,

We have installed a fully inset multi fuel stove (Stockton 7) and burned it last night for the first time. All the stove sites and forums we had looked at beforehand indicated that the heat from stoves is terrific. This is our first stove so we must be doing something wrong, even though we followed the user manual.

We burned four seasoned logs and a number of smaller sticks over a two hour period and had a good fire going but we couldn't even feel the heat from three feet away!

The stove has been installed with a lining but the only area that seemed to get warm - eventually - was the chimney breast. So all the heat seems to be in the chimney.

The weather was continuous rain so the draught could have been reduced but, even so, we did expect more heat than we got. Indeed, we're getting more heat from a mini plug-in radiator!

Any advice would be massively appreciated. At the moment we feel we've just totally wasted a ton of money!

bobmedley

Wood is only around 1/2 to 1/3 the energy of oil, coal etc (depends on types of coal, wood etc of course), so it stands to reason that you have to burn more to get the same output. If the wood is not properly seasoned (20% water or less) then you are going to get extremely poor heat values and a clogged up, corroded stove.

My advice, chuck some coal on it:D

John_3:16

We Have the stockton 4 and after 2 hours we can boil kettle on it no problem. It seems strange that you are not getting much heat. After 4 hrs of good burning it will heat all downstairs and start on the bedrooms. It does take a good hour to start to feel anything.( That is on a -1 night) so on a summer night you should have felt something.

Just a few questions .

What type of wood did you burn?
Did the glass smoke up?
was the stove hot to the touch ?
could you see the pre heated air re burning at the back?
Is there much air cieculations around the fire?

BornToHoliday_2

We're going to dry some smokeless coal when I get chance to go get some.

Answers to the questions below in John 3:16

No idea what type it is. Half logs in a mesh bag from a nearby garden centre. That's a lot of use isn't it!

The glass has smoked up approx one quarter.

No. We can only access the front of the stove as it totally recessed into the fireplace but only the glass was too hot to touch.

In terms of pe-heated air, what signs am I looking for? I'm a totally beginner at this.

In terms of air circulation, it keeps slowly going out unless the airwash is fully open and the primary is also open, even though the instructions say close the primary once the fire is lit.

Boil a kettle on it! I'm having to break the ice!!

Thanks for your replies

John_3:16

If it is a multi burning do you have a tray that you put the coal on so the ash can drop through. Wood burns better on a flat bed. I am not sure as we have never burnt coal. But we can get a tray for multi fuel use.

You do have a big stove. Don't close the any of the vents until you have a good ash ember bed If you have flame it will help burn the smoke off. If it smoulders , it could give you tar problems. The fire needs to be very hot to burn properly.

Sounds like you may have damp logs, When it runs properly the haze will be burnt off the glass. On our stove we have a row of small holes 2/3rds of the way upe the back of the fire. These throw pre heated air over the top of the flames helping to burn excess smoke off. When running hot there is very little if no smoke out the top of the chimney. The air comes through a chamber in the back its is heated by the fire. You can adjust the air flow by 2 flaps at the back of the fire. We have ours full open gives a good clean burn

You say the fire is very enclosed is there no airflow around the fire?

When our fire went in we smelt the new burning off smell of the fire as it was getting so hot, after a few weeks it got less. We lit it las tnight as we had a dinner party. After 1 hr I had to open most of the windows downstairs.

Lastly my feeling is you did not let the fire build enough and the logs were wet.

Try reading this

http://www.the-tree.org.uk/TreeCultivation&Uses/Firewood/burningwood.htm

BornToHoliday_2

No separate tray for coal.

As to the wood, I think it is dry but I am beginning to think that I am maybe not burning it high for long enough. It is showing that I simply don't even know the fundimentals...

Do I cover the entire grate with wood?
How much wood? How high do I stack it?
How long do I leave the door open for?
How long do I leave the primary air control open?
Should I strive to maintain strong flames for an hour or so at first?
How much wood can I expect to go through per hour?

It's all guesswork!

Thanks for the link. I've read through it with interest.

John_3:16

Start with paper and dry kindling wood. Then onto dry logs going from smaler to larger as the fire builds. Try to keep flames larger for hotter etc. As the casing of the fire gets hotter logs will burn more readly.

You will get through alot of wood depending on how hot you want it. Our Fire is 4kw output and we would get through a sack full in an evening.

Just keep building the fire as it burns until you have a hot fire that will take a log. Using the vents is purely down to personal preferance. The more you leave the vent the hotter it will be.

Having good strong flame for an hour is good. You may not feel much benefit until an hour of burning.

savemoney

Our fire is 6kw and boy when it gets going its flaming hot so hot last year the laminate floor nearby started to bend. We found it even though we only had it on low it was the wood we were burning causing it to heat quickly the wood was pallets. We still used them until Spring but much less and let the fire die down for a while.

We use seasoned logs £110 for a truck load.

We start fire with crumbled newspaper but left some loose bits to take hold I also fined shredded paper makes a good starter. Then put twigs or chooped up pallet tood into sticks and some thicker bits on but not too much. Opened the round dial that draws air in and the regulator at the top to let it go full blast until fire gets going, then close the round dial and lower the regulator (slider thing) to desired level. Honestly it gets very hot but does take about 40 minutes or so to feel any real warmth. I tried boiler water in a pan on top but all I ever got was warm enough water to wash in

BornToHoliday_2

I'm beginning to get the message. A sackload in an evening. I was expecting way below that so I've obviously skimped on the fire too much. Time to try again.

Thanks also to 'savemoney'. It gives me an idea on what to expect pricewise when I look around for a proper delivery.

richyggg

I have found that, unless you want to be constantly putting logs in the stove, it is a lot less hassle and a lot warmer to also use smokeless fuel.

I get the stove up to operating temperature using wood (takes maybe 40 mins) , and then use anthracite. I might still pop a log on top of the coals to get flames. The coals will glow red/orange, and kick out tremendous heat (compared to wood), with no flame. They need topping up over an evening, but much less frequently than logs.

BornToHoliday_2

Yep, getting some smokeles coal is next on my list.

Defeats the objective a bit though as I was hoping to gather enough fallen wood now to heat the house next year and make it somewhat cheaper than always running the very expensive LPG central heating we have. I don't know the price of the smokeless coal yet but I wouldn't be surpised if its on par with LPG pound for pound.